Pottery-Making Techniques
The production of ceramic vessels requires detailed knowledge of the physical properties of different clays and tempering materials, as well as knowledge about how these combine and react under specific firing conditions. Potters knew where to find and identify quality clays sources and understood what materials to add to the clay to prevent it from cracking during drying. They recognized the limits of the tempered clay's strength during shaping and after firing. Potters also employed a range of techniques and methods in decorating their containers; some of these decorations transmitted important symbolic information as well. Without kilns, special skills were required in using open fires to produce pots. When ceramic-making arrived in Canada, it was adapted to take into account local needs and raw materials.
By studying the small fragments left behind at archaeological sites, archaeologists have identified two potter-manufacturing techniques.
The Coil Method
The
earliest technique found in southern Canada is referred to as the "coil
method", which involves the preparation of long
ropes of tempered clay. The artisan builds up the walls of the
container by successively adding coils either spirally or as rings,
smoothing
over the joints and thinning the walls.
The characteristic conoidal shape of these early vessels (for example,
pots 10 and 13) may be the result of artisans beginning with the vessel
opening, then winding their way toward the base. This rising arch provided
a stable form and permitted greater control of the pliable clay. Invariably
though, a thick plug had to close the base, and these are standard to all
pot bases of this early period.
Sometime
in the middle of the first millenium A.D., a new method appeared, which
was to continue until contact with Europeans. It is primarily a modeling
technique in which the potter begins with an initial
mass of tempered clay that is shaped and drawn
upwards manually. Additional pieces
might be added to complete the pot. The exterior surface was slapped with
textured paddles, undoubtedly against
anvils held on the inside of the pot in
order to thin the walls and draw the clay upwards.
Some researchers have suggested that the shaping of the containers,
in many instances, may have taken place inside woven
molds that left distinctive textile impressions. The initial pot
would have been made using the coil method but later paddling would have
obliterated evidence of these coils.
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