20 ABORIGINAI, POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth.asn.JO 



is quite wide, and opportunities of tracing progress upward to the 

 very verge of civilization are atiorded. Between the groups of 

 products belonging to the inferior tribes scattered over the continent 

 from Point Barrow to Terra del Fuego. and those representing the 

 advanced cultures of Central America and Peru, there is a long vista 

 of progress. Near the upper limit of achievement is the pottery of 

 Mexico, comprising a wonderful cluster of well-marked groups. Some 

 of the highest examples of the ceramic art are found in or near the 

 valley of Mexico, and a number of striking vases of this region, pre- 

 served in the Mexican National Museum, may be regarded as master- 

 pieces of American tictile art. Central and South America furnish a 

 series of superb groups of earthenware, among which are those of 

 Guatemala. Nicaragua. Costa Rica, Chiriqui, Colom1)ia. Bolivia. Peru, 

 Brazil, and Argentina, each disputing with Mexico the palm of merit. 

 Following these in order ai"e various groups of ware whose remains 

 are ass(>mbled about the margins of the gi'eater culture centers or dis- 

 tributed widely over remoter districts. The work of the Pueblo triljes 

 in Arizona and New Mexico, all things considered, stands first within 

 the area of the United States; closely approaching this, however, is 

 the attractive ware of the Mississippi valley and the Gulf coast. 

 Below this and at the base of the series is the simple pottery of the 

 hunter tribes of the North. 



Numerous tribes have continued to practice the art down to the 

 present time, some emplo3'ing their original methods and producing 

 results but little modified by the lapse of centuries, while others, coming 

 more directly under the influence of the whites, have modified their 

 woi'k so that it no longer has any particular value to the ethnologist 

 devoted to aboriginal studies. The Pueblo country furnishes the best 

 example of survival of old methods and old ideals. Here numerous 

 tribes are found practicing tiie art successfully, producing vases and 

 other articles quite equal in many respects to the ancient product. 

 The study of the present practices is highly instructive, and the arclie- 

 ologist maj' begin his study of the ancient pottery of America with a 

 pretty definite knowledge of the technical and functional status of the 

 art, as well as a clear conception of the manner in which it embodies 

 the symbolic and esthetic notions of a people. 



Pottery of the Eastern United States 

 geographic grouping 



In the eastern United State? the studv of the potter's art is essen- 

 tially an archeologic study, although something may be learned by a 

 viNit to the Catawba and Cherokee tribes of North and .South Carolina, 

 and accounts published b\' those who have witnessed the practice of 



