CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS OF THE ALABAMA RIVER. 309 



die ul ar ridges around the neck beneath the flaring rim, or with loop-like handles in 

 place of ridges. This under vessel was usually surmounted by a bowl with little 

 flare to the rim and with incised and punctate decoration. Sometimes the decora- 

 tion was exclusively on the inside of the neck and rim. At times, however, there 

 had been utilized as a surmounting vessel the body of a vessel of the type ordinarily 

 used as a receptacle and placed beneath. In such cases the rim and neck were 

 missing and presumably a broken vessel had been utilized. 



When not otherwise specified in the description, the vessels are imperforate as 

 to the base. The reader may recall that in Florida many, and along the Georgia 

 coast some, vessels were found by us from the bottoms of which pieces had been 

 broken, possibly to " kill " the vessel to permit its soul to accompany the spirit of 

 its master to the happy hunting-grounds ; or perhaps, in the case of mortuary urns, 

 to allow the soul to escape. It is interesting to note on the Alabama river the 

 occasional occurence of this curious custom. 



It will be noted that no cremated remains, so abundant among the urn-burials 

 of Georgia or parts of Georgia, were met with by us in the cemetery at Durand's 

 Bend. 



Fi«. 22. — Vessel A. Cemetery, Durand's Bend. (Thi 



Nearly all the vessels, when discovered by us, were more or less cracked and 

 the cracks, as the vessel dried and contracted, tended to widen. Moreover, many 

 vessels, through long exposure to moisture, were soft and friable. In every case 

 we dug carefully around the vessels and, brushing the earth from them, permitted 

 them to harden in the sun, at the same time applying a quick-setting cement 

 between the margins of the cracks. Before lifting, when the state of the vessels 



