Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley Part 3

The small bowl, shown in Fig. 389, is nearly hemispherical in shape.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 389.--Animal-shaped bowl: Arkansas.--1/3.]

A small head, representing some animal, has been attached to the rim. The exterior surface is covered with a number of groups of roughly-worked concentric ridges, which may be meant to imitate hair.

These ridges have apparently been made by pinching up the clay between the nails of the fingers and thumb. Figures of similar form are generally incised. This vessel is probably from the vicinity of Pecan Point.

The creature represented by the head, shown in Fig. 390, would not be recognized from the cut, or perhaps not even with certainty from any single specimen, but with a number of examples in view, there need be no hesitation. The animal intended is a bat. In a number of features the likeness is striking. The high top head, the angular ears, and the small eyes crowded down upon the mouth are characteristic. The tail is flat, curved a little upward, and ridged along the middle in imitation of the attenuated caudal column. The general consistency of this work is demonstrated by the fact that this particular form of tail accompanies this form of head in all cases, and is not a.s.sociated with any other. The face of the bat is always turned toward the vessel; in imitation of other varieties of animals, it is nearly always turned out.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 390.--Bowl with bat's head: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]

In one case, Fig. 391, we have, what appears to be, a human head attached to the side of the bowl. This head is furnished with a triangular crest, notched on the edges, and enlarged at the top. The case is a perplexing one, especially as a tail like that attached to the bird bowls occurs on the side opposite the head.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 391.--Bowl: Arkansas.--1/3.]

POT-SHAPED VESSELS.

There is no hard line of demarcation between the cla.s.s of vessels now to be considered and those already described. The distinction is made chiefly for convenience of treatment.

MATERIAL, ETC.--As a rule, pot-shaped vessels are of coa.r.s.er materials and of ruder finish than other forms, indicating, perhaps, their exclusive relegation to the culinary arts, where nice finish was not essential. In many cases they show use over fire.

In size, they have a wide range. The larger are often as much as fifteen inches in diameter, and twenty in height. There are a score or more of very large size in the Davenport museum.

FORM.--The form characteristics are a full globular body--sometimes elongated, sometimes compressed vertically--a low neck, and a wide aperture. The bottom is very generally rounded. A few of the form modifications are shown in Fig. 392. The rim or neck is always short, and is upright or slightly recurved. Many vessels resembling the shapes here presented are placed with the succeeding group, as they appear to be functionally distinct from this. There are no examples with legs or stands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 392.--Forms of pots.]

HANDLES.--Looped handles are confined almost wholly to this cla.s.s of vessels. They are generally ranged about the rim or neck. In a majority of cases there are four handles to a vessel. We rarely find less than that number, but often more. It is a usual thing to see fifteen or twenty handles set about the rim. Originally the handles may have been exclusively functional in character; they were so at least in antecedent forms. These potters have certainly, at times, employed them for purposes of embellishment. In some cases they are too fragile for use, in others they are flattened out against the neck of the vessel and united with it throughout their whole length. Again, they have degenerated into mere ridges, notched and otherwise modified to suit the fancy. In many instances their place is taken by incised lines or indentations which form effective and appropriate ornamental figures. A series of vessels showing gradations from perfect handles to their atrophied representatives is shown in Fig. 393.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 393.--Handles.]

ORIGIN OF HANDLES.--Handles were doubtless originally attached to facilitate the suspension and handling of vessels and other articles.

They probably had their typical development in basketry, and there are good reasons for supposing that certain forms of the handles upon pottery owe their existence to contact with the sister art. This idea is confirmed by their shapes, and by the fact that a large percentage of the pottery handles are useless as aids to suspension or transportation.

ORNAMENT.--Rim margins are modified for decorative purposes, very much as they are in bowls. See Fig. 363.

The bodies of these vessels are often elaborately ornamented, mostly by incised figures, but often by punctures, nodes and ribs. The incised lines are arranged princ.i.p.ally in groups of straight lines forming angular figures--a very archaic style--and in groups of festooned lines so placed as to resemble scales. The punctures are made with a sharp point, and form encircling lines and various carelessly executed patterns. A rude sort of ornamentation is produced by pinching up the soft clay of the surface between the nails of the fingers and thumb. Relief ornament consists chiefly of applied fillets of clay, arranged to form vertical ribs. Rows of nodes are sometimes seen, and in a few cases the whole body is covered with rude nodes.

ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.--The specimens selected for ill.u.s.tration are intended to epitomize the forms and decorations of a very great number of vessels, and are not always the most showy examples to be found.

A vessel of rather exceptional shape is given in Fig. 394. It could as well be cla.s.sed with bowls as with pots. The ware is of the rude kind generally used over the fire. The body is high and cylindrical, the rim flaring, and the bottom quite flat. The form is suggestive of our domestic crockery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 394.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]

Another bowl-like pot is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 395. It is of the dark, rudely hand-polished variety. The body is globular, the neck is very short and is ornamented with a dentate band. Below this are two pairs of perforations, probably used for suspending the vessel. There are a number of vessels of this variety, mostly smaller than the example given.

The vessel shown in Fig. 396 is still more pot-like. The neck is higher than the preceding and is slightly constricted. It is of very rude construction and finish. The rim is furnished with two small horizontal projections, and the body is somewhat obscurely lobed. It represents a very numerous cla.s.s, especially plentiful in Southeast Missouri.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 395.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 396.--Pot: Waverly, Tennessee.--1/3.]

The little pot presented in Fig. 397 has the body covered with rude nodes. The neck is surrounded by a heavy fillet, notched obliquely in imitation of a twisted cord. Four rude handles have also been attached.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 397.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 398.--Pot: Arkansas.--1/3.]

In Fig. 398 we have one of the rudest examples in the collection.

The neck is furnished with four handles, which alternate with four vertical ribs. The body is misshapen and rough, and is ornamented with a series of nearly vertical ridges, a rather usual device, and one which is sometimes very neatly executed.

The body of the nicely finished pot shown in Fig. 399 is embellished with short, incised markings, arranged in vertical lines. The neck is furnished with a heavy indented band and four strong handles. The locality given is "Four-Mile Bayou, Alabama."

The specimen given in Fig. 400 ill.u.s.trates the use of great numbers of handles. In this case there are sixteen. They are gracefully formed and add much to the appearance of the vessel, which is really a bowl with wide, flaring rim. In most of its characters it resembles the pots.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 399.--Pot: Alabama (?).--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 400.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]

Another curious variation in the shape of handles is shown in the little cup given in Fig. 401. This can hardly be called a usual feature, although occurring in vessels of various localities. I have seen an example from the Missouri Valley in which a great number of perforated handles were set about the rim, and another in which there was a continuous, partially free, collar perforated at intervals.

There is a specimen of this cla.s.s in the Davenport Academy collection in which the flattened handles are so placed about the neck as to form a series of arches. These, I take it, are partially atrophied forms.

The body is ornamented by a scale-like pattern of incised lines--a favorite method of decoration with the ancient potter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 401.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 402.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]

In Fig. 402 we have an ill.u.s.tration of total atrophy. The handles are represented by simple incised lines. There is no relief whatever. In many cases the form of the handles is shown in low relief, the outer surface being plain or ornamented with incised lines or punctures.

The body of the vessel last mentioned is covered with rudely incised scroll designs.

Another good ill.u.s.tration of this cla.s.s of vessels is shown in Fig.

403.

The cut is taken from my paper in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. The handles are indicated by incised lines. The body was ornamented by pinching up the clay between the nails of the thumb and forefinger. Locality: Pecan Point, Arkansas.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 403.--Pot: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3. [_National Museum_]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 404.--Pot: Hale's Point, Tennessee.--1/3.]

A good example of the larger pots is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 404. It is engraved a little less than one-fourth the dimensions of the original.

The height is seventeen inches and the greatest diameter eighteen inches. It is very well made. The walls are even and only moderately thick. The dark, unpolished surface is profusely speckled with fragments of white sh.e.l.l. There are four wide, strong handles. The rim and neck are ornamented with encircling lines of finger-nail indentations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 405.--Pot: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]

A masterpiece of this cla.s.s of work is shown in Fig. 405. It was obtained at Pecan Point. It is not quite symmetrical in form but is carefully finished. The color is gray, with mottlings of dark spots, the result of firing. The height is eleven inches, and the aperture is ten inches in diameter. There are ten strong, well-proportioned handles, each having a k.n.o.b resembling a rivet head, near the upper end. The margin of the rim has a circle of indentations. There are a few red vessels of this shape which have figures of reptiles attached to the neck.

WIDE-MOUTHED BOTTLES OR JARS.