The Social Lives of Early Caddo Pottery

Analyzing pottery to reveal the sophistication and enduring cultural legacy of Caddo society

In this book, Shawn Lambert examines pottery made by the Caddo people on the western fringes of Mississippian culture in North America from 1000 to 1250 CE, revealing a society that was more sophisticated, connected, and influential than previously understood. Lambert traces pottery from its production through exchange, deposition, museum curation, and living Indigenous practice to show that these objects have had dynamic, nonlinear social trajectories across communities, regions, centuries, and cultures.

During this period, Caddo potters developed distinctive new forms, including bottles, beakers, seed jars, and carinated bowls. These finely crafted vessels featured thin walls, polished surfaces, intricate engraved designs, and red and white pigments, and are considered some of the most technically sophisticated ceramics in North America. Lambert discusses new analyses that challenge long-standing assumptions about where Caddo pottery was made and how far potters traveled. He shows these vessels were used in a range of settings and were traded widely among neighboring cultures. The book concludes with a chapter coauthored by contemporary Caddo potter Chase Kahwinhut Earles that explores how traditional pottery-making is being revived and sustained by descendant communities today.