George Escol Sellers

“ Rau quotes from Hunter, as to the aboriginal mode of making pottery, 'Another method practised is to coat the inner surface of baskets, made of rushes or willows, with clay, to the required thickness, and, when dried, to burn them as above described.'"
My object in writing this article is to refute a theory that would attribute to the rude, prehistoric people of the Stone age a skill in manipulation that cannot now be approached by the skilled artisan of the present age; that is, keeping in form and lining with heavy clay fragile baskets of the large size of these old salt-kettles. ”

“ Some of the threads of the cloth being at right angles to the rim, and gradually becoming oblique or bias, presented the exact appearance which a bandage of cloth would, if tightly bound round a semi-globular bowl.
I imagine these half-civilized people to have been practical utilitarians; and I can see the use of a bandage in holding the moist clay firmly bound while being raised from the mould on which it was formed, and which was essential to prevent cracking as it hardened or dried. ”

“ My informant expressed the opinion that, at the time the aborigines used the waters, the spring had its outlet at or near the bed-rock, and had since gradually filled by surface-washings, just as the well in the west ravine has been filled since my first visit, and is now a cattle-tramped salt-swamp.
The present outlet of the spring is not over six or eight feet above low water of the Saline River, and the character of its bed precludes the possibility of its ever having been on a lower level ”

“ George E. Sellers, who obtained it at the salt-springs, near the Saline River. . . . Several acres, Mr. Sellers states, are covered with broken vessels, and heaps of clay and shells, which indicate that they were made on the spot. They present the shape of semi-globular bowls with projecting rims, and measure from thirty inches to four feet across the rim; the thickness varies from a half to three quarters of an inch. "The earthenware has evidently been moulded in baskets. It is solid and heavy, and must have been tolerably well baked. ”

“ About the time I sent the specimens to Dr. Davis referred to by Mr. Rau, I also sent some to the Hon. Thomas Ewbank, and in my letter accompanying I stated that I had discovered what at first I took to be an entire kettle bottom-up; but, on removing the earth that covered it, it appeared to be a solid mass of sun-dried clay. From its position among heaps of clay and shells, its hard, compact, discolored—I might say almost polished—surface, I became satisfied it was a mould on which the clay kettles had been formed, precisely as in loam moulding at the present day. ”

“ He paid no attention to the markings, only observing that their bottoms were perfectly plain, and described them as "basins, as large around as the hind-wheel of his wagon, with flattish bottoms."
At the present salt-works, about five miles higher up the Saline River, on its south fork, near Equality, is the "Half-Moon Lick," where the earth has been licked away to a depth varying from twelve to sixteen feet, in the shape of a horseshoe, about 200 yards from point to point of the heels, and to the toe, or back of the curve, 250 yards. ”

“ We will take the one to the right. When you near the top of the hill, though fully a quarter of a mile from the salt-spring, keep a sharp lookout, for you may chance on a good specimen of well-marked pottery. On reaching the crown, you will be some distance west of the old town-site. Here the plough has been working destruction for many years; but you cannot take up a handful of soil without finding in it the débris of the old salt-pans. ”

“ Where reddened by heat, most of the markings have been thrown off.
This and other considerations lead me to doubt a burning or baking process ever having been applied to them, and I do not think it would have been possible in open fires. The unequal heat would have caused unequal expansion and contraction, and consequent cracking.
It is evident that they are composed of a cement of siliceous clay and slightly-calcined shells. None of the pieces will stand a high heat and afterward moisture. ”

“ You are now in a lane separating a young apple-orchard, thickly grown with clover (so thick as to cover all specimens) , from freshly ploughed cornfields, stretching far off to the south, over the grand valley of Eagle Creek. ”