BOLMEB.] 



INFLUENCE OF ASSOCIATED FORMS. 



451 



The acquisition of a new vessel-making material by a nation of pot- 

 ters and the association of the forms developed through its inherent 

 qualities or structure would often lead ceramic shapes into new chan- 

 nels. 



The contact of a nation of potters with a nation of carvers in wood 

 would tend very decidedly to modify the utensils of the former. One 

 example may be given which will illustrate the possibilities of such ex- 

 otic influences upon form. In Fig. 473, a, we have an Alaskan vessel 



c, wood. 



b, > hi\ 



Fig. 473.— Coincident forms. 



carved in wood. It represents a beaver grasping a stick in its hands 

 and teeth. The conception is so unusual and the style of vessel so char- 

 acteristic of the people that we should not expect to fiud it repeated in 

 other regions ; but the ancient graves of the Middle Mississippi Valley 

 have furnished a number of very similar vessels in clay, one of which is 

 outlined in b. While this remarkable coincidence is suggestive of ethnic 

 relationships which do not call for attention here, it serves to illustrate 

 the possibilities of modification by simple contact. 



A curious example illustrative of possible transformation by adventi- 

 tious circumstances is found in the collection from the province of an- 

 cient Tusayan. A small vessel of sphynx-like appearance, possibly 

 derived more or less remotely from a skin vessel, has a noticeable re- 

 semblance to some life form, Fig. 474, a. The fore-legs are represented 



Fig. 474. — Form resulting from accident. 



by two large bosses, the wide-open mouth takes the place of the sev- 

 ered neck, and a handle connects the top of the rim with the back 

 of the vessel. The handle being broken off and the vessel inverted, 



