This paper is the third of a series of preliminary studies of
aboriginal ceramic art which are intended to be absorbed into a final
work of a comprehensive character.
The groups of relics selected for these studies are in all cases of
limited extent, and are such as can lay claim to a considerable degree
of completeness. It is true that no series of archaeologic objects can
ever be considered complete, but in exceptional cases the sources
of supply may be so thoroughly explored that the development of new
features of importance cannot reasonably be expected. If any series of
American ceramic products has reached such a condition, it is that of
the middle portions of the Mississippi Valley; yet, even in this case,
I consider it unwise to attempt a monographic study, and prefer
to single out a particular collection, making it the subject of a
thorough investigation.
When the idea of preparing such a paper was first conceived, the
collection presenting the greatest advantages was that of the Academy
of Natural Sciences at Davenport, Iowa, which was, therefore, chosen.
Other museums, especially those at Cambridge, Saint Louis, and
Washington, were rich in material from this region, but none of these
collections were so homogeneous and satisfactory.
The National Museum has recently received important accessions from
the Mississippi Valley, through the agency of the Bureau of Ethnology,
and ere the publication of this paper will probably excel all others
in the number and variety of its mound relics. Some of its material
has already been published by Dr. Charles Rau, Prof. C. C. Jones, Dr.
Joseph Jones, and myself, and several additional examples are given in
this paper.
Professor F. W. Putnam has described and illustrated many pieces
belonging to the Peabody Museum, and Professor W. B. Potter and
Dr. Edward Evers have issued an important work on the Saint Louis
collections, in Contributions to the Archaeology of Missouri.
This study is intended to pave the way to a thorough classification of
the multitude of relics, and to the discovery of a method of procedure
suited to a broad and exhaustive treatment of the ceramic art.
I do not expect to discuss ethnical questions, although ceramic
studies will eventually be of assistance in determining the
distribution and migrations of peoples, and in fixing the chronology
of very remote events in the history of pottery-making races.
Some of the results of my studies of the evolutionary phase of the
subject are embodied in an accompanying paper upon the "Origin and
Development of Form and Ornament," and a second paper will soon
follow. Before the final work is issued I hope to make close studies
of all the principal collections, public and private. In such a work
the importance of great numbers of examples cannot be overestimated.
Facts can be learned from a few specimens, but relationships and
principles can only be derived from the study of multitudes.
I shall probably have occasion to modify many of the views advanced in
these preliminary papers, but it is only by pushing out such advance
guards that the final goal can be reached.
Since the original issue of this paper in the Proceedings of the
Davenport Academy of Sciences, a careful revision of the text has been
made and much additional matter and a number of illustrations have
been added.
I wish in this place to express my obligations to the officers and
members of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, and especially to Mrs.
M. L. D. Putnam and Prof. W. H. Pratt, whose generous aid has been of
the greatest service to me.