CERTAIN MOUNDS OF ARKANSAS AND OF MISSISSIPPI. 159 
As a rule, vessels lay near the skulls; and even in bunched burials. the vicin- 
ity of a skull was often selected as the place of deposit. This rule, however, had 
many exceptions, and in some sites vessels were found at almost every part of the 
skeleton, as may be seen in the detailed accounts of our investigation, which are 
to follow. 
As we have already said, practically all the cemeteries investigated by us on 
the lower Arkansas river extended into the post-Columbian period, a fact, however, 
which had little to do with the earthenware of the cemeteries, as has been well 
expressed by Professor Holmes. 
“There is but little evidence of the influence of the art of the whites,” he 
says," “upon the ceramic products of this province, although the forms are some- 
times thought to be suggestive of European models. It is certain, however, that 
the art had reached its highest stage without the aid of civilized hands, and in the 
study of its many interesting features we can feel assured that we are dealing with 
purely aboriginal types." 
The earthenware of the lower Arkansas river, in common with that of all the 
middle Mississippi region, was not “ killed" by breaking a hole in the base or by 
making one there prior to the firing of the clay ; nor was it broken ceremonially 
before inhumation. 
The ware, shell-tempered, is not, in our opinion, equal to the best we have 
found elsewhere (notably at Moundville, Ala., and along the northwestern Florida 
coast), being less thin, less evenly fired, and often having the tempering material 
irregularly distributed, as if by imperfect kneading of the clay. 
The dark ware with a highly polished coating, which sometimes is found in 
Mississippi and in Alabama, is scarcely met with along the lower Arkansas. 
However, although the ware as a whole is, as we have said, inferior to that 
sometimes found elsewhere, we nevertheless encountered in our investigation а 
number of well-tempered, well-fired, and carefully-wrought vessels, which among 
others, will be particularly described and figured later in this report. 
In form, the pot, the bowl, and the bottle greatly predominate, the long- 
necked bottles, or carafes, being comparatively numerous. We find also the life- 
form, sometimes in combination with the bottle; and we meet with eccentric forms, 
occasionally. 
An interesting type along the Arkansas river is the “ teapot” form of vessel, 
which has a more-or-less globular body; a circular opening on top, surrounded by 
a low neck; and a spout and small knob on opposite sides? of the body. 
IW. Н. Holmes, * Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley,” Fourth Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. 
Ethnol., p. 371. 
In addition to the above-named work we would call attention, in connection with the pottery of 
the lower Arkansas river, to * Pottery of the Middle Mississippi Valley іп W. Н. Holmes’ “ Aborig- 
inal Pottery of Eastern United States," Twentieth Ann. Rep. Bur Ax Eid; also “ Pottery from 
Arkansas," by the same author, in Third Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Ethnol. ; Gates P. ‘Thruston, “ Antiqui- 
ties of Tennessee "; Dr. Edw ard Evers, “ Arche ору of Missouri, Part I, The Ancient Pottery of 
Southeastern Missouri ” fans C. Willoughby, ** An Analysis of the. Decorations upon Pottery from 
the Mississippi ы А ‘Journal of sen Folk-Lore, Vol. X, 
essels of this form are figured by per as coming e n the Menard mound, Arkan- 
sas river. Third Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Ethnol., p. 4 
