Like other Mississippian regional centers, shell tempered Mississippi Plain and Bell Plain jars, bowls, pans, and plates dominated the ceramics from Adams. Comparative research revealed that more decorated jars and bowls came from Adams than from nearby earlier Mississippian sites. But even accounting for these decorated vessels, most jars, bowls, and bottles from Adams had plain exteriors.
Many of the decorations on Adams vessels were incised or engraved geometric designs that included line-filled triangles (see below). On other vessels, Native potters also used a decorative technique called negative painting.
On vessels decorated using this resist method, the background is rendered dark so that the contrasting lighter, unpainted natural color of the clay appears as the design. To do this, ancient Indigenous potters coated the intended design areas with a resistant substance (for example bear grease or plant resins) before applying a slip to the remainder of the vessel. During the firing process, only the resistant material burned away. What remained was the artist's intended design in the original clay color.
Other ceramic items from the site were earspools and pins. Nonceramic artifacts included recycled chipped stone hoe fragments; triangular chipped stone arrowheads and drills; sandstone abraders; and bone awls.
Adams site residents hunted white-tailed deer, raccoons, and wild turkeys. They got turtles and fish from nearby swamps and rivers. They also gathered wild plant foods, such as persimmons, hickory nuts, and plants that produced starchy or oily seeds. But residents mostly ate the plants they grew: corn, squash, sunflower, and goosefoot. Since Adams was situated within a swampy area, the center's agricultural fields would have been located at some distance from the community.