The Weeden Island ceramic complex was first defined by Willey (1945) and later applied to a set of cultural traits shared among mound sites along the Gulf Coast of Florida. This description of the Carrabelle Punctated type is based on his later elaboration of ceramic types throughout the Florida Gulf Coast region (Willey 1949). 

The only distinction in ware characteristics that Willey (1949:425) notes between Carrabelle Punctated and Weeden Island Plain is that "Some Carrabelle Punctated is coarser in texture and temper size than other Weeden Island Period types." This type is distinguished by the decoration of "Punctations in unfired clay" that are "Arranged in a field around the upper portion of the vessel below the rim ... [and] may be underlined with an incised line." The punctations include fingernail impressions that are arranged longitudinally or parallel to one another in a single or double line, stick-made punctations that are rectanguloid or trianguloid in shape and vary widely in size, as well as round-bottomed dents and hollow-reed punctations.

Vessel shapes include globular bowl with flared orifice, flattened-globular bowl, short-collared jar, and a jar with cambered rim. The rims tend to be direct and slightly incurving or slightly thickened near the margin, and thin, flat exterior folds are common. Willey (1949:425) mentions that Carrabelle Punctated "Seems to be most common between Apalachicola River and Cedar Keys" and suggests that it might be the first incised or punctated type introduced in the Weeden Island Series. He goes on to explain that the Alexander Pinched type of north Alabama (Haag 1939) and the Rhinehardt Punctated type of the Troyville and Coles Creek Periods of southern Louisiana (Ford and Willey 1939) both resemble Carrabelle Punctated.

Some details in this type description come from the Ceramic Technology Lab Type Collection maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History.