122 ABOKIGIlSrAL POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth.a>x.20 



iiiiikina' period. The exefution of the designs is decidedly rude, the 

 incised lines being deep, ^yide, and irregular. The designs themselves, 

 however, seem to comprise not only the archaic forms seen in a and I, 

 ])ut running scrolls such as occur in the most advanced grades of 

 southern pottery, as in c. The angular interspaces in the latter designs 

 are tilled in with indentations, as in the Mobilc-Pensacola and other wares 

 (see figure 58). There is no absolute measure of the value of particu- 

 lar decorative motives in determining degree of culture progress, 1)ut 

 elaborate scroll work can hardlv be called archaic, and we must con- 

 clude either that this ware does not represent the earliest use of pot- 

 ters among the shell-mound peoples, or that the more western tribes, 

 already practicing this art, encroached on the original shell-heap 

 people at a comparativelj' earlj^ date. It may be remarked further 

 that the shapes, so far as observed, are nearly identical with the pre- 

 vailing shapes of the best wares of Florida. This liber-tempered pot- 

 tery was found bj' "Wyman at Old Town. Old Enterprise. Watsons 







Fig. 58 — Fragmcuis ui LaiU(I(.ii-\varL* buwh withiuui?*.'! ^ltijII dri.Dratiuu, ^l Johns river. 



Landing, Silver Spring, and Palatka." ))ut no details of occurrence 

 are given. Mr Moore oljtained specimens from Tick island. Orange 

 mound, Huntingtons, Mulberry mound, and other localities, and his 

 determinations of relative position and age have already lieen ([uoted. 

 Two sherds derived from liemispheric bowls decorated witli running 

 scrolls are illustrated in figure 58. There are pieces, however, that 

 approach the Ijetter wares of later time in texture and finish, and it 

 may yet ])e slunvn that the earlier pottery of Florida de\-eloped without 

 marked interruption into the later and more highly elaborated forms. 

 Additional .sherds are shown in plate lxxxiv. 



STAMPED WAKE OF THE ST JOHNS 



The use of the stamp or figured jKiddle in decoration was com- 

 mon througout the peninsula, extending west into Alal)ama and north 

 to North Carolina and Tennessee. It is not likely that it was charac- 

 teristic of any jjarticular people or culture group. That it is not of 



nWjinan, Dr .Jeffries. Fresh-water shell mounds of the St .Johns river, Florida, Memoirs of the 

 Pealiody Academy of Seienoe, Salem, Mass.. 1875. 



