CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS, BLACK WARRIOR RIVER. 157 
Fic. 84.—Vessel Хо. 9. Ground south of Mound D. (Height 5.2 inches.) 
upward, one downward, and a circular symbol, perhaps denoting the body in common. 
At each side of this body is a triangular tail with pointed, individual feathers (Fig. 
85). The bird, presumably, is intended to represent the heron, which still frequents 
the Black Warrior near the Moundville mounds. To this heron, or these herons, 
however, have been given tails of the woodpecker, which were a popular device in 
Moundville pottery decoration. Aboriginal artists were not always consistent. 
Another inconsistency, if the heads are intended for those of herons, is the extended 
tongue, this bird not using its tongue in the manner common to woodpeckers. 
In the same pit, at the head of a skeleton flexed on the right side, was a 
broad-mouthed water-bottle, Vessel No. 10 (Fig. 86), with scroll, finger, and cross- 
hatch decoration; and an undecorated bowl, Vessel No. 11, with notched margin. 
With the skeleton of an infant were two canine teeth of large carnivores, each 
perforated for suspension. 
Apart from human remains was a fragment, 5 inches in length including the 
point, of what had been a sword or dagger, of chert. 
Several dises cut from sherds of earthenware vessels were found singly. 
