A long time ago, Clay Old Woman came to the Pueblo people from Shipap, the under-world. She gathered together clay and sand, added some water and mixed them all together. She took small amounts and rolled them out into long coils that looked like snakes. Clay Old Woman wound them around and around and around until she made a container about eighteen inches tall.

In the meantime, Clay Old Man danced around her. At one point Clay Old Man's foot knocked down the container Clay Old Woman had made. She was very angry and chased Clay Old Man throughout the village. Later she returned to the bro-ken container and gave each of the Pueblo people a part of it. They began to use the clay to create containers the way that Clay Old Woman had taught them.

Click on some of these links to learn more about Pueblo pottery:               

http://www.dickblick.com/multicultural/coilpots/ (lesson plan)

http://www.cla.purdue.edu/WAAW/Peterson/Petersonessay2.html (information and images)

http://www.migrations.com/traditionalacoma.html (information and images)

http://www.art.unt.edu/offlinentieva/artcurr/tres/pottery.htm (information, images, and lesson plans)

http://www.art.unt.edu/offlinentieva/artcurr/tres/coiled.htm (lesson plan)