222 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



THE LAST OF THE IROQUOIS POTTERS 



BY M. R. HARRINGTON 



The ceramic art of the New York Iroquois has long been obso- 

 lete. Although the knowledge that their ancestors manufactured 

 vessels of clay still persists among them, none of the technical 

 details remains, so far as I have been able to discover, even in 

 tradition. For this reason I have long been interested in the 

 reported survival of the potters' craft among the Eastern Cherokee 1 

 who are known to be Iroquoian in language and to have resembled 

 in culture, to a certain extent, the Iroquois of the north. Here, 

 thought I, may be an opportunity to throw light on questions which 

 have long puzzled New York archeologists and to put on record 

 a first-hand account of the art in which the Five Nations had 

 developed such proficiency. 



My opportunity came in July 1908, when in connection with my 

 anthropological work for Mr George G. Heye of New York I 

 visited the Cherokee settlements in western North Carolina for the 

 purpose of collecting exhnological specimens. 



Before starting I received many helpful hints from Mr James 

 Mooney who has made the Eastern Cherokee an object of special 

 study; thus I was enabled to know approximately what to expect 

 before arriving on the ground. After securing an interpreter I 

 began to make inquiries about pottery, and soon discovered that 

 a number of families still kept a few pieces for their own use, or 

 as mementoes of the old days. As a rule I was able to secure 

 these, but in some cases neither money nor persuasion had any 

 effect — the owners remained obdurate. Nevertheless a very fair 

 collection was secured, comprising specimens of various ages, sizes 

 and uses. 



Three principal forms may be distinguished in modern Cherokee 

 ware, as represented by the collection secured for Mr Heye : the 

 large jar (u n ti n ), the pot (tii sti n ) and the bowl (de wa LT 11 )- The 

 jars are usually 12 to 16 inches high and average about 8 inches 

 in diameter. Generally these are provided with a flat bottom 

 from which the sides bulge slightly, contracting again toward the 

 rim. Such vessels are usually covered with stamped designs 

 applied with a carved paddle, but no free-hand incised decoration 

 was seen. The name u n ti n while specifically applied to these large 



holmes. Aboriginal Pottery of Eastern U. S. p. 52. 



