DECORATIVE MARKINGS ON SOME FRAGMENTS OF 
INDIAN POTTERY FROM MILES COUNTY, IOWA 
PAUL, R. ROWE 
Among the articles of Indian workmanship in the writer’s pos- 
session are several hundred fragments of soft dark pottery. All 
may be well described as dark gray, porous and more or less 
sandy. Only one specimen is distinctly red. The thickness of 
the different pieces varies from one-eighth to one-half an inch. 
To judge by the curvature of the pieces the whole pots must have 
ranged from a quart to four or five gallons in capacity. Almost 
all of these potsherds were picked out of the wash along the 
beds of Pony creek and some smaller runs near Glenwood, Iowa. 
A few were found in fields or along highways. Most of the 
boys living near these streams will tell of finding similar frag- 
ments, but none of having seen a complete pot. 
All drawings shown are one-half the exact size of the piece 
or edge of the piece portrayed, and the markings are as correct 
as the writer’s drawing ability permits. 
Figure 1, Plate I, is the most highly decorated piece found. The 
horizontal lines look as if a twisted strand of grass or cord had 
been pressed into the pot while it was still soft. Figure 1A shows 
the curve of the edge of the pot and Figure IB that of the side. 
No other specimen of this design has been noted. 
The markings on Figures 2 to 7 are of similar character al- 
though of different design. Of the design of Figure 2 I have seven 
pieces of at least three pots. Figure 3 is only a slight variation of 
one pot. I have two distinct specimens of the type of Figure 4, 
Plate II. Figures 5 and 7 are of one pot each while Figure 6 
is descriptive of four specimens of as many pots. Figures 8 and 
9, Plate III, and Figure 11, Plate IV, depend for their decorative 
effect on the design of the lines instead of the object with which 
the lines were made. They are of a smoother, harder material 
than many other pieces. May they not have been made by a more 
advanced people? 
The original of Figure 10, Plate III, is thick and sandy. The 
five figures seem to have been made by pressing the head of a 
bullrush into the clay and the three protuberances by punching a 
