Oaken bowls were commonly made by the Western Mono, but seem to have been rare among the Miwok. The Field Museum of Natural History possesses two, both (70037, 70055) made from the burls of Quercus kelloggii. The latter is unfinished and was used as a cider bowl or trencher. The first is a Central Miwok piece, the second a Southern piece.

Tools for making these bowls are described under the caption “Bone and Antler Implements”. It seem likely that the manufacture of these bowls was restricted to the Southern Miwok and rare there. They probably learned the art from their Western Mono neighbors.

Pottery vessels were made by the southerly Western Mono and their Yokuts neighbors, but not by the Miwok. The nearest approach to pottery among the Miwok is four clay figures of animals in the Field Museum (70278, 1-4), collected by J. W. Hudson in 1901, from the Southern Miwok of the Chowchilla river. Whether these represent a step in the direction of pottery manufacture or whether they are due to Caucasian example is not known.

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