William Henry Holmes

“ There are no examples of animal forms in clay independent of vessels. It would not be consistent with primitive methods of procedure to copy nature direct, at least until some mystic significance had become attached to the form employed. It is possible, however, that the origin of this practice is not to be found within the plastic art itself, but in the shapes of antecedent and co-existent vessels of other materials in which life forms had been employed ”

“ Finish.—The finish, as compared with the work of civilized nations, is rude. The surface is often simply hand or trowel smoothed. Generally, however, it was more or less carefully polished by rubbing with an implement of stone, shell, bone, or other suitable substance, the markings of these tools being distinctly visible. Nothing resembling a glaze has been found on pieces known to be ancient. The surface was sometimes washed or coated with a slip or film of fine clay which facilitated the polishing, and in very many cases a coat of thick red ocher was applied. ”

“ The pottery of this province is remarkably homogeneous in character, and we are warranted in assigning it to a single period of culture, and, in concluding, that the peoples who developed and practiced the art belonged to a group of closely-allied tribes. We can also state without fear of precipitating a controversy that the people who made this pottery were "mound-builders." At the same time, they were not necessarily of the same people as the builders of the mounds of Wisconsin, Ohio, or Georgia or contemporaneous with them. ”

“ In the most general way, I may say that the ceramic art of the Middle Mississippi is apparently superior to that of the stone age in Europe, but little can be inferred in regard to relative grades of culture. In classic countries it is difficult to find its true equivalent. To reach a stage of art correspondingly low we shall have to go behind the heroic age—to pass down through more than the five prehistoric cities of the hill of Hissarlik and descend into the lowest archæologic substratum. ”

“ It is not strange that a people who had successfully engaged in the modeling of life forms, and especially the heads of animals, should attempt the human head. Their remarkable success in this direction is shown in a number of vases, one of which is given in Fig. 420. This and kindred peoples had made considerable progress in carving in stone and other materials, evincing a decided talent for sculpture; but clay is so much more readily manipulated than either wood, stone, or shell, that we are not surprised to find their best work in that material. ”

“ The decided prevalence of curved forms is worthy of remark. With all their fertility of invention, the inhabitants of this valley seem never to have achieved the rectangular linked meander, or anything more nearly approaching it than the current scroll or the angular guilloche, while other peoples, such as the Pueblos of the Southwest and the ancient nations of Mexico and Peru found in it a chief resource. ”

“ UPPER MISSISSIPPI PROVINCE:
I have already pointed out the fact that most of the pottery of the Upper Mississippi region belongs to a distinct family. It has never been as abundant as the pottery of the more southern sections of the country and is not well represented in our museums. There are only a few pieces in the Davenport collection and these are all in a more or less [page 427] fragmentary state. A majority are from a mound near the city of Davenport, but a limited number came from Wisconsin. ”

“ Fillets are applied in various ways over the body, forming horizontal, oblique, and vertical bands or ribs. When placed about the rim or base, these fillets are often indented with the finger or an implement in a way to imitate, rudely, a heavy twisted cord—a feature evidently borrowed from basketry. Nodes are likewise attached in various ways to the neck and body of the vessel. In some cases the entire surface of the larger vessels is varied by pinching up small bits of the clay between the nails of the fingers and thumb. An implement is sometimes used to produce a similar result. ”

“ This is a usual phenomenon, and is probably due to a variety of causes. The mere contact of peoples leads to the exchange of ideas, and, consequently, to similarities in the products of industry. A change of habitat, with its consequent change of environment, is capable of modifying art to a great extent. Groups of relics and remains attributed by archæologists to distinct stocks of people, may, in cases, be the work of one and the same people executed under the influence of different environments and at widely separated periods of time. ”

“ We have in Fig. 433 a good example of bottle-shaped vessels, the neck of which is wide and short, and the body much compressed vertically. There are a number of duplicates of it in the Museum. The specimen illustrated is in the national collection, and was obtained in Arkansas. It is a handsome vase, symmetrical in form, quite dark in color, and highly polished. The upper surface of the body is ornamented with a collar formed of a broad fillet of clay, or rather of two fillets, the pointed ends of which unite on opposite sides of the vase. ”

“ Fig. 363.—Modification of rims.
Not satisfied with these simple ideas of decoration, the fancy of the potter led him to add embellishments of most varied and often of extraordinary character. The nodes and ridges have been enlarged and prolonged, and fashioned into a thousand natural and fanciful forms. Shells, fish, birds, beasts, human and impossible creatures have been utilized in a multitude of ways. Many illustrations of these are given on subsequent pages.
The body of the bowl is somewhat less profusely ornamented than the rim. ”

“ A row of indented nodes has been produced upon the exterior surface of the neck by impressing upon the inside the end of a reed or hollow bone about one-fourth of an inch in diameter. Patterns of bold, rather carelessly drawn lines cover the body and seem to have been made by trailing, under pretty strong pressure, the smooth point of a stylus—probably the bone or reed already suggested. Some of the larger indentations upon the lower part of the neck may have been made by the same implement held in an oblique position. The use to which this vessel was applied can hardly be guessed. ”

“ This theory is confirmed by the fact that certain forms of vases are pretty generally dark, while certain other forms are as uniformly light—the latter in nearly all cases being used for the application of color, or of designs in color.
Form.—This ware exhibits a great variety of forms, many of which are extremely pleasing. In this respect it is far superior to the other prehistoric groups of the eastern United States. The shapes are as varied and elegant as those of the ancient Pueblo pottery, but are inferior to those of Mexico, Central America, and Peru. ”

“ Symmetry of form combined with considerable grace of outline has been achieved without the wheel—a result attained in still greater perfection by other American races. Notwithstanding the great diversity of the forms of vessels, the very primitive condition of the art is indicated by the absence of bricks, tiles, whistles, lamps, spindle-whorls, toys, and statuettes. ”

“ A slip or wash of very finely comminuted clay was sometimes applied to the surface of the vessel. The walls of the vessels are often thick and uneven, [page 373] and are always quite porous, a feature of no little importance in the storage of drinking-water, but one resulting from accident rather than from design.
Color.—The paste of this ware presents two marked varieties of color, a dark and a light hue. In a majority of cases it is dark, ranging from a rich black to all shades of brown and gray. The lighter tints are usually warm ochrey grays, rarely approaching reddish or terra-cotta hues. ”

“ The paste exhibits two distinct varieties of color which may be described roughly as light and dark. A certain range of dark hues—blacks, browns, and grays—were probably produced by "smother baking." Another set of colors embracing light reddish and yellowish grays resulted from changes in the clay produced by simple open air baking.
A feature worthy of especial note is the great diversity of form—indicating a long practice of the art, a high specialization of uses, and a considerable variety in the originals copied. The manual skill exhibited is of no mean order. ”

“ Mixed conditions in the remains of a locality are often due to the presence of different peoples, synchronously or otherwise. This occurs in many places on the outskirts of this district, a good illustration being found in East Tennessee, where three or four distinct groups of ware are intermingled. As would naturally be expected, the distribution is governed somewhat by the great water-ways, and pottery of this province is found far up the Ohio, Tennessee, and Arkansas Rivers. ”

“ The body is covered with scroll work in broad red lines, the spaces being filled in with white in the form of a thick earthy paste. Each of the legs has one-half red and the other white.
The vessel illustrated in Fig. 443 is of ordinary, dark, polished ware, and is entirely plain. It is peculiar in the shape of its extremities. The neck resembles a long truncated cone, and the legs are heavy and conical, being not unlike those of a common iron pot. ”

“ The modeling of life forms in connection with earthen vessels constitutes a feature of considerable interest, the highest known achievement being represented by a series of vases imitating human heads. Animal forms are generally rudely modeled, the imitation of nature having been apparently a secondary consideration—the associated idea or the fancy for the grotesque being the stronger motive. The animal forms are inferior to those carved in stone by some of the mound-building peoples. ”

“ Material, etc.—As a rule, pot-shaped vessels are of coarser materials and of ruder finish than other forms, indicating, perhaps, their exclusive relegation to the culinary arts, where nice finish was not essential. In many cases they show use over fire.
In size, they have a wide range. The larger are often as much as fifteen inches in diameter, and twenty in height. There are a score or more of very large size in the Davenport museum.
Form.—The form characteristics are a full globular body—sometimes elongated, sometimes compressed vertically—a low neck, and a wide aperture. ”

“ It is not yet time to draw close distinctions, as sufficiently detailed studies of the products of the various districts have not been made.
On the shelves of our museums the difference between the two great families of the middle and Upper Mississippi are strikingly manifest. The ware of the former district, as already shown, exhibits variously tinted pastes tempered with coarsely pulverized shells or potsherds; the vases, as a rule, having full bodies, well rounded bases, and in very many cases, narrow necks. ”

“ Two handsome pieces of this ware were recently obtained by the Bureau of Ethnology from a mound in Vernon County, Wisconsin. The finest of these, which is shown in Fig. 457, is six and a half inches in height, and in symmetry and finish rivals the best work of the south. The paste is dark, compact, and fine grained, and tempered apparently with sand. The color of the surface is a rich, mottled brown. The most striking feature of the decoration consists of a number of polished bands, extending in divers directions over the surface, the interstices being filled in with indented figures. ”

“ The first is dark in color, the other red. The strange animal here represented is certainly not a close copy of anything in [page 390] nature. It is characterized by upright ears, a high bulbous snout and a grinning mouth. The teeth in some cases resemble the fangs of a serpent. The eyes consist of rounded nodes; and often curved lines, incised or in relief, extend from them or the mouth down the sides of the neck. The tail at the opposite end of the vessel is turned upward and coiled. The type specimens of this form are from Pecan Point, Arkansas.
Fig. ”

“ In reference to the period of culture represented by this ware, a few words may be added. There is no feature in it that could not reasonably be expected of the more advanced historic tribes of the Valley. It indicates a culture differing in many ways from that of the Pueblos, ancient and modern, but on the whole rather inferior to it. The work of Mexico, Central and South America is decidedly superior in every essential feature. ”

“ The methods of baking have apparently not been described in much detail by early writers, but the ware itself bears the marks of those simple processes known to our modern tribes. It is highly probable that the work was done by the women, and that each community had its skilled potters, who built and baked the ware in the open air, going through those simple mummeries that accompany the work among most primitive peoples. ”

“ The open hand is sometimes seen, in both the decorative and the symbolic work of the Gulf coast tribes, and is not unknown elsewhere. The figures alternating with the hands are suggestive of a highly conventionalized face, the eyes being indicated by the volutes and the mouth and teeth by the lower part of the figure, as will be seen in the fully projected design, Fig. 463. The neck has two indistinct bands of triangular dentate figures apparently painted in the dark color. The bottom is flattish [page 434] and without the coating of light clay. ”

“ The origin of decorative ideas, the processes by which they are acquired by the various arts, and their subsequent mutations of form and significance are matters of the greatest interest, and a separate paper will be devoted to their consideration. ”

“ As indicated by decided family resemblances, the wares of this group extend over the greater part of the States of Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, cover large portions of Mississippi, Kentucky, and Illinois, and reach somewhat into Iowa, Indiana, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. The types are better marked and the products more abundant about the center of this area, which may be defined roughly as including contiguous parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, with a pretty decided focal center, at least in the abundance of relics, at Pecan Point, Arkansas. ”