ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



137 



Vrkan^a^ 



shapes are repeated numberless times in elaborated forms. The 

 crude examples teach nothing as to stage of culture. They are of 

 the same time and people as the finer specimens. 



The small bowl given in Fig. 7 is unusually well made, and is 

 peculiar in having its interior surface 

 decorated with a rather chaste incised 

 design consisting of festooned lines. 

 This was a favorite idea with the an- 

 cient decorators and may be seen on 

 both exterior and interior surfaces of a 

 variety of vessels. The rim is bevelled 

 on the inner edge and has a beaded or 

 indented fillet encircling the outer mar- 

 gin. The bottom is somewhat flatten- 

 ed. This specimen is from Arkansas. 



Another rather unusual feature in decoration is seen in a rudely 

 made bowl of medium size. The under surface is entirely covered 

 with a pattern of wide, rough, deeply incised, meandered lines. 

 The rim is abruptly flaring like the brim of a hat. This is orna- 

 mented on the rounded margin by a circle of oblique indentations 

 imitating a heavy cord. The paste is much decayed, the numerous 

 large shell particles having been destroyed, perhaps by burning, as 

 the surface shows use over fire. 



In Fig. 8 we have a good example of the dark, nicely-finished 

 ware of Arkansas. The widely 

 expanding rim is neatly scal- 

 loped on the margin and is 

 finished on the inside with a 

 pattern of incised lines. These 

 lines appear to have been en- 

 graved in the hardened clay. 

 The form is rendered graceful !■"■• S.— Aikan>as. — i. 



by a shallow encircling depression or groove at the base of the 

 rim. . The bottom is somewhat flattened. 



Occasionally we find very deep bowls with sloping sides and flat 

 bottoms resembling our common flower pots. One example from 

 Arkansas is seven inches in diameter at the top and four at the base, 

 and five inches deep. The rim is peculiar ; a heavy band of clay 

 has been added to the outer margin leaving a channel above and 

 beneath. A number of perforations occur in this rim as if made for 



