Pre-Columbian pottery was built mostly with coiling techniques, rather than the potter's wheel of the Old World. It was fired directly under a heap of slow-burning fuel rather than a kiln.
Powdered clay (right), and grit temper (left).
Mixing the wet ingredients with a pounder.
Forming a pinch pot for the base.
Adding the first coil.
Smoothing coils with a shell.
Beating coils together with a cord-wrapped paddle.
Decorating the pot rim with incised designs.
Bob with his finely-crafted pot.
Starting a friction fire with hand drill.
Pre-heating the pots, rim first.
More pre-heating.
Note the change in color as free water is driven out of the clay.
Pots turned upside-down on stone pedestals.
Placing bark fuel around the pot. Rear pot has already fired up.
Both pots firing away.
Emerging from the ashes in one piece!
Three finished pots of Eastern Woodland design.
Pot and dishes made from red clay (which has very high iron-oxide content).
Powdered clay (right), and grit temper (left).
