Avar (Cooking pot)

Pottery in Papua New Guinea 

 

Pottery reached Papua New Guinea more than 5000 years ago. It is unknown whether the earliest potters were men or women; however there are both men and women potters in various part of the region today.

 

Like other places in the Pacific, pottery was and is hand-made and fired in an open fire. A wide variety of pot forms are made, some for immediate use as cooking and storage vessels while others serve as traditional trade items. 

 

Bau Pottery

 

This vase-shaped cooking pot is from the Bau pottery industry in Madang Province, Papua New  Guinea. Bau pots typically have five structurally and visually distinct zones- base, body, shoulder, neck and rim. Each zone is defined by a form of decoration; exposed and smoothed coils, incisions and notches.

 

In Fulumu village the clay is beaten in the hand to remove any grit and stones before it is rolled into coils. Unlike other areas of the Madang District, pots in the Bau industry are made by men.

 

This avar (cooking pot) is made by the coiling technique where the pot is built with thin coils of clay. The pot has a pointed base with exposed coils and incisions on the body and neck, and notches on the rim.