Happy Mother’s Day! In honour of Mother’s Day, here are some examples of mothering in Canadian history: juvenile vessel fragments from the McNair Site; a mid-fifteenth century ancestral Wendat village site found in Vaughan, Ontario.
Archaeologists call these finds ‘juvenile vessels’ because they are attempts at pot-making by children - a learning process involving children partaking in adult activities. We know through the historic records that women, and specifically mothers, aunts and grandmothers, were the ones that taught children to make vessels. In general, juvenile ceramic assemblages include a great variety of decorative motifs and techniques. You can see in the fragments below that, based on the pot manufacture and decoration, young potters tended to copy adult pot styles. In some cases, even distinct types can be recognized among juvenile vessels.
Small versions of ceramics were made by young girls that imitate the style of the full size pots. When a young woman became more skilled at pottery, she would make smaller pots first, and eventually make the impressive full size pots that her elders made.(Source)