90 ABORIGINAL POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth.ann.20 



BOTTLES 



Of ill! the forms of vessels found in this province the bottle is the 

 most varied and interesting, and is more suggestive of the advanced 

 taste of the potter than is ;iny other class of vessel. In plate xiii some 

 fine examples of bottles are shown. Two neat specimens are illus- 

 ti'ated in k and I. The surface finish is excellent in both cases. The 

 lines of tlie figures are carefullv drawn, and seem to have been pro- 

 duced by trailing a smooth, rather blunt point, under even pressure. 

 It is diHicult to get a line so even and nicely finished by simple 

 incision or by excavating the clay. The design in a consists of 

 groups of curved lines arranged in pairs, which are separated by 

 plain vertical bands. It might l)e I'onsidered an interrupted or 

 imperfectly connected foi'm of the running scroll. This grouping 

 of lines is frequently met in the decorative designs of the southern 

 states. The design on the other vase, J, is still more characteristic 

 of the South. It consists of an encircling row of round, shallow 

 indentations, a])out which are linked series of imperfectly developed 

 incised scrolls, and of two additional rows of depressions, one above 

 and the other Iielow, through which parallel lines are drawn. The 

 handome vase shown in c was obtained, along with many other fine 

 specimens, from mounds near Little Rock, Arkansas. It is of the 

 darli polished ware with the usual fire mottlings. The form is sym- 

 metric and graceful. The neck is ornamented with a band of incised 

 chevrons, and the sloping upper surface of the body is encircled by a 

 series of stepped figures engraved in the plastic clay. The vessel shown 

 in d has a wide annular base and a body apparently compounded of a 

 large flattish form and a smaller kettle-like form set upon it. The 

 latter is furnished with handles and decorated with encircling lines 

 of indentations. The vessel shown in e may be taken as a t.ype of a 

 very large class. It is most readily described as a short-neclved, wide- 

 mouthed bottle. It is .sj^mmetric and nicely finished. The lip is sup- 

 plied with a narrow horizontal riuL The body expands somewhat 

 abruptl}' from the base of the upright neck to the squarish shoulder, 

 and contracts below in an even curve, giving a hemispheric base. 

 Wo have in f a good example of a class of bottle-shaped vessels, the 

 necks of which are wide and short and the bodies much compressed 

 vertically. It is a handome vase, symmetric, quite dark in color, 

 and higldy polished. The upper surface of the body is ornamented 

 with a collar formed of a broad fillet of clay, or rather of two fillets, 

 the pointed ends of which come together on opposite sides of the vase. 



As skilled as these people were in modeling life forms and in 

 engraving geometric devices, they seem rarely to have attempted the 

 lineal' r(^j)resentation of life forms. We have, however, a few good 

 exaiii|)Ies of such work. The engraved design covering the bod}' of a 



