And while the argument can be made that comparable methods are employed in many ceramic settings worldwide, at times the hand and body movements of the African potters (not to mention the familiar sound of ‘sucking the teeth’ for emphasis) were simply identical. In particular, watching the pounding of the wet clay prior to use with a wide-based wooden pestle convinced me that heritage practices can be retained within the physical memory of the human body, and have been transmitted from mother to daughter across time and space.