ANTIQUITIES OF THE OUACHITA VALLEY. 15 
Restoration of pottery, it may be said, is more often requisite when the ware 
comes from a region like the Ouachita valley, where the soil contains a large per- 
centage of clay, than it is in the case of earthenware found in sand; inasmuch as 
in clay the search for fragments with the aid of a sieve is not nearly so successful 
as it is in sand. 
All measurements of earthenware vessels herein given are approximate; and 
all reductions in size, not only of vessels but of other objects illustrated in this 
report, are linear. 
Diagrams of designs are as accurate as it is possible for them to be when these 
designs are transferred from a curved to a flat surface. 
Prof. William H. Holmes has kindly prepared for the Academy the accompany- 
ing notice of the pottery found by our expedition in the Ouachita valley. 
« Although this collection of earthenware presents many features of interest and 
illustrates a local culture center not heretofore well represented in our collections, 
it does not stand apart from the general and well-known culture products of the 
general region. It embraces features of form and embellishment indicating close 
alliance with the wares of the middle Mississippi province and of the Gulf Coast, as 
far east as Florida; but affords no evidence of close relationship with the pottery 
of the Pueblo region on the West or of Mexico on the South. It bespeaks a special 
development highly perfected along certain lines by a local tribe or group of peoples ; 
the best examples rise well above the general level of the ceramic products of the 
region, and, for that matter, much above the general run of the ware of the locali- 
ties represented. А number of vases belonging to this group are illustrated in the 
Twentieth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Plates LI and ІЛІ. 
* In shape many of the vessels are worthy of special note. They range from 
simple shallow bowls to high-necked bottles, and much skill and taste are shown in 
the modeling, especially of the formal shapes. In the entire series illustrated by 
Mr Moore, there is hardly a single one that will not give pleasure to persons of 
refined taste, and some may well become models for the professional potters of our 
factories. Complex and compound forms are not common, although the rim and 
neck of the vases are in many cases modeled to give the appearance of a small cup 
set into the mouth of the receptacle proper. Life forms are of comparatively rare 
occurrence, and only one example of the modeling of the human form is seen, this 
being a rudely constructed figure attached to the rim of a bowl (fragment). Cer- 
tain specimens have the rim so shaped as to suggest the use of a lid, although no 
lids have been found. As a rule the base is flattened or gently rounded, and rare 
specimens are mounted on tripods. One of the choice specimens is a small vase 
(Fig. 81) surmounted by a cup-like rim piece beneath which the body widens | 
gradually, expanding at the base into four conical projections. 
* As a rule the color is the dark gray of the baked clay, a few specimens being 
finished in red. The surface is smoothly finished and, in cases, well polished. The 
paste is moderately hard and tenacious, and is tempered in cases, especially in the 
ruder ware, with pulverized shell. | | | 
