CONVERGENCE IN CLAY

Cultural connections are often hidden in plain sight. At first glance, everyday items like ceramics may seem ordinary, but upon closer inspection provide invaluable insight into the cultural practices and exchanges of societies all around the world. Pottery was a staple for three main cultures that we highlight at JYF —Indigenous, African and European—and afforded financial opportunities, status and artistic expression as these cultures and their pottery practices converged in Virginia in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Form and Function

Across all three cultures, pottery evolved as a functional replacement to earlier stone, woven and wooden containers. Ceramic pots made superior cooking vessels and provided drier storage than earlier fiber containers. A wide variety of pottery forms developed, including shallow bowls, cooking jars and extremely large storage vessels. Some styles developed were unique to certain cultural experiences, such as Indigenous peoples developing conical-bottomed cooking pots to nestle into a bed of hot coals.

For Indigenous, African and European communities, pottery united form, function and artistic expression. Artisans crafted ceramics by making pinch pots and adding coils, sometimes using molds. A cultural exception for Europeans and others was the use of the potters’ wheel. Since most pots had a similar production process, what really made pottery stand out was the individualized expression of the craftsperson.

Artistic Expression

Some potters decorated their pieces by incising motifs, like human or animal figures and geometric or abstract shapes and handles or lids were often molded or attached. In Indigenous pottery, decoration often took the form of pressing materials onto the surface, such as cordage, fabric and nets to create texture. In West Central Africa, polishing pots was a principal form of decoration, and a deep, burnished effect could be achieved by rubbing the surface with animal fat or soot and then re-firing to achieve a deep glossy finish. European potters painted ceramics with slip, a creamy mixture of fine clay and water, or a lead-based glaze. Images, designs, paint and styles all blend to tell the story of people, their connections and their preferences. As the people of these different cultures interacted, they experimented with each other’s practices or artistic styles.

Cultural Convergence

English colonization of Virginia forever impacted the lives and traditions of all three cultures. As the English became politically and economically dominant in Virginia, Indigenous and African peoples had to adapt to a vastly different cultural dynamic. From the 17th century, a coarse earthenware called colonoware combined the characteristics of European, American Indian and African pottery traditions. Its production in Virginia highlights the impacts of European colonization, as Africans and Indigenous people produced colonoware with their own methods in popular European styles for trade, sale and daily use. Found on archaeological sites in many contexts across Virginia, colonoware is a distinct marker of colonial connection and cultural convergence, a subject of ongoing study today.

The convergence of pottery styles from multiple cultures has continued on the Atlantic coast since the 17th century like an unbroken clay coil. Black artists have been blending historical African pottery with contemporary styles and individual expression. Black potters during the 19th century in the Old Edgefield District of South Carolina, such as poet and potter David Drake, produced ceramics that are physical manifestations of their knowledge, experiences and creativity. Many Black potters today continue to combine pottery traditions from Africa and America, designing pieces that display the rich history and cultures of numerous African and Caribbean nations, work through the legacies of slavery and represent their personal lives and experiences.

Members of the Pamunkey Tribe, most commonly women, have created pottery out of clay dug from their reservation along the Pamunkey River. French traveler Durand du Dauphine recorded that “The women...make pots, earthen vases and smoking pipes.” Durand also noted that

Indigenous peoples sold these pots to English colonists.

“John the Bowlmaker” was possibly one such Indigenous potter making wares for sale to the English colonists in the 17th century. Probate inventories and other historic records attest to the presence of “Indian pots” in English households and in 1769, account books reveal that “earthen pans” were purchased from Indigenous peoples for Lord Botetourt in Williamsburg.

By the mid-19th century, the demand for the Pamunkey handmade pottery decreased as mass-produced pottery became more accessible. The craft waned until 1932, when the Pamunkey began making pottery to sell to tourists. The Commonwealth of Virginia helped establish a pottery school where Pamunkey tribal members learned methods to increase the speed of manufacture of their traditional pottery. Once the school was established, the Pamunkey Pottery Guild was founded to organize and manage the potters, production and the market. Today tribal artisans follow both the ancient and modern traditions.

Enduring Legacy

Today at Jamestown Settlement, historical interpreters use pottery to bring an awareness and understanding of Powhatan cultures in the 17th century. Roger Ballance, a historical interpreter for the re-created Paspahegh Town, recently began to combine oral history and knowledge from Indigenous communities to enhance the pottery program for visitors. He has created ceramic pieces in an increased variety of shapes and sizes, championed the sourcing of local clay and explored different methods of decoration. As the program expands, he hopes to move into the reproduction of colonoware, beginning with a re-creation of a Native-made Bartmann jug.

Used for utilitarian purposes and artistic expression for cultures all over the world, pottery is one lens that allows us to explore the unique and shared traditions of American Indian, African and European peoples who converged at Jamestown and early Virginia.

Jamie Helmick, Director Indigenous Peoples Initiative

—Alexis Becker, Communications Specialist Museum Operations and Education

—Katherine Egner Gruber, Curatorial Manager