398 



ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



The dark, uupolished surface is profusely speckled with fragments of 

 white shell. There are four wide, strong handles. The rim and neck 

 are ornamented with encircling lines of finger-nail indentations. 

 A masterpiece of this class of work is shown in Fig. 405. It was ob- 



Fig. 405. — Pot: Pecan Point, Arkansas. — ^. 



tained at Pecan Point. It is not quite symmetrical in form but is 

 carefully finished. The color is gray, with mottlings of dark spots, the 

 result of firing. The height is eleven inches, and the aperture is ten 

 inches in diameter. There are ten strong, well-proportioned handles, 

 each having a knob resembling a rivet head, near the upper end. The 

 margin of the rim has a circle of indentations. There are a few red ves- 

 sels of this shape which have figures of reptiles attached to the neck. 



WIDE-MOUTHED BOTTLES OK JARS. 



Vessels of this class were probably not devoted to the ordinary uses 

 of cooking and serving food. They are handsome in shape, tasteful in 

 decoration, and generally of small dimensions. They are found, as are 

 all other forms, buried with the dead, placed by the head or feet, or 

 within reach of the hands. Their appearance is not suggestive of their 

 original office, as there is no indication of wear, or of use over fire. 



Form. — 1 include under this head a series of forms reaching from 



