This study examines a subsample of the ceramic jar collection from the prehistoric Schild Cemetery of west-central Illinois to explore the possibility of identifying changing cultural identity in situations of culture contact and interaction. The relationship between ceramic vessels (and other types of material culture) with cultural identity is often studied, but in cases of cultural interaction or marriage between members of distinct groups, archaeological assemblages may prove incompatible to categorizations utilizing traditional typologies. This work presents a quantitative analysis of ceramic style to characterize prehistoric cultural interaction, a methodology which complements traditional typological analysis. The time period in question (ca. A.D. 1100) was one of broad social and political change in the region in which interaction, and likely intermarriage, took place between individuals from Late Woodland and Mississippian societies.
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