ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 141 



is brownish gray in color and bears some marks of the baking. 

 It was obtained by Captain Hall from a low mound at Hale's 

 Point, Tennessee, and is described by Mr. W. H. Pratt, in the fol- 

 lowing language: "It is of rude, irregular, quadrangular form, 

 made in two parts. The lower, or case proper, is twelve inches 

 long, seven inches wide, and five inches deep, inside measure, the 

 upper edge being slightly bent inward all around. The upper 

 part or lid is of similar form and dimensions, being very slightly 

 larger, so as to close down over the other part, about one and a 

 half inches, and is somewhat more shallow. As the lid does 

 not fit very perfectly, the joint around the edge had been plastered 

 up with clay. When found, it contained the remains of a very 

 small child reduced to dust, except that some of the bones of the 

 skull, jaws and limbs retained their form, crumbling rapidly, how- 

 ever, upon removal and exposure to the air. There were also found 

 two or three dozen small shell beads. Excepting the remains de- 

 scribed, the case was entirely empty. The case weighs six and a 

 quarter, and the lid just six pounds." This is one of the very few 

 vessels that would seem to have been constructed especially for 

 mortuary purposes. 



Life forms. — A very large percentage of the bowls of this district 

 are modified in such a way as to resemble, more or less closely, the 

 form of some living creature — bird, beast, or reptile. Especial atten- 

 tion has been given to the heads. These are modeled in the round and 

 attached to the rim or side, while other parts of the animal appear 

 upon different portions of the vessel. 



It will be difficult to determine the origin of this curious practice. 

 We shall not be able to say that it came from the elaboration of 

 handles, simply to please fancy, for the reason that vessels of this class 

 are rarely known to have had simple handles ; nor from the modi 

 fication of simple ornaments, as such were but little used. It is still 

 less probable that animal forms were first modeled independently, 

 and afterwards changed in such a way as to serve as vessels. There 

 are no examples of animal forms in clay independently of vessels. 

 It would not be consistent with primitive methods of procedure to 

 copy nature direct, at least until some mystic significance had be- 

 come attached to the form employed. It is possible, however, that 

 the origin of this practice is not be found within the plastic art 

 itself, but in the shapes of antecedent and co-existant vessels of other 

 materials in which life forms had been employed ; or in the use of 



