ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



153 



wide aperture. The bottom is very generally rounded. A few of 

 the form modifications are shown in Fig. 37. The rim or neck is 



Fk;. 37. — Forms of Pots. 



always short, and is upright or slightly recurved. Many vessels re- 

 sembling the shapes here presented are placed with the succeeding 

 group as they appear to be functionally distinct from this. There 

 are no examples with legs or stands. 



Handles. — Looped handles are confined almost wholly to this 

 class of vessels. They are generally ranged about the rim or neck. 

 In a majority of cases there are four handles to a vessel. We rarely 

 find less than that number, but often more. It is a usual thing to see 

 fifteen or twenty handles set about the rim. Originally the liandles 

 may have been exclusively functional in character, tliey were so at 

 least in antecedent forms. These potters have certainly, at times, 

 employed them for purposes of embellishment. In some cases they 

 are too fragile for use, in others, they are flattened out against, and 

 united with, the neck of the vessel, throughout their wiiole length. 

 Again, they have degenerated into mere ridges, notched and other- 

 wise modified to suit the fancy. In many instances, their place is 

 taken by incised lines or indentations which form effective and 

 appropriate ornamental figures. A series of vessels showing grada- 

 tions from perfect handles to their atrophied representatives is shown 

 in Fig. T,8. ' * 



Fk;. 38. — Modification of handles. 

 Origin of Handles. — Handles were doubtless originally at- 

 tached to facilitate the suspension and handling of vessels and other 

 articles. They probably had tlieir typical developement in bas- 

 ketry, and there are good reasons for supposing that certain forms 

 of the handles upon pottery owe their existence to contact with tlie 

 sister art. This idea is confirmed by their shapes, and by the fact 

 that a large percentage of the pottery handles are useless as aids to 

 suspension or transportation. 



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