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



a liiu' red piocc from Mississippi, now in tlie National Museum collec- 

 tion (plate xlZ-), the knob is replaced hy the head of a turtle or other 

 rejjtile and the spout becomes the creature's tail. In connection with 

 the teapot-like vessels it will be well to describe another novel form 

 not wholly unlike them in appearance, an exan)ple being shown in d, 

 plate xviii. The shoulder is elongated on opposite sides into two curved, 

 horn-like cones, which g'ixe to the body a somewhat crescent-shaped 

 outline. The vessel is of the ordinary- plain, dark ware and has had an 

 annular base which is now broken away. 



Vases with arched handles, like those shown in c and /', are quite 

 common. In some cases the handle is enlarged and the Iwdj' reduced 

 until the vessel assumes the appearance of a ring. Similar forms are 

 connnon in other parts of the American continent, especially in Peru. 



Vases of compound form are of frecjuent occurrence in this region. 

 A number of examples in outline have been assembled for convenience 

 of comparison in plate vii, and many others could be added. 



LIFE FORMS 



Chiy vessels imitating in form marine and fresh-water shells are 

 occasionally oljtained from the mounds and graves of the Mississippi 

 valley. The conch shell appears to have been a favorite model, espe- 

 cially as modified for a drinking cup bj' the removal of one side of the 

 walls and all the interior parts (plate xix, a and I). A two-story cup 

 of the .same class is shown in c. The clam shell is also imitated. The 

 more conventional forms assumed by these vessels are especially inter- 

 estiny- as illustrating the varied wavs in which life forms modifv the 

 normal conventional shapes of vessels, thus widening the range of 

 the art." 



A very good illustration of this class of vessel is given in <L It is evi- 

 dently intended to imitate a trimmed conch shell. The apex and a few 

 of the surrounding nodes are shown at the right, while the base or spine 

 forms a projecting lip at the left. A coil of clay forms the apex, 

 and is carried outward in a sinisti'al spiral to the noded shoulder. 

 Excellent examples in clay, imitating clam shells, are illustrated in 

 General Thruston's work on the Antiquities of Tennessee, plate vi 

 (plate XLVii of this paper). 



In many <!ountries the shape of earthen vessels has been profoundly 

 intiuenced by vegetal forms and esiiecially by the hard shells of 

 fruits.'' The gourd, the squash, and the cocoanut are reproduced with 

 great frequency. In many cases the shape of the body of vases not 

 at once suggesting derivation from such forms may finalh' be ti'aced 

 to them. Thus the lobed bottles of Tennessee probably owe their chief 

 characteristic to a lobed form of the gourd. In plate xixyand g 



fiFor studies of shell vessels and their influence on ceramic forms, see Second Annual Report, 

 Bureau of Ethnology, p. 192, and Fourth ,\nnual Report. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 3S4 and 454 



/'This subject is discussed in a paper on form and ornament in the ceramic art. Fourth Annual 

 Report, Bureau of Ethnology, j). 440. 



