Red-Slipped Sherd with Engraved Letters

This fragment of a red-slipped bowl from the St. Augustine/Treme Plantation site, likely of Native manufacture, has the letters “X” and “Y” scratched into the brim after firing. These letters presumably were part of a complete alphabet encircling the vessel’s opening, meant to instruct like the later alphabet plates of the nineteenth century. A vessel like this typifies the emergent ‘Creole’ culture of New Orleans. The importance of the Native American heritage of the city is celebrated in African-American cultural traditions today, particularly that of the Mardi Gras Indians, parading groups known for their elaborate beaded costumes.