Oldest Pottery in North America

I love the old alkaline glazed pottery of the southern USA. This area has contributed greatly to the ceramic tradition of this country. Little did I realize just how much!

While doing research for an upcoming project for the area clay artists group, I stumbled upon some amazing facts that I was unaware of. The most important of these facts was that around 4,500 years before present time, ancient people of the Archaic period of civilization began making pottery on Stallings Island in the Savannah River near present day Augusta, GA, making it the oldest pottery in North America! These people are known as the Stallings Culture, after the Island they inhabited, and were the makers of fiber-tempered pottery vessels. Fiber-tempered means they added a member of the tillandsia family called "Spanish Moss" or a type of palm leaf to the clay in which they hand-formed the pottery from.

They had been cooking and eating their food out of animal skins. How, you might ask, did they cook in an animal skin? They heated rock in the fire and dropped the heated rocks into the pouch-like skin to bring the contents to a boil. The rock used appears to be soapstone at first. Later, they started baking clay balls to use in place of the soapstone since it was hard to come by in this area. Later, soapstone was also hollowed out into a cooking vessel which could be placed directly over the fire.

It appears the first fiber-tempered pottery, plain and undecorated, was used as serving bowls. Some 500 years later, designs were done by punching a reed or other sharp point and dragging it to the next spot.

The heated food was divided up into bowls and consumed. Can you picture the first early woman (I feel it was probably a woman since they maintained the fires and did all of the cooking) noticing a thin, hard, bowl-like shape that had formed in the damp clay depression where her cooking fire had been? I can see her prying it out and holding it to marvel and wonder about the possibilities. As she showed it to her family, they soon discovered that not only would it hold water without dissolving into mud, but that it made a mean Saber-Tooth Tiger stew pot! Just kidding, the tigers were gone at this point in time. But, you get the idea. What a momentous day it was for mankind until the y realized someone had to wash the bowl out after its use. Well.... guess who wound up inheriting that job? It was only fair, the woman invented it and she should wash it. Seriously, the male mind of the time traveled down a similar train of thought as those of today.


Early woman had discovered that when they sought to duplicate the process of the bowl made by the fire, it tended to crack, explode, etc. Somehow temper was discovered. The earliest temper, again, was plant fiber. Not long after, they discovered adding coarse sand for temper, which is what the balance of early native American pots have in them. Nowadays, we use ground-up fired clay grit or grog for our temper in clays we throw on the wheel or hand-build with for precisely the same reasons as our predecessors.

Our clay group will soon duplicate this ancient pottery-making process using hand-dug clay from the banks of the Savannah River. We will pinch the pots to form, crudely use the jab and drag decorating method and fire them in a small pit with open wood fire.

The following are some photos of pots made recently in the Stallings manner by me and my friend which were fired while burning some brush.

Pottery News...

I've spent some time making a few modifications to the groundhog kiln and am ready to try it out. A bag wall or baffle was placed in the rear of the kiln, creating a small chamber. The idea is to cut down on the smoke a bit, maybe even out temperatures some. Also, a cast refractory damper was installed in the chimney for better control of firing conditions. I hope the Augusta Fire Dept. Station 2 appreciates the extra sleep they'll be getting now!

We've also laid in quite a bit of wood. Much of it is still green and needs to dry for another 5 months or so. We've been cutting and hauling lots of pine slabs from the local sawmill. Owner David Ennis also lined me up with a new 18 inch chainsaw. It cuts through the mountains of wood like they were butter! It means a lot to us to recycle or use waste in firing the kiln. I can honestly say that 99.99% of wood burned is scavenged from sources that would otherwise discard it into landfills or ignite it to no purpose.





Recently, I came upon a snake jug I'd made many years ago. It felt like running into an old friend. I forget the many pieces I've made through the years, but always enjoy coming across them and I enjoy the esteem the owner holds it in. I guess in a way, these pieces from the past serve as somewhat of a report card for me or a marker of progress on this pottery journey I travel. I sometimes blush at old handles or jug lips. Often, it's the sheer weight that causes a brief wince. But, hey, that's what self-taught is all about. I love each and every one of them for the joy they brought creating them and am honored they reside proudly on mantles, tables and prominent shelves in their owners house and in their hearts as well.


This method of pottery making is so labor intensive! All tasks are just as important to the final pot as is the actual turning on the potter's wheel. Digging and blending the proper clay or cutting and stacking seasoned wood of the correct size, both are just as important as skillfully turning the pot. As a matter of fact, I might have to say the firing process even out-ranks all of the others in importance, for a mistake here cancels out all other efforts at bringing the pot to life.

Again, I become irate when I see others calling or describing their work as "Old Edgefield" or "Old Edgefield-Style" when they simply make pots like they do anywhere and fire them in an electric or gas kiln. They compete directly with me but have only a fraction of the work and effort that I must put into my pottery in order for me to use the word "Edgefield" in describing my art. My past posts show I'm a tireless crusader against those who are being untruthful in the representation of their work. It's so easy to tack the Edgefield word on to your pottery description and deceive buyers. However, ceramic historians and market prices will eventually relegate them to their appropriate level of status. I do commend potter Gregg Patton for his eBay sales where he describes his work as "Edgefield-Inspired". I like that term for work made with modern methods.

I'm proud to now have my work available at two new locations. In addition to the Augusta Canal Authority Museum, it is available in downtown Edgefield, SC in the SC National Heritage Corridor Center and Museum and at the Morris Museum of Art giftshop in downtown Augusta, GA. Thanks again to all who've supported me through purchases or other means and enable me to continue this tradition and important part of southern heritage!

A Special Visit

I had a pleasant visit and discussion with a world renown ceramicist the other day. Her name is Tacy Apostolik. She is an exception in the Japanese ceramic tradition having served a two-year apprenticeship with Shigaraki Master Kiyotsuga Sawa in Japan. She spent around fourteen years over there learning the secrets and traditions involved in wood-firing in an anagama and a noborigama kiln using the rough, quartzey Shigaraki clay. She has shown in the finest galleries in Japan and the USA.
We talked at length about the wood-firing process she employs and the Old Edgefield pottery tradition. It seems we both pull stray roots from the walls of our pots as we are turning them on the wheel and often dig out the stray rock and patch the hole. Human involvement in the production of ceramic forms brings a certain amount of like experiences, regardless of vast oceans or land distance. It was great to hear some of her experiences and views, though I hogged most of the conversation. We toured the studio and then spent time looking over my groundhog kiln.


Tacy stokes kiln with wood from numerous bundles of pine she has prepared

Tacy came with supreme sculptor goddess and professor Priscilla Hollingsworth from Augusta State University. Thanks, Priscilla! It was a real treat comparing notes with Tacy. I often feel a little isolated since there are no wood-firers around here. This is the center for one of the most amazing wood-fired ceramics traditions in U.S. history and I'm the only one true to the process using original materials and methods. Here's a photo I found online of a piece of Tacy's art. Yum! She pre-stresses some of her work, often prying molten pieces in the kiln with long iron bars into unusual forms. Notice the effects of the wood ash on the pot below.



Tacy's magnificent pot

Other news...I recently participated in an annual Heritage Show at the State Museum in Columbia, SC. It was a treat to see some of my contemporaries and their pots at the show! The Chief Curator of Art seemed to bypass my booth every time he passed by....not sure why, maybe he's allergic to real Edgefield-style pottery or something.

Also, we are adding a bagwall about 2/3rds of the way back in the ware bed of the groundhog kiln. Our taller than normal flue draws a great deal of heat out and prolongs the firing time needed for a kiln of this size. We hope the bagwall might stop some of the rapid loss of heat as well as put us in a 24-30 hour firing time frame. The 40 hour firings are just a heap of stress and fatigue on bones over half a century old!

Our next firing should produce some really great items in time for you to buy yourself a Christmas present! We'll post notes and photos soon after we fire.

Super Hot Kiln Firing

The groundhog kiln was fired on the weekend of August 10, 11 and 12th and was it ever HOT! What is usually a very hot job no matter what time of year was almost unbearable due to the ongoing heatwave over much of the southern USA. Records are being shattered every day and we just passed 8 or so days in a row above 100f degrees. Friday, when the kiln was started, the temperature reached 107 followed by 105 on Saturday! At least I know I'll never experience a hotter firing and won't ever whine about temps in the 90's again.
My deepest thanks go out to Brian for his help throughout Saturday night at the peak of heat! He also supplied a large fan which kept us from visiting the ER or morgue while chunking wood into the flaming inferno called the firebox. We reached cone 11 fairly early compared to other firings. Of course we had the traditional visit from our friends at the fire department early Sunday morning. They were all bright-eyed and full of breakfast.

The kiln was opened on Wednesday and we went in for a quick look at managed to get some pieces out even though I melted the soles on my new shoes. The glaze looked great, although the glaze ran a bit on some pieces and will require some grinding on the bottoms where the glaze stuck to sand or brick.






I hauled a number of loads of pots back to the shop and will post some pics soon. Sony sent my beloved camera back after they replaced the faulty components, YEAAA! I'm back in the saddle with photos. I'd also like to welcome new intern Katie who will learn about Edgefield pottery as she works around the shop and learns the various aspects of making this unique style of stoneware pottery.




Another load of pots is almost ready, but will await cooler temperatures before loading the kiln.







I managed to locate the graves of a couple of important potters from this area, Willie Hahn and his son, Thomas Hahn. William operated a pottery in Trenton before moving to North Augusta, SC in the late 1800's where he was also associated with the Baynham pottery. They were a large part of the scene in the final years of the Old Edgefield pottery tradition. Tommy went on to become an attorney in Augusta, GA. What can I say, mud was in his blood!