142 ABORIGINAL POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth.asn.20 



playing games of skill (jr chanco. I)ut tAVo pairs, found bj' Mr Moori' 

 in graves, indicate the use of the perforated ones as cores for copper 

 ear-disks. A few examples are illustrated in figure 60. 



Orkux of THE Vakieties of Ware 



It is not yet possible to make a satisfactory analysis of the pottery 

 of the Carolinas. The presence here in pre-Columbian times of 

 numerous stocks of people and the practice of the art by some of the 

 tribt\s down even to the present day have led to great complexity of 

 phenomena. It happens also that the region has been but little 

 studied, and no one has undertaken the interesting task of tracing the 

 art of the modern tribes — the Ch(>rokees and Catawbas — back through 

 the many changes of the last thre<> hundred years to its pre-Colund)ian 

 phases. The Cherokees and Tuscai'oras are of Iroquoian stock. The 

 former people practice their art to-day in one locality in western North 

 Carolina; the latter, who removed to New York to join the league of 

 the Iroquois early in the eighteenth century, dwelt in central and east- 

 ern North Carolina, and jjrobably left ware of somewhat marked pecu- 

 liarities in this i-egion, as well as in Virginia. The Uchees. and the 

 Yamassees, of Muskhogean stock, dwelt on the Savannah, but probably 

 ceased pottery making at an early date, as they were among the first 

 to come into familiar contact with tlie colonists. The Shawnees, a 

 tribe of Algonquian stock known in early times as "•Savannahs," occu- 

 pied part of Carolina and Georgia, and nuisthave left numerous traces 

 of their presence. Two triljes of Siouan stock, the Tiitelo and Catawlja. 

 and perhaps others not so well known, inhabited parts of northern 

 Georgia and western Carolina, and a small area in south-central Vir- 

 ginia, and it is probable that nuich of the confusion observed in the 

 ceramics of these sections is due to this occupation. The stock was 

 a vigorous one, and must have developed decided characteristics of 

 art, at least in its original habitat, which is thought to be west of 

 the Alleghenies. Through the presence of the various tribes of these 

 five linguistic families, and probably others of prehistoric times, the 

 highly complicated art conditions were brought about. Whether the 

 work of the \-arious tribes was sufficiently individualized to permit of 

 the separation of the remains at the present day is a question yet to be 

 decided, but there is no doul)t that the task may be at least partially 

 accomplished by systematic collection and study. 



The first necessary step in this work is a study of the modern and 

 historic work of the tribes that have kept up the practice of the art to 

 the present day. In the introductory pages, under the head Manu- 

 facture, the plastic art of the Catawbas and the Cherokees has been 

 described at some length. We natui'ally seek in the Siouan work in 

 the West analogies with the work of tiie forniiM' trilie. as it was of 



