ABT. 32 INDIAN VILLAGE SITE IN MISSISSIPPI COLLINS 15 



The paste is coarse and is tempered with pulverized potsherds; 

 only an occasional sherd shows a shell tempering. 



In color the paste is mainlj' of two shades, gray to black or reddish ; 

 firing has generally produced on the outside of the vessel a drab 

 gray or light brown color. Both surfaces are polished to some 

 ■extent. On those sherds in which the paste is of a dark color the 

 polishing of the inner surface often produced a deep black, while 

 the outer surface, subjected to more intense heat in firing, had been 

 burned to a gray or brown color. 



Cord-marked ware. — ^Vessels with cord-marked exteriors were 

 mostly high, straight-sided jars, although a few lower vessels with 

 rounded sides were also represented. 



Most of the sherds are light brown in color, while others range 

 from light gray to almost black. The inner surface is smooth and 

 shows a black polish where the paste is of a dark color. 



As in the case of the plain ware, the paste is coarse and contains 

 ground potsherds as tempering material. In color the paste is buff, 

 gray, or black. 



The surface decoration, if it may be called such, was produced 

 usually by means of a cord-wrapped paddle; a few sherds bear 

 impressions of woven textiles. Typical sherds are shown in Plate 2. 



Painted ware. — The outstanding type of decorated pottery bears 

 bold patterns in bright red and white pigment applied to both 

 surfaces of the vessel. (PI. 3.) 



The most common shape was a graceful jar or bowl with wide 

 mouth and straight sides which tapered down to a small flat circular 

 base. Shallow rounded bowls appear also to have been present, to 

 judge from the shape of some of the sherds, although no rounded bot- 

 toms were actually found. The rim was usually formed of a more or 

 less rounded coil of clay, overhanging on both sides. Almost invari- 

 ably a line had been incised just below the overhanging rim, some- 

 times on one side, sometime on both sides. Other rims are merely 

 somewhat enlarged, while a few are straight. All of the rounded 

 rims are painted red. 



In contrast to the plain and cord-marked ware the paste is of a 

 smooth, fine texture, being tempered with finely pulverized mussel 

 shells ; its color is a light bluish or steel gray. 



The decoration, as far as could be judged from the sherds, was 

 mainly of two types. Most commonly there was a red center at 

 the base of the vessel from which radiated red panels, narrow at 

 the bottom and increasing in width toward the top. These were 

 separated by fields of pure white or bluish gray. The white and 

 red combination was the prevailing one, both colors having been 

 applied as a heavy slip. The blue-gray color, which appears less 



