A Unique Northern Plains Ceramic Vessel in the Museum's Lewis and Clark Collection

Mitchell finds out how Meriwether Lewis and William Clark discovered fragments of pottery (now displayed in Penn Museum) during the winter of 1804-1805. Lewis and Clark and the men of the Corps of Discovery visited the Mandan and Hidatsa villages throughout the long northern winter interviewing political and military leaders, making observations, and participating in community activities. They also collected ethnographic objects, animal skins and skeletons, minerals, and dried plants and seeds. The Lewis and Clark pot is classified by archaeologists as Knife River ware. The defining characteristic of this type of pottery is a vertical or out-flaring rim, reinforced at the lip by a narrow coil or strap of clay known as a "brace."