This complete pot is quite small, but surprizingly such diminutive containers are not rare on Iroquoian site. Small pots are often referred by a variety of names such as "seed" pots, "toy" pots or "juvenile" vessels. Some were certainly manufactured by apprentices learning the craft of ceramic making. Others might have been special purpose containers.

This pot is decorated in a style quite similar to larger vessels whose decorations allow them to be classified as "Lawson Opposed". It was likely made on the order of 500 years ago by people who were the ancestors of the historic period Iroquoian groups of southern Ontario, the Huron, Neutral and Petun.

Further Reading

Ellis, C.J. and N. Ferris (editors)
1990 The Archaeology of Southern Ontario to A.D. 1650. Occasional Publication of the London Chapter, OAS, No.5.

MacNeish, R.S.
1952 Iroquois Pottery Types. National Museum of Canada Bulletin No.124. Ottawa.

Smith, P.E.
1998 When Small Pots Speak, the Stories They Can Tell: The Role of Children in Ceramic Innovation in Prehistoric Huron Society As Seen Through the Analysis of Juvenile Pots. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton. Copy on file in the Library, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull.

Wright, J.V.
1973 The Ontario Iroquois Tradition. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 210. National Museums of Man, Ottawa.

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