Fio. t'.v) — Shoe-shaped vessel, Monroe 

 coniity. Tennessee. 



182 ABORIGINAL POTTERY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES [ETH.Axx.2t 



(."died 1(1 tlu'so vp.ssel.s hy tlic fact tliut tliey arc tlic only examples .so 

 far added to our collections from the eastern half of the Tuited 

 States exhihitint;- the peculiar .shoe shai)e so fre(jueutly appearing in 

 the Pueblo country, and again as a ])r()minent feature in the ware 



of C'ential America. There can be no 

 doubt that the .shape and the plastic 

 elal)oi-ations are signiheant and sym- 

 bolic, but the exact nature of their 

 .symt>oli.sm and the explanation of 

 their isolated occurrence are not yet 

 forthcoming. 



A .small cup with three rows of nodes 

 encircling the })ody is presented in 

 figure To. 



^\'are of the general type to which 

 the above .specimen.s .belong is found along the eastern slopes of the 

 Appalachian mountains in North Carolina. Virginia, and AVest Virginia. 

 It occurs along numerous streams entering the Ohio from the south, 

 an<l probably passes gradually into the well-known ware of the Miami 

 valley, where, at Madi- 

 sonville, we have the 

 most striking types of 

 handled pots. It is un- 

 fortunate that we must 

 pass so ))ri(>fi_v over a 

 great :in>a that ought to 

 furnish much material 

 for the histor}' of arts 

 and p(>oples, but such 

 meager collections have 

 ])een made that we seem 

 to have warrant for the 

 theory that the absence 

 of permanent residents, remarked of this region in early hi.storic times, 

 may have, in a measure, characterized the eastern portions of the ""dark 

 and bloody ground" from the very ))eginning of native art in clay. 



OHIO VALLF.Y POTTERY 



Culture CxKours 



Fig. 70 — Two-handled cup with rows of encircling nodes, 

 Tennessee. 



The art remains of the Ohio valley occupy an important place among 

 the existing vestiges of our native races, and the relics of earthenware 

 pertaining to the region, although generally simple and inai'tistic. are, 

 from their as.sociations, invested with exceptional interest. 



