HIiLMES] 



I'OTTEKY OK OHIO VALLf:V 183 



The province i.s ;i vu.st one, hiiviiiy a width of from -JW to iOO miles 

 and a length of nearly 800 miles. It is divided into numerous physio- 

 graphic districts, more or less indcp(>ndent of one another, and furnish- 

 ing boundless resources to peoples fortunate enough to occupy them. 

 As a consequence, the ancient remains represent nvmierous important 

 culture groups. The Allegheny I'iver, heading far to th(> north in 

 New York and Pennsylvania, was the home of the warlike Iroquois, 

 and the region is strewn with the remains of their peculiar arts. Tlie 

 Monongahela drains part of the region occupied hy the eastern 

 Algonquians, and transiently by many hunter-tribes of other stocks, 

 and it contains traces of their simple yet instructive handiwork. The 

 main southerr. branches, heading along the Appalachian ranges, were 

 overrun in their upper courses by the South Aijpaladiian peoples, 

 whose art has already been described: and in their lower courses they 

 penetrated the very heart of the great culture province of the middle 

 Mississipiji valley. The northern trilnitaries drain a fertile region 

 occupied in historical times by numerous tribes, mostly of Algonquian 

 stock, but at earlier periods by tribes of mound })ui]ders whose affini- 

 ties of blood are not yet fully made out. 



I have already dealt briefly with the wares of the eastern and south- 

 ern borders of this wonderful province, and have now only to review 

 the pottery of the immediate valley of the river and its extensions to 

 the north and west. The study of the pottery of this latter region is 

 invested with especial interest, for the reason that it may be expected 

 to assist in elucidating the much-discussed problems of the mound 

 builders and the relations of these peoples to neighboring tribes and 

 to the Indians of historic times. 



Opportunities for study have not been wholly satisfactory, as the 

 collections made by numerous explorers are much scattered, and, at 

 best, are not rich. It has been possible to distinguish only two groups 

 of ware that difler so decidedly from the surrounding groups, and that 

 pcssess such individuality, as to warrant the predication of distinct 

 groups of people or phases of culture. It is worthy of special note 

 that although they represent regions furnishing evidence, according 

 to many authorities, of exceptional progress in art and in general cul- 

 ture, few of the examples of earthenware utensils rise above the level 

 of the average ware of the eastern United States which is assignable 

 to historic stocks. Indeed, it may be said that as a rule the ware 

 belongs to the archaic northern grand division of the art rather than 

 to the more highly developed product of the South. A number of 

 small terra-cotta flgures found by Professor Putnam in one of the 

 Turner mounds near Cincinnati", and referred to bi'iefly in his report, 

 seem to be an exception. The figures are said to be remarkably 

 well modeled and wholly unique. 



n Reports of the Peabody Museum, vol. in, p. 173. 



