HOLMES] USES OF POTTERY 25 



belong- various implements iisod in the arts, as trowels ;iiul modeling 

 tools; to the third class belono- vessels and othei' articles used in 

 funeral rites, as burial urns and offerings; as personal ornaments 

 there are beads, f)endants, and ear and lip plugs; and for trivial and 

 diversional uses there are toy vessels, tigurines, and gaming articles. 

 Most of the objects may sei-ve a numl)er of uses. as. for example, a 

 single vessel may, with a simple people, answer for culinary, for 

 religious, and for mortuary purposes, and tobacco pipes may lunc 

 ceremonial as well as medical and diversional uses. 



Although the esthetic idea was considerably developed among all 

 classes of our aborigines, and much attention was paid to embellish- 

 ment, it is not probable that any vessel was manufactured for purely 

 ornamental purposes. Neither can it be shown that in the area cov- 

 ered by the present study earthenware served, as do our terra cottas, 

 for portraiture or for records of any description. 



Pottery was probably first used in connection with the employment of 

 fire in culinary work — in heating water and in cooking food — and there 

 is no doubt that the cooking, the storing, and thi> transporting of 

 food and drink i-emained eveiywhere the most important of its func- 

 tions. 



DiFFEHENTIATION (IF UsK 



The difl'ei-entlation of use, which nuist have taken place gradually, 

 probably })egan by the setting aside or the manufacture of certain 

 vessels for special departments of domestic work. Afterward, when 

 vessels came to be used in ceremonies — religious, medical, or mortu- 

 ary — certain forms were made for or assigned to special rites. The 

 vessel that served in one office was not considered appropriate for 

 another, and one that was saci'ed to one deity and had decorations 

 symbolizing his attributes was not considered acceptable to another. 

 We do not know to what extent special shapes were made for different 

 sacei'dotal uses by our eastern aborigines, ])ut it is safe to saj' that this 

 class of specialization had made decided headway in the west and south. 



Differentiation in the functions of vessids was probably to some 

 extent of pi-eceramic development, since art in clay sprang into exist- 

 ence long aft(U' other arts had been well perfected, and pottery 

 naturally fell heir to duties previously performed by vessels of bark, 

 wicker, shell, fruit shells, horn, stone, or other more archaic recep- 

 tacles for boiling-, .serving, containing, and tran.sporting. 



Vessels for CrLiNAKV and Otiieh Domestic Uses 



Primitive earthen vessels ha\'e usually :i round or somewhat conical 

 base, which suggests tiie maimer of their use. .Vmong sa\age I'aces 

 hard, level fioors were the exception, wliil<' flooi-s of sand or soft earth 

 were the rule, and under .such conditions a round or conical ba.se would 

 lie most convenient. Tlie jiot in cooking was generally set directly on 



