Created in Clay

Created in Clay was written by Steve Black with the help of Tim Perttula and Nancy Reese. Some of the text was adapted from previous work by Perttula (see below). Reese wrote the detailed descriptions in the Ancient Gallery and provided all the provenience information and measurements on vessels from TARL collections. Perttula and Reese provided type identifications and age estimates. Charles Hixson and Lee Johnson answered Black's technical questions.

Photographer, anthropologist, and former teacher Sharon Mitchell did the digital photography for the Ancient and Modern Galleries and stitched the photos together to create object movies that allow the viewer to rotate the images 360 degrees.

Modern Caddo potter Jereldine Redcorn graciously agreed to be interviewed for this project, provided photographs of her work, and reviewed the draft exhibit. She can be contacted through her Redcorn Pottery website.

Kerza and Elton Prewitt, Tim Perttula, and Laura Nightengale lent the Caddo pottery replicas made by Redcorn and Charles Hixson for photography.

Black photographed many other Caddo pots from the TARL collections for this exhibit with the assistance of Laura Nightengale (Head of Collections) and Nancy Reese. Other photographs were provided by Rhonda Fair, Jereldine Redcorn, Frank Schambach, and Bill Martin. Special thanks to Nancy Hammerslough at Pictures of Record for allowing the use of scanned images from the Early Caddo Cultures and Late Caddo Culture slide sets.

Printed Sources:

Perttula, Timothy K.
1995 Caddoan Ceramics from Northeast Texas. Section from article entitled "Prehistoric and Historic Aboriginal Ceramics in Texas" by Timothy K. Perttula, Miles R. Miller, Robert A. Ricklis, Daniel J. Prikryl, and Christopher Lintz, Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 66:175-235.

Download Caddoan Ceramics section (text only) in PDF format

Download References Cited in PDF format

Courtesy Texas Archeological Society

Perttula, Timothy K.
2001 Three Mid-1800s Caddo Vessels from the Brazos Reserve. Journal of Northeast Texas Archaeology 14:31-36.

Rice, Prudence M.
1987 Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook. University of Chicago Press.

Shepard, Anna O.
1956 Ceramics for the Archaeologist. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 609.

Links:

Redcorn Pottery
Jereldine Redcorn's website includes a portfolio, articles and contact information.

https://texasbeyondhistory.net/villagers/cordmarked/
TBH exhibit on making cordmarked pottery, a Plains and Woodland pottery style. Also illustrates the basic steps of making coiled pottery.

The Art of Prehistoric Caddo Potters
Online exhibit honoring the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, Sam Noble Museum. Includes links to Jereldine Redcorn videos on the traditional art of Caddo pottery construction.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pottery
Overview of Texas pottery in The Handbook of Texas Online