434 



ANCIENT POTTERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



tish and without the coating of light clay. Both paste and slip can be 

 readily scratched with the finger nail. This vase was found in Frank- 

 lin County, Alabama, near the Mississippi line. 



Fig. 463.— Painted design. 



RESUME. 



Attention has been called to the great numbers of pieces of earthen- 

 ware recovered from the mounds and graves of the middle province of 

 the Mississippi Valley. In certain districts — as remarked by one of our 

 collectors — we have but to dig to fill museums. Such districts must 

 have been occupied for a long period by a numerous people who recog- 

 nized the claims of the dead upon their worldly treasures. The burial 

 grounds of many other sections of the American continent are corre- 

 spondingly ricli in ceramic remains. 



The vessels were not to any extent cinerary, and probably not even 

 mortuary in the sense of having been constructed especially for inhuma- 

 tion with the dead. They were receptacles for food, drink, paint, and 

 the like, placed in the grave along with other possessions of the de- 

 parted iu obedience to the demands of an almost universal custom. 



The material employed in manufacture embraced clay in all grades 

 of refinement, iroin coarse loamy earths to the refined slips used iu sur 

 face finish. The tempering materials — used iu greater or lesser quan- 

 tity according to the character of the vessel to be made — consisted of 

 shell, sand, and potsherds reduced to various degrees of pulverulence. 



The stage of the art represented by this ware is one of hand building 

 purely. No lathe or other revolving device was known, although vari- 

 eties of improvised molds — baskets, gourds, and the like, such as are 

 known to nearly all pottery-making peoples — were frequently enployed. 



The highest degree of finish known was attained by the application 

 of a slip or wash of fine clay which was given a good degree of mechani- 

 cal polish by means of a smooth implement held in the hand. Orna- 

 ment was produced by both flat and plastic methods. The colors used 

 in painting were white, black, and red earths. The plastic subjects 

 were incised, stamped, relievt d, and modeled in the round. 



The period was one of open-air baking, a moderate degree of hard- 



