pip. n'o!' 2^5T' JO^flN H- KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — ^MILLER 159 



The stem insert is located midway on one of the beveled surfaces, 

 while the cone-shaped bowl connects with the stem hole via a tube of 

 fairly large diameter (pi. 63). 



There is nothing unusual in the clay; it seems to be some of the 

 local product which was molded into this shape without the use of 

 any additional aplastic. The paste is somewhat contorted. Firing 

 the object in a reducing atmosphere turned its surface almost black; 

 the surface is roughly smoothed but not polished. 



In the tubular and elbow forms, pipe stems (pi. 62, c) are either 

 round or elliptical in cross section. Bits are either modified by the 

 addition of a small band of clay to create a thickened portion with 

 parallel but slightly flaring sides ranging in width from 0.3 to 1.0 

 cm., or they are unmodified. In all cases the stems taper toward the 

 bit. All stems are relatively short ; those with the modified bit made 

 it easy for the smoker to hold the pipe in his mouth with either the 

 teeth or the lips. 



In most cases the paste is finely divided and appears to be free of 

 any added aplastic. 



In a number of instances the bowls still retain the well-carbonized 

 dottle. Others are free of this intrusion, while still others are dark- 

 ened from the carbon of burning tobacco or other herbs driven into 

 the clay walls. 



A number of other clay objects recovered from the upper portion of 

 the midden were tentatively called clay-pipe fragments since none con- 

 formed to the generalized pipe form. They were thought to be sec- 

 tions of platform pipes or pipes of which only the bowl was fashioned 

 out of a lump of clay, with a connecting channel for the stem insert. 

 All these fragments were recovered from the plow zone and may 

 represent the very latest intrusion into the site. 



Nondescript Twrrvps of turned clay. — Scattered throughout the mid- 

 den section of the Clarksville site were a number of nondescript, 

 irregular lumps of burned clay — red, gray, or blackish brown in color 

 (pi. 64, a-g). These varied in size, weight, and shape. They may 

 have been the playthings of someone who, playing with a lump of wet 

 clay, got tired of handling it and threw it into a handy fire which, in 

 turn, converted the clay into "briquettes." Another possibility is that 

 these objects were purposely manufactured and used in the so-called 

 "hot-rock" cooking. These are just offered as suggestions. Still an- 

 other possibility is that some experienced potter, wanting to test a 

 batch of clay to be worked into vessels, fired trial lumps. One would 

 hardly associate these lumps, which come from a rather late horizon, 

 with similar objects from Poverty Point sites. 



568192—62 12 



