428 



ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



entire surface, with the exception of a narrow band about the base, has 

 been covered with ornamentation. This is executed with considerable 

 care, and shows a great deal of ingenuity and some taste. There is ap- 

 parently no feature copied from nature or from ideographic art. Two 

 or three distinct implements have been used. A part of the neck orna- 

 ment was made by rolling back and forth a circular tool, a roulette, 

 the edge of which was notched. A row of indented nodes has been 

 produced upon the exterior surface of the neck by impressing upon the 

 inside the end of a reed or hollow bone about one-fourth of an inch iu 

 diameter. Patterns of bold, rather carelessly drawn lines cover the 

 body and seem to have been made by trailing, under pretty strong 





FlG. 456. — Vase : Davenport, Iowa. — J. 



pressure, the smooth point of a stylus — probably the bone or reed al- 

 ready suggested. Some of the larger indentations upon the lower part 

 of the neck may have been made by the same implement held in an 

 oblique position. The use to which this vessel was applied can hardly 

 be guessed. It was found with the remains of its owner, and probably 

 contained food or drink. 



Another smaller vessel from the same locality and found under simi- 

 lar conditions shows the same characteristics of material, form, and orna- 

 ment. There are also a few other fragments of the same ware from 

 this group of mounds. One of these shows that decoration by the in- 

 dentation of twisted cords was practiced here as elsewhere. A similar 



