It seems like all potters working in the traditions of the ancient Southwestern cultures employ pukis or something like them in their pottery making. Even the Mexicans of Mata Ortiz in their technologies which are seemingly unconnected to the ancient Indian potters use pukis.
(Puki, n : a shallow vessel used to shape a pottery vessel)
Yet a puki can be very limiting, you are limited to the size and shape of bowls you already have, and the number of pots made at one time is limited by the number of pukis available. Certainly the prehistoric potters of this area did not always use pukis, that is obvious from the number of corrugated pots found at Mogollon and Anazazi sites. The corrugation goes all the way to the bottom of the pot indicating that at least at first no puki was used. yet if you look at the Gila Shoulders and straight sided bowls of the Hohokam made around the same time, there is little doubt they were using pukis. Given this evidence, I believe that the puki was a Hohokam invention, it’s interesting that the Hohokam technique of paddle and anvil appeared to decline in later years of prehistory while the puki spread throughout the Southwest.
I am currently doing experiments to find ways of constructing vessels without the use of a puki. It should be very liberating.
Work on the firing pit continues, the wet weather last week set me back a bit.
