Gregory D. Wilson, Department of Anthropology University of California, Santa Barbara, 93106-3210, gdwilson@anth.ucsb.edu ©2015 Illinois Archaeological Survey, Inc., Illinois Archaeology, vol. 27, pp.174–200 174 Lamb Site Ceramics: Mississippianization in the Central Illinois River Valley Gregory D. Wilson Ceramic materials from the Lamb site (11SC24) consist of a combination of Bauer Branch Late Woodland and early Mississippian wares. The co-occurrence of Mississippian and Late Woodland ceramic types at the site reveals considerable interaction between these groups. Clearly, Bauer Branch groups persisted longer in the central Illnois River valley than previously anticipated and were strongly inﬂuenced by their Mississippian neighbors to the south. Pottery remains recovered from excavations at the Lamb site (11SC24) consist of a combination of Bauer Branch Late Woodland and early Mississippian wares. The latter correspond stylistically with early twelfth-century pottery from the northern American Bottom region to the south. An important goal of the current analysis of these remains is to present a dataset that is consistent with and directly comparable to those generated in the American Bottom, as American Bottom data can provide a baseline for under- standing Mississippian inﬂuence in the central Illinois River valley (CIRV). Thus, the analytical terms and methods employed here correspond to those used in the greater Cahokia area (Holley 1989; Kelly 1995; Pauketat 1998). The ceramic analysis consists of two parts. The ﬁrst part is a ceramic seriation performed to deﬁne the chronological position of the Lamb site relative to Late Woodland and Mississippian sites in the CIRV and American Bottom. This section also entails the consideration of two new AMS dates from the site. The second part is a functional analysis conducted to gain insight into the types of cooking, serving, and storage activities that took place at the Lamb site.