610 A PEIMITIVE URN BURIAL. 



is made of compact clay, unglazed, hard burned, and of the uniform 

 thickness of a fraction more than the fourth of an inch. About the 

 bottom, both inside and out, it presents by discoloration unmistakable 

 evidence of having been subjected repeatedly to the action of fire, prob- 

 ably for cooking food. Its internal surface is very even and regular 

 and has the appearance of having been smoothed by the hand, as finger 

 marks are faintly discerned, particularly about the upper portion. The 

 outside is roughened by being ornamented all over with a continuous 

 repetition of the peculiar design shown in detail in Fig. 3, which doubt- 

 less was impressed upon the soft clay, before it dried, with a stamp cut 

 in intaglio, thus leaving the figure on the vessel in relief, or " raised." 



The smaller vase, in which the ashes of the dead had been deposited, 

 is plain, smooth inside and out, glossy black in color, though not glazed; 

 is thinner and more c )mpact in texture than the large one, looking, at 

 first glance, as if molded of papier mache. It Is free from ornamenta- 

 tion of any sort, and was burned hard after drying. In Fig. 4 it is rep- 

 resented, as is also the covering vase (Fig. 2), one-eighth actual size. 

 Obtusely pointed at the bottom, of conoidal form, it rapidly enlarges to 

 near the top, and contracts again for an inch and three-fourths to the 

 mouth ; graceful in contour, and almost mathematically true and reg- 

 ular in every proportion ; it is 13 inches broad at the widest part, 11^ 

 inches high, and Hi inches across the opening. The fact that in each 

 of these earthen vessels their height and diameter across the mouth are 

 exactly equal in measurement may be only an accidental coincidence, 

 but would seem to indicate that certain definite principles or rules in 

 the plastic art guided the ancient potters in shaping their vessels. 



We are reasonably sure that the wheel and lathe were unknown, as 

 appliances in the manufacture of pottery, to the primitive American 

 Indians. But they must have employed adequate substitutes for them ; 

 for without mechanical aids of some description the wonderful pro- 

 ficiency attained by some of the tribes in the ceramic art is difficult to 

 explain. In the early settlement of the country, about the saline 

 springs in Southern Illinois, Western Virginia, and other localities, 

 numerous fragments of very large earthen vessels were found scattered 

 about over extensive areas adjoining, many of them, when entire, 3 

 or 4 feet in length or in diameter and a foot or more in depth. They 

 doubtless were made and used by the Indiars as evapoiating pans 

 for obtaining salt from the salt-impregnated water of the springs 

 These rude earthen kettles were plain on the inside, but invariably 

 bore on the outside the distinct impression of some kind of woven fab 

 ric. They excited the curiosity and astonishment of the backwoods 

 men; and, at a later time, taxed the ingenuity of the scientist to dis 

 cover the method by which the ancient artisan shaped and manipulated 

 such unwieldy masses of soft clay and supported them in place while 

 drying. This problem was solved satisfactorily a few years ago by Mr. 

 George E. Sellers. In his valuable paper on "Aboriginal Tottery of 



