BUSHNELL] THE CHOCTAW OF BAYOU LACOMB, LOUISIANA 5 



Examples of pottery from the shell deposit are shown in plate 4. 

 Some of the pieces may be described as follows : 



{a, h) Fragments of two vessels showing decoration on the inner, 

 or concave, surfaces — a rather unusual form, probably similar to the 

 shallow dish discovered by Moore in a mound on Black Warrior 

 river, Alabama.® (c) Two pieces of a large vessel. These had evi- 

 dently been held together by a cord or sinew passed through the two 

 perforations and tied. The fracture between the perforations 

 occurred while the vessel was still in use. (d) A fragment of a very 

 large and exceptionally well decorated vessel. The straight upper 

 edge of this piece measures 3^ inches. By measurement the curva- 

 ture of the rim shows the vessel to have been between 23 and 24 

 inches in diameter. The color is dark gray; the surface is very 

 smooth and polished. The decoration was probably incised after 

 the clay was dry, but before the vessel was fired. Smaller fragments 

 of the same vessel were also discovered, (e) Small fragment of a 

 rim of a rather large vessel, having a perforated projection through 

 which a cord was probably passed. (/) A conventionalized form of 

 (e) showing a projection, but no longer perforated. 



Although some of the pieces represent jars and vessels of excep- 

 tionally good workmanship, the majority appear to have been 

 rather crudely made and decorated. Both straight and curved lines 

 appear in the ornamentation; these were evidently added after the 

 clay had become dry. But the pits in specimens g, h, and i clearly 

 were made while the material was in a plastic state. 



All the pottery shows a tempering of finely pulverized shell. 



The pipe (pi. 5, a) was the most interesting object foimid in the 

 shell deposit. According to Mr. J. D. McGuire, this belongs to the 

 oldest type of pipe found in the lower Mississippi valley; under 

 his classification it is of the biconical form, similar to the modern 

 Choctaw pipes shown in plate 14. The maximum diameter of the 

 bowl is If inches; it is rather shallow, being only | of an inch deep. 



As has already been stated, no examples of stone objects were 

 discovered in the mound, although these are found in the surround- 

 ing country. A piece of indurated clay (pi. 5, h), however, showing 

 evidence of having been used, probably as a smoother, was unearthed 

 in the deposit of shells. Tyj^ical examples of stone objects are 

 represented on the same plate, namely : four points (c, d, e, f) found 

 a short distance south of the mound; two scrapers {g, i) made of 

 red jasper, found on the surface south of the mound; a jasper bead 

 Qh) having a biconical perforation; and three pieces, Tc, I, m, found 



a Clarence B. Moore, Certain Aboriginal Remains of the Black Warrior River, fig. 92, p. 192, PhiladeK 

 phia, 1905. 



