Background Information:
Pottery
Ceramics are an example of one very important artifact for the archaeologist. They are breakable yet almost indestructible, so they remain in abundance after hundreds of years in the ground. They were also an avenue of artistic expression. Prehistoric potters formed and decorated their vessels in a variety of ways. Other potters in, and sometimes outside, their community then copied these designs. Because these styles were traded among groups, archaeologists are often able to relate sites in time and space because they contain the same ceramic types.
When ceramics are uncovered at a site, they usually occur as small broken pieces or sherds. Occasionally, all of the fragments of the vessel will have survived, and the pot can be reconstructed, just as you might work a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes when only a portion of a pot is left, the rest can be rebuilt with plaster of Paris if enough remains to provide some idea of the original shape and size.
The appearance of pottery during Woodland times approximately 2,500 years ago is significant because it indicates that people may have become more sedentary. Earlier peoples used lightweight, portable skin bags or carrier woven containers made from inner bark of trees or reeds. Nomadic hunters and gatherers would not have wanted to carry heavy breakable pots. When they began to settle in villages for parts of the year, however, they found many uses for pottery.
Pottery vessels were made from local clays to which sand, crushed stone, ground mussel shell, crushed fired clay, or plant fibers had been added for temper. The temper prevented shrinkage and cracking during firing or drying.
Pots were made prehistorically by several methods: coiling, paddling, or pinching and shaping. In coiling, the potter rolls a lump of clay into a coil and gradually builds up the vessel wall by adding more coils. Each coiled layer is pinched to the one beneath and coils are subsequently thinned by squeezing between the potter's thumbs and fingers. The coil junctures can then be smoothed. Studies of prehistoric ceramics found in Iowa indicate pottery here was made by paddling or pinching and shaping. A lump of clay was pounded into shape by holding the clay against a large stone and paddling it with a wooden paddle. If the paddle was covered with woven fabric or cord, the patterned markings appeared on the clay. The lump of clay might also be pinched and shaped by hand. Sometimes designs like lines and triangles were scribed into the clay before it was fired.
Gradually the styles and decorations changed. A greater variety of pots - bowls, pans, jars, and water bottles - were made for different functions. Pots were used for both storage and cooking. Sometimes tiny toy pots were made for or by children.
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