10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.82 



ing into the design near the base (fig. 2). This design is accom- 

 plished by a polished band between two deeply incised grooves. The 

 remaining area has been uniformly roughened by means of a roulette 

 and a zigzag technique.^^ Near the flat base a deeply incised groove 

 incloses the decoration. 



This vessel was referred to by Mr. Fowke " as follows : 



East * * * [of what was assumed to be the center of the mound] was 

 another [grave] a little more than 6 feet long. There was no trace of bone or of 

 anything else in it, except two small pots, one at each end, both of them broken 

 by the pressure of the earth. * * * the other [pot] seems to be glolnxlar. 



2. FLAT-BOTTOM BOWL FROM MOUND 4 



Plate 2, B 



The sides of this inverted cone-shaped vessel are slightly con- 

 stricted halfway between the base and rim. The tempering mate- 

 rial again consists of pulverized potsherds or small particles of clay. 

 Firing has produced a texture that is very uniform and only slightly 

 brittle, breaking in rather straight lines. The surface can be en- 

 graved with the finger nail. 



The rim is decorated on the outside with triangular notches, apex 

 pointing to the right; on the inside the apex points to the left. 

 Viewed from above, the outside notches point counterclockwise, 

 while the inside notches point clockwise. The constriction of the 

 vessel near the middle divides the decoration into two distinct parts. 

 The motif on the upper half begins close to the rim and extends to 

 the two deeply incised grooves near the middle. The figures, out- 

 lined by incised grooves, consist of heart- and pear-shaped objects, 

 and meandering or curvilinear bands, which have been polished, 

 while the rest of the area is uniformly roughened by means of the 

 roulette (fig. 3). The design on the lower half consists of two con- 

 ventionalized birds, the head of each again suggesting the eagle's. 

 Between the heads seems to be a continuation of the body or wing. 



If my interpretation is correct, Fowke " refers to this vessel as 

 follows : 



* * * at about 20 feet from the beginning and * * * G feet up, in 

 the east wall of the trench, were fragments of two pots; one was globular, 



" Holmes, W. H., Aboriginal pottery of the Eastern United States. 20th Ann. Rep. 

 Bur. Amer. Ethnol., p. 190, fig. 72, 1903. 



" Fowlse, G., 44th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., p. 424, 1928. Except in a few in- 

 stances, it is impossible to determine precisely the specific artifacts Mr. Fowle refers to 

 in the description of his excavation of the mounds. The artifacts described in this 

 paper have been recorded in the United States National Museum files as coming from 

 Mounds 4, 8, 10, and 15 in the Marksville worlcs (fig. 1). In several cases potsherds 

 have been assembled in the Museum to make a fairly complete restoration of the original 

 vessel. 



»5lbid., pp. 415-416. 



