Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Cultural Services

Item's Choctaw Name:  Shuti

Item's English Name:  Cooking Pot

Age:  ca.1845

Material: Clay, probably tempered with grog

Dimensions:

Height = 26cm

Interior Rim Diameter = 20cm

Max Diameter = 32cm

Rim Thickness = 13.64mm

Origin: According to original accession book:  "Clay made by Choctaws to cook in and used by Eliza Choate."  Other paperwork in file states the pot belonged to Mrs. Eliza Choate, wife of George Washington Choate, who came to Oklahoma in removal of 1832. A copy of an old label in the file states the item was used in the family of Eliza Wood Choate since 1845.

Current Owner: Oklahoma Historical Society  (#2212.1). 

Location: Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City

Contact: (405) 521-2491

Notes - The vessel was scraped on exterior with convex tool to smooth the surface of the walls.  The punctations in rim appear were made by pressing fingernails into the clay when it was soft.  Grog temper particles are as large as 3.15 mm.  The vessel is cracked, and the rim is being held together with bailing wire.