Louisiana Native Americans

Learning About Pottery

An LSU Museum of Natural Science presentation to accompany the activity

Tchefuncte Pottery DemonstrationTchefuncte Pottery DemonstrationPottery replicator- Doyle Gertjejenson

Digging clay from river bank

Working the clay into clay balls

1. Forming and smoothing the pottery base

2. Starting thevessel walls

Base and coilsBase and coils

Vessel wallsVessel walls

• Starting vessel walls with clay coils

• Smoothing coils together

• Smoothing and extending side walls

Smoothing and decorating the

vessel

Decorating implements- shell and stick

Textured, unfired vessels waiting to be fired

Firing of vessels after intital preheating process

Completed pots

Boiling water in finished pot.

Making Pots the Native American Way

Materials:• Air drying or baking clay• Soft paintbrush• Small cup of water• Smooth rock• Texturing tools: sharp stick, oyster

or scallop shell, grass or moss, loose string, paddle wrapped with string

Purpose: Students will learn the traditional Native-American coiling method for making pottery.

Coiling methodHow it works:1. Create a circular base of desired

diameter.

2. Roll out ropes of clay.

3. Stack the ropes on-top of each other in a circular fashion.

4. After the desired height and shape is achieved, press the coils together by smoothing and pressing the clay.

5. Use tools to decorate the pot.

Becoming a Louisiana Becoming a Louisiana ArchaeologistArchaeologist

Materials needed• Hand-out of pottery sherds• Scissors• Construction paper• Glue• Colors

Purpose: Student will reconstruct their own artifact from sherds.

Vocabulary and referencesVocabulary and references

Archaeologist - Sceintists who study the remains of past people

Sherds- broken pieces of pottery

• Vessel reconstruction pictures from LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology, Lot no. Lab-L73