Making the Gila Football Pot - Hand-Building Pottery

Gila Polychrome was made over much of southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico from about 1300 to 1450 AD. These mysterious "football pots" are a rare sight and nobody knows what they were used for. Here I am recreating one of them that is housed at Eastern Arizona College as part of the "Mills Collection". Learn the subtleties of the ancient coil and scrape method of pottery construction by watching and building along with me.

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0:00 What is a football pot?
0:45 How to form the oval base
1:34 Cleaning up the bottom of the pot
1:59 Coil and scrape pottery building technique
2:45 How to make a round neck on an oval jar
3:30 Smoothing the pot walls
3:58 Slipping the pot to add color
4:26 Stone polishing
4:42 Painting designs with organic paint
5:28 Finished pot revealed and compared

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Andy Ward PO Box 43601 Tucson, AZ 85733

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