Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Cultural Services

Item's Choctaw Name:  Ampo

Item's English Name:  Eating Bowl  (Chickachae Combed)

Age:  ca.1830

Material: Clay, probably tempered with fine grog.

Dimensions:

Height = 5.8cm

Interior Rim Diameter = 8.8cm

Max Diameter = ca. 11.5cm

Rim Thickness = 6.60mm

Origin: Brought from Mississippi to Oklahoma in 1832 by the Harkins family.  From the collection of Mrs. Kate McClendon (Harkins family).

Current Owner: Oklahoma Historical Society  (Cat #2669). 

Location: Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City

Notes - Small eating bowls such as this, were common personal possessions.  Many of them were carried across the Trail of Tears, when little else was taken, With their materials and construction, they clearly represented a connection to the Choctaw homeland.

This vessel is very highly burnished almost everywhere, but this is less so on the interior of the base.  This piece definitely has a flattened base, made by shaping the bowl on a table or other flat surface. The combed design has 3 lines, totaling 2.5 cm in thickness.