18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 7^ 



appeared or been removed to reservations. Practically, this meana 

 locating exactly from historical sources the sites of old Indian vil- 

 lages and collecting what may be available for comparison with 

 similar material from earlier sites of unknown age. The most val- 

 uable material for this purpose is pottery; and broken fragments, 

 if sufficiently numerous, are very nearly as useful as whole vessels, 

 or even more so if the latter should not happen to include the entire 

 range of types present. In 1925, by utilizing the pioneer work of 

 Henry S. Halbert, I was able to locate and make collections from 

 certain historic Choctaw village sites in eastern Mississippi.^ The 

 result was the determination of the historic Choctaw type of pottery, 

 on the basis of which comparison with pottery from sites of unknown 

 age is now possible. A few years later similar work was undertaken 

 for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History by Messrs. 

 Moreau B. Chambers and James A. Ford, who were able to locate 

 certain historic Natchez and Tunica sites in western Mississippi. In 

 a forthcoming paper by James A. Ford the potsherds from these 

 historic sites as well as those from neighboring older sites are to be 

 described. Having participated to some extent in locating the 

 Natchez site and having had an opportunity to examine the other 

 materials found by Ford and Chambers, as well as the manuscript 

 referred to, I am able to make use of these additional data as 

 comparative references in the following brief summary. 



Red and white painted ware was the most characteristic single type 

 of decorated pottery found at the Deasonville site. Its occurrence 

 elsewhere in the State seems restricted to the Mississippi River sec- 

 tion, where it has been reported by Moore from Warren, Bolivar, and 

 Tunica Counties.^ At these sites Moore also found vessels of the 

 same shape as some of the red and white painted bowls from Deason- 

 ville — inverted truncated cones with small circular bases, low slop- 

 ing sides and very wide mouths.® Vessels bearing bold designs in 

 red and white have been found more frequently in Arkansas, in 

 Phillips, Lee, Crittenden, and Mississippi Counties along the Missis- 

 sippi River, and they are also found on the St. Francis, Arkansas, 

 and Red Rivers.^" European material was found by Moore at several 

 of the sites from which came the red and white painted pottery.^^ 



''Collins, Henry B., Jr., Potsherds from Choctaw Village Sites in Mississippi. Jour. 

 Wash. Acad. Sciences, vol. 17, No. 10, pp. 259-263, May 19, 1927. 



* Moore, Clarence B., Some Aboriginal Sites on Mississippi River. Jour. Acad. Nat. 

 Sciences, Philadelphia, Vol. XIV, pp. 383, 387, 393-395, 412. 



e Moore, Clarence B., op. cit., pp. 401, 409-410, 441, 458, 476. 



"Moore, Clarence B., Antiquities of the St. Francis, White, and Black Rivers. Ark. 

 Jour. Acad. Nat. Sciences, Philadelphia, Vol. XIV. 



Idem, Some Aboriginal Sites on Red River, ibid., Vol. XIV. 



Idem, Certain Mounds of Arkansas and Mississippi, ibid., Vol. XIII. 



" Idem, Certain Mounds of Arkansas and Mississippi, pp. 513, 525. 



Idem, Some Aboriginal Sites on Mississippi River, p. 431. 



