Objects of coalescence: Using LA-ICP-MS to study ceramics recovered from an eighteenth-century Choctaw village

•LA-ICP-MS is a valuable tool for examining archaeological ceramics.•Eighteenth-century Choctaw ceramics were analyzed with experimental test vessels.•Results suggest some vessels were brought to Shumo Takali via trade or migration. In 2012, Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research (TVAR) excavated two archaeological sites displaying evidence of a Historic Choctaw (1650–1830 CE) occupation in Kemper County, Mississippi. To learn more about the histories of the Choctaw communities who occupied these sites, TVAR formed a research partnership with the University of Alabama and Choctaw Nation Historic Preservation (CNHP) to examine a ceramic assemblage recovered from these sites using chemical characterization analysis. Specifically, a bipartite sample assemblage of ceramic artifacts and experimental test vessels was subjected to laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Our results demonstrate that the Shumo Takali ceramics are chemically similar to clays collected from the eastern side of the Chickasawhay Creek. Additionally, we interpreted the compositional outliers as being made with nonlocal clays and brought to Shumo Takali, possibly as trade objects or through coalescent migration.