Plate 7. 
On the bottom of this effigy vessel of a mother nursing a 
child (Catalog No. 8X65) is the following notation in Dr. 
Whelpley’s handwriting: 
“Found in a small mound in 1876, East St. Louis, Illinois, 
St. Clair Co., Francis Simonin farm, now 7600 State St.” 
The vessel was apparently made to hold liquids or small 
objects. There is a hole approximately one inch (2.5 cm.) 
in diameter in the back of the head as in other examples 
of this class of pottery vessels, commonly called hooded 
water bottles, Archaeological investigations have shown 
that this type of vessel was made by prehistoric Indians, 
probably some time in the period of about A.D 
1000-1400. The material culture of the people who made 
such vessels has been called Middle Mississippi by arch- 
aeologists. Regional variations of Mississippi were wide- 
spread throughout much of the Mississippi Valley. Some of 
these lasted into historic times and included several 
different tribal groups. 
We have been told that this is the only known vessel of this 
type made by prehistoric Indians in the Midwest which 
depicts a mother nursing a child. 
