HoLMi>j FOTTERY OF CHESAPEAKE REGION 157 



convey u correct idea of the art a.s practiced ))y the ^prehistoric Wash- 

 ingtonians. OutHne.s of several vases are presented in plate cxLi, and 

 photographic reproductions of fragments ai'e given in c, d, <\ plate 

 CXL. The fragment c is a part of the vessel outlined in a, plate cxLi. 

 It was found on a village site which was partly destro3'ed in building 

 the south abutment of the Pennsylvania avenue bridge across the Ana- 

 costia river in IS'.K). The shape was pleasing and syunuetric, and the 

 surface was well smoothed, though not highly polished. The simple 

 ornament about the scalloped rim consists of cord imprintings arranged 

 in a series of connecting triangular spaces. The mouth was a})()ut U 

 inches in diameter. 



It ma^' be mentioned as a curious fact that as we approach the head of 

 tide water on the Potomac and enter the district furnishing soapstone 

 we observe the influence of this material on both the paste and the 

 foi'ni of the earthenware. The sites about West Washington contain 

 many sherds tempered with pulverized steatite, and the vessels to 

 which they belonged were, in cases, supplied with rude nodes set a 

 little beneath the rim, closely resembling the handles characterizing 

 the steatite pots of the same section. From this circumstance it is 

 clear that the making of potterj' and the working of the soapstone 

 quarries were contemporaneous events, a fact shown also by the 

 intermingling of articles of both classes in the debris of many village 

 sites. 



In flgure Ol a rudely modeled doll-like figure from the Phillips col- 

 lection is shown. It is from one of the Potomac I'iver sites, and is the 

 only example of its ivind so far found in the whole pi'oxiiice. 



WARK OF THK CHKSAl'EAKE AM) KASTEKN SUOUK 



A description of the sherds of an average Potomac ri\'er site could 

 be repeated without essential change for those of an average site on 

 the shores of Chesapeake bay. At Kiverton, on the Nanticoke, for 

 example, the general features of form, size, color, fragility, finish, 

 and decoration are repeated. Minor difi'erences are observed in many 

 cases. Incised decoration takes the place, in a measure, of the cord- 

 imprinted figures of Potomac creek. Shell tempering prevails, and 

 the wrapped- cord paddling and rouletting takes the place largely of 

 cord texturing. Net impressions are comparatively rare. The plain 

 and indented rim, the conic base, and the combed interior surface 

 observed in the Potomac wares are repeated here. 



In advancing to the north we come to I'ealize tliat gradually a change 

 is taking place in the character of the ware, and that tlu; change is 

 toward the characteristics of the work of the Iroquoian province. The 

 scalloped rim and the peculiar arrangements of incised lines take on 

 northern cliaracters. We have thus, as in other cases, indications of 



