Iroquois Pottery Inventions

Round-Bottomed Pots

Many Iroquois pots from the 16th century had rounded bottoms instead of flat bottoms. These pots were not used to stand on a flat surface. Instead, they were suspended over a fire. After the food was cooked over the fire, the round-bottomed pots were propped up on a small pile of rocks to keep them upright. Round-bottomed Iroquois pots have been found in Hamilton County, New York.

Iroquois potters made dyes to decorate their pottery. They used soot from ashes to make black and grey dyes; berries to make pink, purple, blue, and red dyes; and various other plants to make other colors. Dyed pots were easier to trade with those who lived in surrounding areas. White settlers and other tribes traded with the Iroquois, and colorful pots were sought-after items.

Iroquois potters, who were mostly women, decorated the rims of their pots with interesting designs. Sometimes they used their fingernails to make little arcs in the clay. Sometimes they carved simple human faces using sticks or other tools. Antler tools were also used to make patterns in the rims of Iroquois pots.

Over the years, Iroquois potters made different tools for smoothing and decorating the clay used in their pottery. They prepared gourds to make special gourd scrapers, which made a nice, smooth finish on the exterior of coil pots. They also made tools out of bones and antlers for making imprints into the clay. These tools helped to give the pottery a varied, more interesting look than the more primitive pottery, which was made solely with the potters' hands.