Foster Point
This motif includes the coupling of multiple horizontal lines with an underlying zone of crosshatched lines, all situated around the upper part of the vessel’s exterior. In this instance, the horizontal lines are identical to those noted above for the “Grassy Point,” “Ayres Point,” and “Bendewald Point” motifs. The crosshatched lines apparently serve the same “embellishment” purpose as the pendant triangles recognized as elements of the “Ayres Point” and “Bendewald Point” motifs.
The “Foster Point" motif represents one of the earliest designs ever illustrated for Rockport ceramics, having been included by Wendell Potter in his initial 1930 study of decorated pottery from the coastal bend area. Somewhat surprisingly, no subsequent examples have been illustrated until now. It also is surprising to find that the motif is not particularly common farther up the coast. Only one example of a similar, but not identical, motif has been illustrated from the Galveston Bay area. It also is lacking from the Louisiana coast and Lower Mississippi Valley. This strongly suggests that the motif may have its strongest showing along the central Texas coast, and it may prove to be an excellent marker of Karankawa culture. Its relative scarcity even in this potential heartland may lessen its overall usefulness in this regard, however.