Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley Part 5

The head dress should be noticed. It seems to have been modeled after a cloth or skin cap. It extends over the forehead, falls back over the back of the head, and terminates in points behind, as seen in Fig.

422. Two layers of the material are represented, the one broad, the other narrow and pointed, both being raised a little above the surface upon which they rest. This vase head is somewhat smaller than the average human head.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 423.--Head-shaped vase: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/2.

[_National Museum._]]

Another of a very similar character now in the Davenport Museum is about one-half the size of this. The face is much mutilated.

A third is somewhat larger than the one ill.u.s.trated, but is nearly the same in finish and color. The face also has the semblance of death, but the features are different, possessing very decided Indian characteristics. There is no tattooing.

All of these heads, including also some of those in the National Museum, are much alike in conception and execution.

This fact will be forcibly impressed upon the mind by a study of Fig.

423, which represents a specimen recently exhumed at Pecan Point by agents of the Bureau of Ethnology. In size, form, color, finish, modeling of features, and expression, this head closely resembles the one first described. The work is not quite so carefully executed and the head has probably not such p.r.o.nounced individuality. The curious device that in the other example appeared near the left eye here occurs on both sides. The lower part of the face is elaborately engraved. Three lines cross the upper lip and cheeks, reaching to the ear; a band of fret-like devices extends across the mouth to the base of the ears, and another band filled in with oblique reticulated lines pa.s.ses around the chin and along the jaws. The ears are perforated as in the other case and the septum of the nose is partially broken away as if it had once held a ring. A perforated k.n.o.b has occupied the top of the forehead as in the other case. The face is coated with a light yellowish gray slip, and the remainder of the surface is red.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 424.--Head-shaped vase: Arkansas.--1/3.

[_Thibault Collection._]]

Fig. 424 ill.u.s.trates a very interesting specimen of the red pottery of Arkansas. It belongs to the collection of Mr. Thibault, of Little Rock, and was obtained from a mound in the vicinity of that city. The body is slightly lenticular and the human face, which is modeled upon one side, interferes but little with the outline. The face is slightly relieved and extends from the neck of the vase to the widest part of the body, and laterally occupies about one-third of the circ.u.mference.

The middle portion of the face is finished with a light flesh-colored slip, the remainder of the surface of the vessel being painted a bright rich red. Like the preceding example, the countenance is made to give the appearance of death or sleep. Other face-vessels of scarcely less interest are found in the Thibault collection.

HIGH-NECKED BOTTLES.

High-necked, full-bodied bottles form a decided feature in the pottery of this province. Similar vessels are rarely found in other sections of the United States, but occur in Mexico and South America. The forms are nowhere else so p.r.o.nounced. They suggest the well-known water bottles of eastern countries.

In material, finish, and decorative treatment they do not differ greatly from the vases described in the preceding section.

FORM.--Their forms are greatly and often happily varied as will be seen from the series of outlines given in Fig. 425.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 425.--Scale of forms.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 426.--Tripods.]

A striking feature is found in the presence of legs and stands. The former exhibit globular, conical, cylindrical, and terraced forms, Fig. 426. No example has any striking resemblance to European forms.

All are tripods, and are attached to ordinary forms of vessels in a way to suggest that they are superadded features probably rather recently acquired; at the same time legs were doubtless employed by the precolumbian peoples. This is known to be true of Mexico, and Central and South America. There is no reason why the mound-builders of the Mississippi should not have discovered the use of such a device, readily suggested by the use of supports in building, in baking, or in using the vessels, and it would necessarily follow the modeling of life forms. It is true that quadrupeds would not directly suggest the tripod, but birds modeled in clay were made to rest upon the feet and tail, thus giving three supports; besides it would readily be discovered that more than three supports are unnecessary.

The stands attached to these bottles are not essentially different from those described in the preceding section. They take the form of simple bands, as seen at _a_, Fig. 427; double bands, as shown in _b_ and _c_; or perforated feet, as seen in _d_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 427.--Stands.]

Compound vessels are rather rare, nearly all of the varieties being outlined in Fig. 428. Some of these are formed by uniting two or even three simple forms in one. Others are only partially compound and resemble the askoidal shapes of Greek art. Attention will be called to the probable origin of all these shapes elsewhere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 428.--Compound forms.]

Life forms are found in all the groups of ware, but differ in the manner in which they are employed. Fig. 429 shows the usual methods of adapting the human form to high-necked bottles. Quadrupeds, fishes, and birds are treated in somewhat similar ways. The vessels represented in this and the four preceding ill.u.s.trations belong to the various museums of the country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 429.--Adaptation of the human form.]

ORNAMENT.--The styles of decoration are not distinct from those of other cla.s.ses of vessels. The incised scroll patterns are sometimes very elaborate, and the designs in color are perhaps executed with greater care than in other groups.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 430.--Bottle: Tennessee.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 431.--Gourd-shaped vessel: Arkansas.--1/3.

[_National Museum._]]

ILl.u.s.tRATIONS.--_Ordinary forms._--I have not thought it advisable to figure many specimens of plain bottles, as all the varieties of outline are repeated in the more highly elaborated or embellished pieces. Fig. 430 represents a plain bottle of the ordinary dark porous ware. The neck is narrow above and expands abruptly below. The body is globular. Looking at this vessel with reference to a possible origin, we observe its resemblance to a common form of gourd. By a review of the collection, we find that there are many similar vessels actually modeled in imitation of gourds. Good examples are given in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, from which Fig. 431 is taken, and in a paper by Edward Evers in Contributions to the Archaeology of Missouri. The markings of the original are often shown with a great deal of truthfulness in the earthenware reproductions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 432.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 433.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.

[_National Museum._]]

Quite distinct in outline from the preceding forms is the bottle shown in Fig. 432. The neck is high and cylindrical and the body resembles a slightly-flattened globe. Set about the shoulder are four medallion-like faces, the features of which are modeled roughly in low relief. The ware is of the ordinary dark, slightly polished variety.

We have in Fig. 433 a good example of bottle-shaped vessels, the neck of which is wide and short, and the body much compressed vertically.

There are a number of duplicates of it in the Museum. The specimen ill.u.s.trated is in the national collection, and was obtained in Arkansas. It is a handsome vase, symmetrical in form, quite dark in color, and highly polished. The upper surface of the body is ornamented with a collar formed of a broad fillet of clay, or rather of two fillets, the pointed ends of which unite on opposite sides of the vase.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 434.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/2.

[_National Museum._]]

The handsome vase shown in Fig. 434 is of a somewhat different type from the preceding. It was obtained, along with many other fine specimens, from mounds near Little Rock, Arkansas. It is of the dark polished ware with the usual fire mottlings. The form is symmetrical and graceful. The neck is ornamented with a band of incised chevrons and the sloping upper surface of the body, viewed from above, has a cruciform arrangement of stepped figures engraved in the plastic clay.

One of the most striking of the bottle-shaped vases is shown in Fig.

435. It is symmetrical in shape, well proportioned and well finished.

The color is now quite dark and the surface is roughened by a mult.i.tude of pits which have resulted from the decay of sh.e.l.l particles. The paste crumbles into a brownish dust when struck or pressed forcibly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 435.--Engraved bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.

[_National Museum._]]

By far the most remarkable feature of the piece is the broad, convex hood-like collar that encircles the neck and spreads out over the body like an inverted saucer. This collar is curiously wrought in incised lines and low ridges by means of which two grotesque faces are produced. The eyes are readily detected, being indicated by low k.n.o.bs with central pits surrounded each by three concentric circles. They are arranged in pairs on opposite sides. Between the eyes of each pair an incipient nose and mouth may be made out. The face is outlined below by the lower edge of the collar and above, by a low indented ridge crossing the collar tangent to the base of the neck.

The most expanded part of the body is encircled by an incised pattern consisting of five sets of partially interlocked scrolls--an ornament characteristic of the pottery of Arkansas.

Modifications of the simple outlines of bottles exhibit many interesting peculiarities. Compound forms are not unusual and consist generally of imitations of two vessels, the one superimposed upon or set in the mouth of another. A good example in the ordinary plain dark ware is given in Fig. 436. Similar shapes are suggested by lobed forms of the gourd.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 436.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

Other specimens may be seen in which there is only a gentle swelling of the neck, but all gradations occur between this condition and that in which forms of two vessels distinctly appear.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 437.--Bottle: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]

A very usual form is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 437. Below the overhanging lip the neck contracts and then expands until quite full, and at the base contracts again. This feature corresponds to the upper vessel suggested in the preceding case. Four flattened handles are placed about the upper part of the neck and three rows of small conical pits encircle the most expanded portion. The body is plain and much compressed vertically. A low wide stand is attached to the base. A number of good examples, now in the National Museum, were found in Arkansas.