ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



195 



in what appears to be a dark purplish-gray stain. The design upon 

 the body is wholly unlike anything yet described. It is developed 



Fig. 104. — Alabama. — ^. 



in the light ground tint by filling in the interstices with the dark 

 color. The peculiar character of this design inclines me to the view 

 that it probably had an ideographic origin, although possibly 

 treated here as pure decoration. The open hand is sometimes seen, 



in both the decorative and the symbolic work of the Gulf coast 

 tribes, and is not unknown elsewhere. The figures alternating 

 with the hands are suggestive of a highly conventionalized face, the 

 eyes being indicated by the volutes and the mouth and teeth by the 



