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8 Tools Ancient and Modern Adaptations The pottery tools currently in use among the Catawba re®ect an interesting mix of the ancient and the modern. Some of these objects , simple as they are, have a history of their own, are treasured as heirlooms, and can even be the subject of a family dispute. When a potter dies, the tools are divided among the survivors. Hopefully the potters are considered ¤rst, but this is not always the case. When Harrington visited the Catawba, the tools he selected to discuss were nearly all of ancient origin. He listed them and their Catawba names: wooden pestle (yebi"tu), mussel shell (nutee’), gourd modeler (wade), wooden modeler (yebitûsikawa), cane knife (wasa’), borer (simpa), rubbing rock (inthri’ or turhrt’), bone awl (nusap), and squeeze mold (wimisûmpade’a) (Harrington 1908). Harrington neglected to mention lap boards, some incising utensils, and corncobs. More serious is his neglect of tools of a recent origin. During his study period, the Catawba were also using steel knives, coconut shell modelers , tin spoons, buttonhooks, twisted wire, coins, snuff box lids, hairpins , and many other everyday objects found in the home. For simplicity ’s sake, these tools will be discussed in order of use. AT THE CLAY HOLES Today the Indians dig their clay with common garden tools. It is relatively certain that this has generally been the case since iron tools became available in the sixteenth century. Edith Brown recalled digging clay with a knife, and Wilburn Harris used any metal object, not necessarily a shovel, found in the yard (Edith Brown, interview, 21 April 1977, BC; Wilburn Harris, interview, 9 May 1977, BC). Harrington mentioned the use of a hoe, which hardly seems an ef¤cient tool for taking clay from the ground. Today the shovel is the universal tool. Once the clay is extracted, it is stored in metal or plastic buckets or any bags strong enough to hold damp clay. PREPARING THE CLAY Straining The wooden pestle once used to beat the clay was abandoned in the¤rst quarter of the twentieth century. The boards and shallow traylike receptacle used for beating clay, photographed by Harrington in 1903 and recalled by Doris Blue, have also gone the way of the pestle. The old beating process was replaced by window wire used to strain the clay and thus remove impurities. Some of the Indians stretch this wire on a wooden frame. Fletcher Beck made such a frame for his wife Sallie Beck. It was about two-and-a-half feet square (Sallie Beck, interview , 21 April 1977, BC). Earl Robbins uses a similar wooden frame with window wire stretched over it. Many of the Indians do not bother to build a wooden frame but resort to a loose piece of window wire bent to hold a rough bowl shape to strain the clay. Building Pots When Harrington worked with the Brown family, the potters worked while sitting on the ground. They built their vessels on squares of board held on their laps. These are called lap or pan boards. Doris Blue explained their use: “We have never used a wheel. . . . We just use a—shape them up with our hands. We just use little boards—square boards or round. Whatever we ¤nd made out of a plank and we call them pan boards. Some of the Indians call them lap boards that you put your pottery on and shape it up. That’s easy to set someplace to dry, and when that piece of pottery is dry you just lift it off and use the piece of board for another piece of pottery” (Doris Blue, interview, 5 March 1981, BC). The lap board has survived because it is technically necessary. It allows the potter to turn the vessel and inspect its shape. The vessel can also be left on this board until it is strong enough to be moved without distorting its shape. Today the Catawba usually work sitting on a chair rather than on the ground when they make pottery , but the lap board has survived this change in work habit. The lap board still rests on the potter’s lap or even on a low tabletop. The number of lap boards vary according to the volume of pottery produced by the potter. In 1977, Georgia Harris had eight pine lap boards roughly one foot square. Reola Harris had three pine boards roughly the same 108 Chapter 8 size. Almost any square of any wood...

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