Catawba Indian Pottery: The Survival of a Folk Tradition

Description

With a Foreword by William Harris
When Europeans encountered them| the Catawba Indians were living along the river and throughout the valley that carries their name near the present North Carolina-South Carolina border. Archaeologists later collected and identified categories of pottery types belonging to the historic Catawba and extrapolated an association with their protohistoric and prehistoric predecessors.
In this volume| Thomas Blumer traces the construction techniques of those documented ceramics to the lineage of their probable present-day master potters or| in other words| he traces the Catawba pottery traditions. By mining data from archives and the oral traditions of contemporary potters| Blumer reconstructs sales circuits regularly traveled by Catawba peddlers and thereby illuminates unresolved questions regarding trade routes in the protohistoric period. In addition| the author details particular techniques of the representative potters–factors such as clay selection| tool use| decoration| and firing techniques–which influence their styles.