Part 6 (2/2)

These potters dealt with the human figure in a very bold manner for savages. They were evidently capable of representing many creatures with accuracy, but preferred grotesque or conventional forms. A man or a woman is generally modeled with a large body and a curious hunched back, the vertebrae appearing along the prominent ridge. The shoulder blades are usually shown with anatomical distinctness, if not with precision; the arms are long and slender and the hands rest upon the knees or the sides. The position a.s.sumed is mostly that of kneeling or squatting, the feet being doubled up beneath and uniting with the bottom of the vessel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 448.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 449.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 450.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 451.--Bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

These effigy vases are numerous, and greatly varied in size and color.

They are mostly of the dark ware, but are found painted plain red or in red and white figures, some of which represent parts of the costume, others, emblematic devices. The largest specimen with which I am acquainted is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 452. It is well modeled, a good deal of attention having been given to the details of anatomy. The back is very much humped, and the vertebrae are represented by a series of k.n.o.bs. The position of the feet beneath the body is, perhaps, worthy of notice. This is shown in Fig. 453_b_. It will be seen that the knees, calves, ankles, and the various parts of the feet are indicated with an approach to accuracy. The projecting back is seen below. The bottom of the vessel is nearly flat, and the legs are modeled in low relief upon it. Other positions are shown in Fig. 453.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 452.--Effigy bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

Fig. 454 ill.u.s.trates a characteristic profile.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 453.--Positions of feet.]

One of these vases has a cross painted upon the breast of the personage represented. The kneeling position, taken in connection with the cross, leads to the thought that perhaps the potter lived in the period of the French missionary, and attempted to model him in clay.

There is, however, no indication of costume, and the painting, with the exception of the cross, is in a purely aboriginal style of design.

The ground color of the vase is, as usual, a moderately dark gray brown, and the painted figures are laid on in thick, blackish paint.

Lines partially encircle the eyes, and extend down over the cheek to the neck, and a line pa.s.ses around the mouth and extends down over the chin, neck, and chest to the base of the body. The horizontal bar of the cross connects the nipples. The shoulder blades and the hands are also painted black. The back is very curiously modeled and painted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 454.--Effigy bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 455.--Effigy bottle: Arkansas.--1/3.]

There are in the collection a number of specimens that do not come under either of the preceding heads. Of these I may mention three small figures from Paducah, Kentucky, which represent a snake, a man, and a deer. They are very rudely done, and are possibly modern work.

Attention should be called to some small specimens resembling toadstools or mushrooms in shape, some of which may have been stoppers for bottles, while others could have served as implements in some of the arts. One of these pieces has a distinctly vitrified surface. Its age, however, cannot be determined.

There are a few rude pipes of usual forms and of no special interest.

The comparative scarcity of these articles, so plentiful in some of the mound districts, is certainly worthy of the attention of archaeologists.

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 fragmentary state. A majority are from a mound near the city of Davenport, but a limited number came from Wisconsin.

At this time it is impossible to define, with any degree of precision, the geographical limits of this cla.s.s of ware. The tribes by whom it was manufactured have evidently, at one time or another, occupied the greater part of the Mississippi basin north of the mouth of the Missouri River. Similarities of material, shape, methods of manufacture, and ornamentation, tend to show that we must include the greater parts of the States of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, in the area covered by this or closely related ceramic groups, and indications of its presence are discovered far beyond these limits. The mounds of Manitoba have recently furnished examples of this cla.s.s of ware, and it has decided relations.h.i.+ps with the ware of the Eastern and Northeastern States. 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 coa.r.s.ely pulverized sh.e.l.ls or potsherds; the vases, as a rule, having full bodies, well rounded bases, and in very many cases, narrow necks. They exhibit great variety of decoration and no little care in finish. The northern family shows a dark paste tempered with sand, often apparently granitic; a rough fracture, and generally a rude finish. The shapes are comparatively simple, often long, tapering below, and flat bottomed. The ornamentation is totally unlike that of the southern variety.

It consists of cord impressions, incised lines, and implement indentations arranged in figures peculiar to the district. There are many other features that, like the subtile characters of human physiognomy, cannot easily be described, but which are of first importance as indices of relations.h.i.+p or the lack of it.

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