All sizes and shapes

In any given area, whenever pottery was manufactured, there was usually considerable variation in the size, shape, and presumably use of ceramic containers. Unfortunately, the recovery of complete or near-complete pots is very rare; the collection before you is indeed unique.

The ceramics of the northern Manitoba region around Southern Indian Lake show the kind of variety possible even under difficult circumstances. The people of this region not only manufactured cooking and storage pots, but also made ceramic plates and even small cups.

The late prehistoric peoples of southern Ontario fashioned ceramic containers in a dazzling array of sizes and shapes. The largest could hold several gallons, while many small and delicately made specimens suggest specialized, possibly ritual, functions. Pots with handles and even some with double orifices were manufactured. Round, oval, and oblong pots were all used within the same village.

The collection of pots in this exhibit offers only a glimpse into a wide range of ceramic containers made over the course of thousands of years, long before Europeans arrived on this continent.

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