ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



167 



The love of modeling life forms shows itself again in the little 

 vase illustrated in Fig. 64. The head of some animal, rudely sug- 

 gested, projects from one side while a curved tail on the other 



Fig. 63.— ;\. 



carries out the idea of the complete creature. The round body is 

 decorated with broad vertical lines in dark red. A red line encir- 

 cles the rim. 



It is not strange that a people who had successfully engaged in 

 the modeling of life forms, and es|)ecially the heads of animals, 



Fl,;. 64. — J. 



should attemi)t the human head. Their remarkable success in this 

 direction is shown in a number of vases, one of which is given in 

 Fig. 65. This and kindred peoples had made considerable progress 

 in carving in stone and other materials, evincing a decided talent 

 for sculpture ; but clay is so much more readily manipulated than 



