l62 



DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



As skillful as these peoples were in modeling life forms, and in 

 engraving geometric devices, they seem rarely to have attempted 

 the linear representation of life forms. We have, however, two 

 very good examples.. 



The first of these is shown in Fig. 55. It is a large bottle em- 

 bellished with four very rude drawings of the human figure, executed 

 with a sharp point in the soft clay. Height, eight inches. 



The work is characteristic of a very early stage of art. The fig- 

 ures could be duplicated in the work of the ancient Pueblos, and 

 the pictographic art of many of our savage tribes. They are prob- 

 ably derived from symbolic art, and possibly relate to the guar- 

 dians of the four j^oints of the compass, or to some similar mythi- 

 cal characters. 



The work upon the neat little bottle presented in Fig. 56, is of 

 the same class as the above but of a much higher grade, both in ex- 

 ecution and conception. The engraved design is one of the most 

 remarkable ever obtained from the mounds. It consists of two 

 winged and crested rattlesnakes, which encircle the most expanded 

 part of th-e vessel, and of two sunflower-like figures, alternating with 



Fig. 56. — Arkansas. — 'i. 



them. These designs are very carefully engraved with a needle-like 

 point, and are adjusted to the form of the vase in a way that sug- 

 gests forethought and a knowledge the decorative value of the 



