1(U ABORIGINAL POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [eth.ann.20 



rag'g'cd line, and ayain trailed across the surface, giving a compara- 

 tively smooth channel. Tiiis, in the liner work, is gone over again and 

 again to give it a smooth hnish or polish. In eases, tlie effect .seems 

 to indicate that a curved edge was rolled l)aclv and forth, leaving linear 

 indentations, and again that a notched or dentate edge, as of a wheel, 

 was rolled along the line, heing reset for each line, and not rolled back 

 and forth in a zigzag, as the common roulette was. The skill exhibited 

 in the us(> of the various decorating tools in the making of pipes is 

 exceptional, and, in cases, remarkable. In rare instances the decorat- 

 ing tools took the character of small stamps, the figures being squares 

 in relief, made })y cutting cross grooves on the end of a stick or the 

 face of a paddle. 



The use of colors in ceramic decoration had not, so far as we can 

 discover, reached the Iroquois country proper, and the very general 

 use of intaglio and relieved decoration indicates that the plastic methods 

 were exclusively' employed. 



In plates cxlix-clii a nuuiber of examples of the grouping of incised 

 and indented lines and attendant plastic features in the decorated zones 

 of the vessel are brought together. The combinations ai'e essentially 

 the same throughout the Iroquoian province, and the nature of local 

 valuations ma}' be seen by reference to the plates. 



DlSTKIBUTIOX AND CHARACTERS OK SPECIMENS 

 SOUTHERNMOST OCCURRENCE 



In passing up the Chesapeake and Potomac \alleys, where Algon- 

 quian forms of earthenware are encountered on every village site, the 

 ai'cheologist begin.s to observe the occurrence of strange features in 

 the ceramic remains on the Chesapeake about the head of the baj', and 

 on the Potomac about the mouth of the Shenandoah. In the vicinity 

 of Romney, West Virginia, the burial places have yielded numerous 

 specimens of Iroquoian ware, not, however, wholly typical in every 

 respect. These are intermingled, aiDparently, more or less intimately, 

 with i^ieces that resemble in a general way the Algonqiuan vases. The 

 scalloped expanding rim, with its frieze of groupings of straight 

 incised lines, is present, and leaves no doubt as to the placing of most 

 of the specimens. In plate cxLiii illustrations are given of finds at 

 this place; they are from the collection of Mr Warren K. Moorehead, 

 who visited the locality in about the year 18!)0, a period at which the 

 freshets of South fork had exposed the contents of numerous graves. 

 The general region is one likely to have been occupied, temporarily, 

 at least, b}' the tribes inhabiting New York and Pennsylvania, and it 

 is probable that the Tuscaroras passed this way on their journey north- 

 ward to join their brethren of the League. The execution of the 

 vases is rude, and the frieze is rather heavy for the weak body, but 

 the lines are not, as a whole, ungraceful. Identical wares are obtained 



