84 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



and grit has been used for tempering. While the cord marking (instead 

 of incising) on the rim is rather unusual, the shape of rim and collar as 

 well as the color and cord markings on the body, indicate that the pot 

 belongs to the culture represented in houses i and 2. Mr. Spence also 

 found a flat, rounded rock or " pot cover " with this vessel which 

 fits the opening perfectly. Since the only two complete pots of this 

 culture known at present (1932) lack decorative features, we must 

 consider the rim sherds from house i in this regard. 



The decorative elements, if we except the previously mentioned cord 

 marking and rare painting with red ocher, are almost entirely on the 

 rim. This decoration takes the form of modeling (shape of collar and 

 rim) and incision. The main types of rim decoration from house i are 

 illustrated in plate 5, figure i, and more or less representative rim 

 sherds from surface sites are shown in plate 5, figure 2. The latter 

 plate shows some typical sherds from a collection presented by Ralph 

 Douglas, of Bloomington. These were all collected from plowed fields 

 along Lost Creek and the neighboring stream valley of Rebecca Creek 

 a few miles to the west (fig. 4). They pertain to the same general 

 culture as house i. The range of rim types from house i is indicated 

 in table 5 (p. 248). 



From the foregoing it is apparent that the majority (82 percent) of 

 the pots used by the former inhabitants of house i were characterized 

 by a marked collar between lip and rim and that the predominant rim 

 design for incising consisted of parallel horizontal lines. Although the 

 number of these lines varies in the present collection from i to 6 

 (i sherd has i line, 4 have 2, 5 have 3, 10 have 4, 7 have 5, and 2 

 have 6 lines), it is obvious that the 4 and 5 line designs were the most 

 popular. None of these lines on Lost Creek pots were made by cord 

 impressions ; they are all incised. Although this type of decoration 

 occurs elsewhere rather commonly along Lost Creek and at other sites 

 where this culture has been encountered, it seems to have been espe- 

 cially favored by the occupants of house i and house 2, since it over- 

 shadowed all other types. The other design units are all illustrated and 

 do not need more description at this time. The method of decoration 

 by means of small incisions across or along the lip (pi. 5, fig. 2, d, j, k) 

 should be noted. This additional ornamentation is not confined to 

 any particular type of rim but occurs sporadically on various types. 

 It is also noteworthy that handles, lugs, tabs, or appendages of any 

 sort are ext'^emely rare in findings from houses of this type in the 

 Lost Creek district. As previously mentioned, only one rim sherd sug- 

 gests handles or tabs and these are too fragmentary for certainty. 

 This sherd, unfortunately not figured, has no collar but has a straight 



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