Kentucky's Earliest Artforms

This region was home to some of its earliest artists and craftspeople about 10,000 years ago, long before settlers and explorers such as Daniel Boone arrived. Drawn by fertile soil, running water, and salt licks that attracted large game, early Native Americans settled in the area and relied on salt as an important commodity for barter and trade. As far back as 1000 B.C., area residents made fired pottery, basketry, bone and shell jewelry, leatherwork, and woodwork, while embellished versions of everyday objects found in burial mounds indicate ceremonial and ritual use. Petroglyphs pecked onto stone surfaces in Kentucky caves and rock shelters along cliff lines were likely used in religious celebrations. Textiles were woven from local plant fibers, pottery was hand formed from local clays, and stone was chipped into projectile points and other tools; at first, nearly everyone made necessary objects of similar design and material, though later some craft specialization may have developed, and archaeologists have found evidence of early art collectors who commissioned artwork. Early European American settlers, attracted by the region’s rich natural resources, arrived with few provisions and had to make clothing, shelter, and furnishings, so handicraft became a necessary way of life. Though primarily functional, these crafts were made with pride and preserved traditions from settlers’ homelands, and during the 1800s Berea craftspeople incorporated folk motifs influenced by Irish, Scottish, English, German, and Dutch heritage into handmade, labor-intensive objects usually created and used within the family.

Berea, Kentucky · United States