MOUNDVILLE REVISITED. ЭТТ 
pent is ап interesting variant from others appearing on Moundville pottery, inas- 
much as rattles are absent and the tail is that of a bird. 
Vessel No. 44 from the ground south of Mound D, is a badly broken bottle 
carefully put together since its discovery. The engraved decoration (Fig. 65) is 
doubly interesting. In the first place, the tail of a bird is shown, to which rattles 
have been added. But the most noteworthy feature is that of the union of the 
two serpents around the vessel, being the first step toward a conventionalized, 
decorative serpent-design. | 
Vessel No. 8 from the ground south of Mound D, a water-bottle (Figs. 66, 67), 
shows the next step toward a conventionalized serpent-design. Неге we see partly- 
interlocked scrolls decorated with the crest of the serpent. It is interesting to 
note that Professor Holmes, in an early report of the Bureau of Ethnology," says 
% 
S 
v 
| ге 
cam > OY 
60 LP AUNT 
> 2 WG 
A КУ СЛ 
а ШІ бақта 
“МЕ; 
FIG. 64.—Vessel Хо. 87. Decoration, Winged serpent with rattles replaced by bird’s tail. (About half size.) 
Qv “> 
a ge — ҰР» NO о 
SST WS mm 2 БЕЛУ 
H [> еее 
У с SOY } / 
СОН Bru С” ХА ERR 
LH Ru ТЕРЕН 2 WY CLAD 
ey ЕЗ HER O) E A 0, e 
ps Hum ST 557 DS 
pes TLX А 
Fic. 65.—Vessel No. 44. Ground south of Mound D. Decoration showing the merging of the two serpents, being the 
first step toward a conventionalized design. (About one-third size.) 
К 
4 
Q 
in relation to a vessel of the same character as the опе we are describing, “Тһе 
engraved design consists of four elaborate, interlinked scrolls, comprising a number 
of lines, and bordered by wing-like, triangular figures, filled in with reticulated 
lines. This latter feature is often associated with native delineations of mythic 
reptiles, and it is not impossible that this scroll work is a highly conventionalized 
form of some such conception.” Vessels with designs kindred to the one in 
question are described in other works.” 
tW. H. Holmes. “ Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley," p. 419, 1882-83. 
2 W. Н. Holmes. An. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1881-82, Fig. 149. 
W. Н. Holmes. Ап. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1882-83, Fig. 440. 
Also Plate XV, Fig. с. Report of 1898-99, where the figure is taken from the Report of 
1882-83. 
C. B. Moore. * Certain Aboriginal Remains of the Black Warrior River," Fig. 162. 
Compare also tail-piece, page 33, * The Serpent Motive in the Ancient Art of Central America 
and Mexico,” Dr. George Byron Gordon. Transactions Department of Archeology, University of 
Penna., Vol. I, Part III, 1905. 
48 JOURN. А. N. S. PHILA,, VOL. XIII. 
