130 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



used are varied and interesting. They include, first, fanciful modi- 

 fications of form; second, relief ornament ; third, incised designs; 

 and, fourth, designs in color. 



Modification of form. — It can hardly be claimed that the ancient 

 peoples of this region had a very refined appreciation of elegance of 

 outline, yet the simple, essential forms of cups and pots were, by no 

 means, satisfactory to them. There are many modifications of shape 

 that indicace a taste for, and a constant attempt to realize higher types 

 of beauty. The aesthetic sentiment was considerably developed. 



There is also a decided tendency toward the grotesque. To such 

 an extreme have the dictates of fancy, in this respect, been followed,, 

 that utility, the true office of the utensil, has often taken a second- 

 ary place, although never lost sight of entirely. Bowls have been 

 fashioned into the shapes of birds, fish, and reptiles, and vases and 

 bottles into a multitude of animal and vegetable forms without re- 

 gard to convenience. All of these modifications of essential forms 

 were doubtless looked upon as, in a sense, ornamental. So far as I 

 can determine they were in no case intended to be humorous. 



Relief ornametit. — Decorative ideas of a purely conventional char- 

 acter are often worked out in both low and salient relief. This is 

 generally accomplished by the addition of nodes and fillets of clay 

 to the plain surfaces of the vessel. Fillets are applied in various 

 ways over the body, forming horizontal, oblique and vertical bands 

 or ribs. When placed about the rim or base, these fillets are gen- 

 erally indented with the finger or an implement in a way to imitate 

 rudely, a heavy twisted cord — a feature borrowed, doubtless, from 

 basketry. Nodes are likewise attached in various ways to the neck 

 and body of the vessel. In some cases the entire surface of the 

 larger vessels is varied by pinching up small bits of the clay between 

 the nails of the fingers and thumb. 



Incised designs. — The aesthetic tendencies of these potters are well 

 shown by their essays in engraving. They worked with points upon 

 both the plastic and the sun-dried clay, as well as at times upon the 

 fire-baked surface. Figures thus produced exhibit a wide range of 

 artistic achievement. They illustrate all stages of progress from 

 the most archaic type of ornament — the use of dots and straight 

 lines — to the most elegant combinations of curves; and, finally to 

 the delineation of life forms and fanciful conceptions. 



Generally, when a blunt implement is employed, the line is pro- 

 duced by a movement that I shall call trailing, in contradistinction 



