Scoria, a locally available volcanic rock, was used for pottery temper by the villagers who lived at Hank's site. The local scoria is a dark red to black, porous-looking rock full of little air pockets that form tiny holes along its edges. It is, in fact, slag ejected out of a volcano during an eruption. The most important characteristics of the local scoria are that the weathered nodules are easy to crush up, and the tiny bits of rock have sharp angular edges and make excellent temper for binding clay together in pottery making. Photo by Doug Boyd.
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