14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL. MUSEUM tol. 82 



8. MINIATURE FLAT-BOTTOM JAR FROM MOUND 4 



Plate 3, D 



The tempering of this jar is impossible to determine. The surface 

 is rather hard and can be scratched only with a sharp steel point. 

 Such a small portion of the rim remains intact that it gives no clue 

 to its decoration. Below two incised parallel encircling grooves, the 

 elements on the globular body are divided into two parts. The main 

 feature on each half consists of two highly conventionalized birds — 

 probably representing eagles — facing each other. The bodies or 

 wings are outlined on the base of the vessel. This is the only vessel 

 from Marksville that has the decoration extending around the base. 

 The outlines have been formed by deeply incised grooves so close 

 together that only a very narrow ridge remains between them, which 

 has been highly polished. 



9. MINIATURE VASE FROM MOUND 4 



Plate 4, A 



The inside surface is rough and has the appearance of small par- 

 ticles of sand protruding ; nevertheless these lumps are small pieces of 

 clay consisting either of soft pulverized potsherds or of clay pellets 

 not completely assimilated in the original mixing. The outside sur- 

 face can be scratched with the finger nail. The rim, which is quite 

 uneven, is decorated only on the outside with longitudinal indenta- 

 tions vertical to the wall of the vessel. Below the indentations is an 

 encircling groove with five small circular indentations on one side of 

 the vessel, none penetrating the wall. The rest of the decoration con- 

 sists of meandering incised lines, about one-sixteenth of an inch wide, 

 around the body. In certain areas between the grooves there is 

 evidence of a roulette roughening, which was not entirely effaced 

 when the vessel was polished. 



Because this vessel was illustrated in Mr. Fowke's preliminary 

 report ^* it can be definitely identified as the one " 20 inches above 

 the bottom — * * * Among the remains was one decorated pot 

 2 inches high containing minute desiccated fragments of corn, squash, 

 and perhaps other forms of food. A leaf, apparently a corn blade, 

 had been placed over the top." ^^ 



" Fowke, G., Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 78, no. 7, p. 259, 1927. 



^ Fowke, G., 44th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., pp. 420-421, 1928. 



