Baked Clay Objects
Investigators recovered more than 150 baked clay objects from the Hedden site. These objects tended to be small and mostly yellowish brown to reddish brown in color. Some had clearly recognizable exterior surfaces. There were at least two standard types: cylindrical grooved examples and sphere-like examples.
These types of objects are much more common in the lower Mississippi Valley. Thus, the recovery of baked clay objects from Hedden suggests that groups living in the lower Ohio Valley were culturally connected in some way to people living in the lower Mississippi Valley. In fact, several thousand baked clay objects have been recovered from the Poverty Point site in Louisiana.
Although archaeologists have yet to determine the function of these objects, some think Native peoples used them in hot rock cooking instead of stones. Others have noted the high degree of standardization in the form of these objects. This has led researchers to suggest that baked clay objects represent mementos of long-distance pilgrimages to Poverty Point.
