494 



REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



/- 



fe 



V, 



is miide in tlic same mauuer as in prehistoric times, and apparently 

 this Ivnowledge had descended from generation to generation uiiaifected 

 by ontside inllucnces. The theory has been put forth that prehistoric 

 pottery was hardened by exposure to the sun. While exposure to the 

 sun might harden it sufficiently to maintain its form and to hold sub- 

 stances of little weight and no moisture, yet for the ordinary uses of 

 pottery the hardening by the sun is insufficient, and it is believed that 

 all pieces and fragments of prehistoric times were burnt. 



These prehistoric vases were for the most part rounded at the bottom 

 and unable to sit alone. The suggestion is made, by way of explana- 

 tion, that they were suspended over the fire, and anything in the way 

 ^__ of a bottom as a base or legs would 



interfere with this, and therefore 

 the bottoms were rounded. 



The form most affected through- 

 out western Europe for pottery 

 vases was that called the tulip. It 

 was the commonest in Brittany, 

 where the material was the finest; 

 but it was also used in England, in 

 Hanover, Bohemia, Hungary, Sicily, 

 and in Portugal. Plate 55 repre- 

 sents two vases of the tulip form, 

 with characteristic ornamentation, 

 from southeastern France. They 

 were found in a dolmen in the neigh- 

 borhood of the little hamlet of St. 

 Vallier, in the department of Alpes- 

 Maritimes, where the author spent a 

 summer in archaeological researches. 

 They were found by and are the 

 property of M. Oasimir Bottin. 



Plate 50 will show the form of 

 pottery vases in various European 

 countries during the Neolithic period. The style of decoration has 

 been shown in jjlates 19 and 20, and need not be further treated here. 



Bronze age. — The pottery of the Bronze age was not materially differ- 

 ent from that of the Neolithic period. There is, to be sure, a certain 

 change of form ; all specimens seem to have been smaller. There are a 

 great number of cups, dishes, i)lates, etc. The j)aste is finer, the walls 

 are thinner, and the decoration, while of the same general style, is a 

 continuation of the lines, dots, and curves arranged in geometric form. 

 They are, however, made lighter and closer together, giving the orna- 

 mentation a finer and more artistic air. With these exceptions, the pot- 

 tery of the Bronze age was much the same as that of the Neolithic 

 period. 



Fig. 14!t. 



SCUL. TUltE OF NAKED HUMAN FOOTPRINT ON A 

 qUAKTZITE BOWLDEll. 



Gasconade County, Missouri. 



Collected by Jnhii P. Jones. Cat. No. 1579il, U.S.N, M. 

 ^ natur.ll size. 



