Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley Part 6

The vase shown in Fig. 438 has also the double body, the vessels copied having been somewhat more elaborately modeled than in the preceding cases. A bottle is set within the mouth of a pot. The neck is high, wide, and flaring and rests upon the back of a rudely modeled frog, which lies extended upon the upper surface of the body. The notched encircling ridge beneath the feet of the reptile represents the rim of the lower vessel, which is a pot with compressed globular body and short, wide neck. This vase is of the dark, dead-surfaced ware and is quite plain. Four vertical ridges take the place of handles. I have observed other examples in which two vessels, combined in this way, served as models for the potter; one, a sh.e.l.l set within a cup, is ill.u.s.trated in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology; another is given in Contributions to the Archaeology of Missouri.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 438.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

Fig. 439 ill.u.s.trates a rather graceful form of bottle. It is furnished with a rather high perforated stand or foot, and the body is fluted vertically with narrow, widely separated channels. The neck is high and flaring and has a narrow notched collar at the base.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 439.--Fluted bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 440.--Engraved bottle: Arkansas.(?)--1/3.]

There are many good examples of engraved geometric designs upon bottle-shaped vessels. One of the most elaborate is presented in Fig.

440. This vessel has a full, wide neck, a heavy, flattened body, and a broad rudimentary foot. The color is quite dark, and the surface well polished. The engraved design consists of four elaborate, interlinked scrolls, comprising a number of lines, and bordered by wing-like, triangular figures, filled in with reticulated lines. This latter feature is often a.s.sociated with native delineations of mythic reptiles, and it is not impossible that this scroll work is a highly conventionalized form of some such conception. The four volute centers are slightly concave.

Three excellent examples of tripod bottles are ill.u.s.trated in the accompanying figures. The first, Fig. 441, is a large-necked, rather clumsy vessel of ordinary workmanship, which rests upon three globular legs. These are hollow and the cavities connect with that of the body of the vessel. The whole surface is well polished and very dark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 441.--Tripod bottle: Arkansas.(?)--1/3.]

The vessel depicted in Fig. 442 has a number of noteworthy features.

In shape, it resembles the preceding with the exception of the legs, which are flat and have stepped or terraced margins. The whole surface of the vessel is decorated with characteristic designs in red and white upon a warm gray ground. A stepped figure, resembling the Pueblo emblematic "rim of the sky," encircles the neck, and semicircular figures in white appear on opposite sides at the top and base. The body is covered with scroll work in broad red lines, the s.p.a.ces being filled in with white in the form of a thick earthy paste. Each of the legs has one-half red and the other white.

The vessel ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 443 is of ordinary, dark, polished ware, and is entirely plain. It is peculiar in the shape of its extremities. The neck resembles a long truncated cone, and the legs are heavy and conical, being not unlike those of a common iron pot.

_Eccentric forms._--In this place I am able to give but one example of what I have denominated eccentric forms. Others have been indicated on preceding pages. The vase given in Fig. 444 has a flattish, ovoidal body from the opposite ends of which springs a hollow arch--a sort of double neck. This has been perforated at the highest point, and a low recurving rim, which serves as the mouth of the vessel, has been attached.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 442.--Tripod bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 443.--Tripod bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 444.--Bottle of eccentric form: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]

Another example of this form has recently been received at the Davenport Museum. It is in fragments, but was originally nicely finished and painted. Ill.u.s.trations of others may be seen in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, and in Contributions to the Archaeology of Missouri. The specimen ill.u.s.trated was found at the foot of a skeleton in a grave at Pecan Point.

This shape is common to the art of many countries, and was a great favorite in ancient Peru.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 445.--Owl-shaped bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

_Life forms._--In the introduction to this section, I have indicated the many ways in which the human form is employed in the embellishment or the elaboration of bottles. Birds, beasts, fishes, and reptiles are treated in a similar manner.

The owl was a favorite subject with the potter, probably on account of the upright, compact figure of the body, or possibly because of some especial regard in which this bird was held.

A rather handsome specimen is shown in Fig. 445. The modeling is more than usually successful, and the surface is carefully finished. The wings are treated in a pleasing but highly conventional manner. The plumage is indicated by alternate bands of pale-red and yellow-gray, the latter being the ground color. These bands are outlined by fine incised lines. The remainder of the body is painted red. The vessel rests upon the feet and tail--a natural tripod. In many cases the head of the bird forms the top of the neck of the bottle--the body of the vessel itself being plain and globular.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 446.--Hale's Point, Tennessee.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 447.--Arkansas (?).--1/3.]

The heads of animals are treated in the same manner, as may be seen by reference to Figs. 446 and 447.

The head shown in Fig. 446 is clearly that of a bear. The whole vessel is painted red. Fig. 447 ill.u.s.trates a small dark bottle, surmounted by a head of nondescript character. The aperture in these vessels is generally at the back of the head.

Fish and reptiles appear somewhat more rarely in connection with high-necked bottles. The Davenport Museum has recently acquired a fine example, painted in red and white, which has the head and other features of a fish, modeled in relief upon the sides and bottom of the body. A small, dark vessel of like character is ill.u.s.trated in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.

In the example given in Figs. 448 and 449 the upper part of the neck has been modified in such a way as to accommodate a curious, medallion-like relievo of the human face, while in Figs. 450 and 451 the neck is replaced by grotesque heads, the latter being intended apparently for an owl.

These potters dealt with the human figure in a very bold manner for savages. They were evidently capable of representing many creatures with accuracy, but preferred grotesque or conventional forms. A man or a woman is generally modeled with a large body and a curious hunched back, the vertebrae appearing along the prominent ridge. The shoulder blades are usually shown with anatomical distinctness, if not with precision; the arms are long and slender and the hands rest upon the knees or the sides. The position a.s.sumed is mostly that of kneeling or squatting, the feet being doubled up beneath and uniting with the bottom of the vessel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 448.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 449.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 450.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 451.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

These effigy vases are numerous, and greatly varied in size and color.

They are mostly of the dark ware, but are found painted plain red or in red and white figures, some of which represent parts of the costume, others, emblematic devices. The largest specimen with which I am acquainted is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 452. It is well modeled, a good deal of attention having been given to the details of anatomy. The back is very much humped, and the vertebrae are represented by a series of k.n.o.bs. The position of the feet beneath the body is, perhaps, worthy of notice. This is shown in Fig. 453_b_. It will be seen that the knees, calves, ankles, and the various parts of the feet are indicated with an approach to accuracy. The projecting back is seen below. The bottom of the vessel is nearly flat, and the legs are modeled in low relief upon it. Other positions are shown in Fig. 453.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 452.--Effigy bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

Fig. 454 ill.u.s.trates a characteristic profile.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 453.--Positions of feet.]

One of these vases has a cross painted upon the breast of the personage represented. The kneeling position, taken in connection with the cross, leads to the thought that perhaps the potter lived in the period of the French missionary, and attempted to model him in clay.

There is, however, no indication of costume, and the painting, with the exception of the cross, is in a purely aboriginal style of design.

The ground color of the vase is, as usual, a moderately dark gray brown, and the painted figures are laid on in thick, blackish paint.

Lines partially encircle the eyes, and extend down over the cheek to the neck, and a line pa.s.ses around the mouth and extends down over the chin, neck, and chest to the base of the body. The horizontal bar of the cross connects the nipples. The shoulder blades and the hands are also painted black. The back is very curiously modeled and painted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 454.--Effigy bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 455.--Effigy bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

There are in the collection a number of specimens that do not come under either of the preceding heads. Of these I may mention three small figures from Paducah, Kentucky, which represent a snake, a man, and a deer. They are very rudely done, and are possibly modern work.

Attention should be called to some small specimens resembling toadstools or mushrooms in shape, some of which may have been stoppers for bottles, while others could have served as implements in some of the arts. One of these pieces has a distinctly vitrified surface. Its age, however, cannot be determined.

There are a few rude pipes of usual forms and of no special interest.

The comparative scarcity of these articles, so plentiful in some of the mound districts, is certainly worthy of the attention of archaeologists.

UPPER MISSISSIPPI PROVINCE:

I have already pointed out the fact that most of the pottery of the Upper Mississippi region belongs to a distinct family. It has never been as abundant as the pottery of the more southern sections of the country and is not well represented in our museums. There are only a few pieces in the Davenport collection and these are all in a more or less fragmentary state. A majority are from a mound near the city of Davenport, but a limited number came from Wisconsin.

At this time it is impossible to define, with any degree of precision, the geographical limits of this cla.s.s of ware. The tribes by whom it was manufactured have evidently, at one time or another, occupied the greater part of the Mississippi basin north of the mouth of the Missouri River. Similarities of material, shape, methods of manufacture, and ornamentation, tend to show that we must include the greater parts of the States of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, in the area covered by this or closely related ceramic groups, and indications of its presence are discovered far beyond these limits. The mounds of Manitoba have recently furnished examples of this cla.s.s of ware, and it has decided relationships with the ware of the Eastern and Northeastern States. It is not yet time to draw close distinctions, as sufficiently detailed studies of the products of the various districts have not been made.

On the shelves of our museums the difference between the two great families of the middle and Upper Mississippi are strikingly manifest.

The ware of the former district, as already shown, exhibits variously tinted pastes tempered with coa.r.s.ely pulverized sh.e.l.ls or potsherds; the vases, as a rule, having full bodies, well rounded bases, and in very many cases, narrow necks. They exhibit great variety of decoration and no little care in finish. The northern family shows a dark paste tempered with sand, often apparently granitic; a rough fracture, and generally a rude finish. The shapes are comparatively simple, often long, tapering below, and flat bottomed. The ornamentation is totally unlike that of the southern variety.

It consists of cord impressions, incised lines, and implement indentations arranged in figures peculiar to the district. There are many other features that, like the subtile characters of human physiognomy, cannot easily be described, but which are of first importance as indices of relationship or the lack of it.