Many traditional Catawba pot designs are based on a basic "cooking pot" style, dating back to the Woodland period (1000 BCE - 1000 CE) of North American pre-Columbian culture. Widespread use and trade of pottery, along with the evolution of its applications and ornamentation are important cultural aspects to the Woodland and Mississippian (1000 CE - 1600 CE) eras of Native American history.
A "King Hagler" pipe in Billie-Anne’s collection provides an example of a traditional peace pipe with a motif inspired by historic events of the 18th century (view video for story). The pipe is the one of a few Catawba pottery forms that is sometimes made with a squeeze mold. It is unclear as to when squeeze molds were first introduced as a tool, but the Catawba speculate it occurred some time in the late 18th or early 19th centuries.
