While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Dishes. Vessels for the preparation and serving of food
and other purposes were manufactured by all Indian tribes. While their use as
receptacles prescribes a con cavity of circular, oval, or oblong outline, there
is a great variety of shape, decoration, etc., according to individual taste or
tribal custom, and a wide range of material, as stone, shell, bone, ivory, horn,
rawhide, bark, wood, gourd, pottery, and basketry.
The vessels for serving food were not used to hold individual portions, for the
Indians ate in common; but the little dishes held salt and other condiments,
small quantities of delicate foods, etc. The larger dishes contained
preparations of corn or other soft vegetables, and the trays and platters were
for game, bread, etc., or for mixing or preparing food. In many cases the
cooking pot held the common meal, and portions were taken put by means of small
dishes and ladles, in which they were cooled and eaten. Some dishes had special
uses, as platters, mats, and trays for drying fruits, roasting seeds, etc., arid
as ceremonial bowls, baskets, etc.
From archeological sites have been collected many examples of dishes. Some made
of soapstone were found in several Eastern and Southern states, and in Wyoming
and California. Vessels formed of seashells, cut principally from Busycon,
and also from Cassis, Strombus, and Fasciolaria, were found
in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas, Georgia, and Florida. Dishes of
pottery come from many parts of the United States and some made of wood from
Florida.
The Indians in general used dishes of wood, and even where pottery, basketry,
and bark were common, wooden vessels were made. Each region supplied suit able
woods. A predilection for burl wood and knots was general. The majority of
existing wooden vessels were fashioned with iron tools, but before metal was
introduced they were excavated by means of fire and stone tools. Eskimo wooden
dishes were sometimes cut from a single piece, but they usually had a rim of
bent wood fastened to the excavated bottom and were oval in shape. Those of the
N. W. coast tribes were boxes of rectangular shape, with scarfed and bent sides
attached to the bottom; but the Indians also had excavated dishes carved to
represent animal forms in great variety, and small bowls of horn occur. The
Salishan tribes made dishes of wood and horn which were elaborately carved. The
northern Athapascans as a rule used dishes, platters, and trays of birch bark
folded and sewed, but among some tribes the dishes were like those of the
Eskimo.
The Chippewa had well-finished wooden dishes of rectangular, oval, or circular
shape. The Iroquois made excellent dishes, cups, bowls, etc., of burl wood, and
sometimes furnished them with handles. The Plains Indians also used in
preference burl or knot wood, and while as a rule their dishes were simple in
out line and homely, some specimens were well carved and* finished. The Virginia
and other Southern Indians cut dishes, often of large size, from softwood; of
these the Cherokee and Choctaw r bowls and platters made of tupelo are
noteworthy. The Ute made rude oval bowls with projections at the ends, and
oblong platters and knot bowls with handles. The Paiute used for dishes the
carapace of the box turtle. The Pueblos, while relying mainly on pottery and
basketry, had dishes wrought from knots and mountain-sheep horn. The Pima and
Papago made oblong trays and shallow platters from mesquite wood. The Hupa of N.
California cut large, flat trays from redwood. The tribes of the Santa Barbara
region, California, inlaid wooden vessels with mother-of-pearl.
Bark dishes were extensively used by tribes within the birch area and to some
extent by all the forest Indians. Those of the S. made great use of gourds.
The Pueblo Indians employed pottery and to some extent basketry for dishes, and
the same is true in a lesser degree of some of the Plains and Eastern tribes.
Southwestern and Californian Indians made use of basketry almost exclusively.
See Bark, Basketry, Bowls, Implements, Pottery, Receptacles, Woodwork.
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906
