Coiling is a method of creating

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

. The coiling technique is used to construct

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

vessels through the repeated winding of long, cylindrical pieces of clay on top of one another. This technique can be used in combination with other techniques such as: throwing on a

potter's wheel In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, ...

, slab building, wheel coiling, beating, and pinching. The benefits of coiling as compared to throwing on a potter's wheel are that coiling allows for greater variety in the shape of the vessel: coiled vessels can be any shape, with more extreme fluctuations in the walls by allowing the clay to dry in-between building stages. Coiling does not require a potter's wheel—as it is a hand-building technique—but the wheel can be used to make a vessel more symmetrical. Symmetry is beneficial because round vessels are less likely to crack under intense heat and are more durable than organic, asymmetrical structures. The coiling technique has been used throughout history by numerous civilizations and cultures, including in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. Some coil-built pottery dates back to the

Early Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wi ...

era.

Historical usage

Egypt

Pottery in

can be traced back to the Predynastic Period (c. 3800 B.C.E.). Vessels were constructed using the coiling method, among other techniques (such as throwing on a potter's wheel, molding, slab building, and modeling). A well-known, coil-based Egyptian style of pottery from the Predynastic Period is black-topped pottery. Pottery of this style appears to be over-fired, or burnt, on the top. This style began accidentally because of unpredictable pit-firing methods and gradually evolved into a sought-after feature. The potter's wheel was introduced to Egypt in 2600 B.C.E. by the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

. With this introduction, potters began to use this technology to assist in hand-building techniques like coiling. Hand-building continued to be a prominent means of construction used to produce small ceremonial vessels.

Asia

In Japan, the coiling technique can be traced back to the Jōmon period (ca. 10,500 - ca. 300 B.C.E.). Archeologists identified the technique by locating "butt-to-butt" joints between coils. In China, coiling was a dominant technique in pottery making. Potters utilized two sub-techniques of coiling. One of these techniques left the appearance of stripes on the interior and exterior of the vessel made by a fork-like object. This technique was the first to emerge. The second technique, that chronologically followed striped pottery, consisted of a smooth surface. For decoration, there were two additional techniques utilized. One technique used a wooden paddle wrapped in cord to stamp impressions into the exterior walls of the vessel—this is known as "cord-mark pottery" which emerged at the same time as smooth pottery. An additional technique used a woven mat to stamp impressions into the exterior walls—this is known as "woven pattern pottery" and is the most recent technique.

North America

The coiling technique can be observed in Native American pottery. There is evidence of usage by the Catawba,

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, and

Pamunkey The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Pamunkey people in Virginia. They control the Pamunkey Indian Reservation in King William County, Virginia. Historically, they spoke the Pamunkey language. They are one of 11 Native ...

people. The Catawba people utilized two specific sub-techniques of coiling: "ring" and "circuit." The primary difference between these two sub-techniques is whether or not the coil is closed prior to its attachment to the base, or previous coils. The pottery of ancient Cherokee people, dating back to 1400 C.E., differs from that of the Catawba in the application of coils. Rather than building up one layer at a time, a long coil is formed and wound around until the desired size and shape is reached. Tools used to smooth coils together were shells and

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

rocks. This style is modeled in the modern day pottery of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

people. To begin, potters build a pinch pot as the base of a vessel and proceed to add long, overlapping coils to build the vessel up in strength, shape, and size. The coils are blended by hand. For decoration, modern Iroquois potters use only their hands, a wooden paddle, and a small stick.

References

{{Pottery Pottery