Ancient Pottery. 189 



fragments of pottery occur in great abundance. It is rarely, 

 however, that any entire vessels are recovered. Those which have 

 been found, are for the most part gourd-shaped, with round bot- 

 toms and having little protuberances near the rim, or often a deep 

 groove by which they could be suspended. A few cases have 

 been known in which this form was modified and the bottoms 

 made sufficiently flat to retain the vessel in an upright position, 

 fragments found in Jefferson County, seem to indicate that 

 occasionally the vessels were moulded in forms nearly square, but 

 with rounded angles.* The usual size was from one to four 

 quarts ; but some must have contained not less than twelve to 

 fourteen quarts. In general there was no attempt at ornament ; 

 but sometimes the exterior of the pots and vases were elaborately 

 if not tastefully ornamented with dots and lines, which seem to 

 have been formed in a very rude manner with a pointed stick or 

 sharpened bone. Bones which appear to have been adapted for 

 this purpose are often found. After the commencement of Euro- 

 pean intercourse, kettles and vessels of iron, copper, brass, and 

 tin, quickly superseded the productions of the primitive potter, 

 whose art at once fell into disuse." These vessels were not only 

 used for culinary and domestic purposes, but were sometimes 

 buried with the dead, containing probably articles of food for 

 their use in the spirit w T orld ; and, as Charlevoix mentions offerings 

 of sagamatie or pounded parched corn to the dead, this may 

 have been the substance contained in the Clarendon vases, which 

 may have been buried, either as an offering of this kind, or as a 

 store of provision for the living. It may appear adverse to the 

 former supposition, that vessels placed with the dead were usually 

 rendered unserviceable, a fact observed in Canada and Oregon, 

 and of which the writer once met with an instance in Nova Scotia. 

 In other instances, however, uninjured vessels are known to have 

 been deposited in this way. \ 



The modern manufacture of pottery among the Mandans is 

 thus described by Catlin. "I spoke also of the earthen dishes or 

 bowls in which these viands were served out ; they are a familiar 

 part of the culinary furniture of every Mandan lodge, and are 

 manufactured by the women of this tribe in great quantities, and 



•There is a vase with a square mouth, in the collection of the 

 Natural History Society. 



t Lapham, Antiquities of Wisconsin (Smithsonian Contributions), 

 p. 29. 



