There is no hard line of demarcation between the class of vessels now
to be considered and those already described. The distinction is made
chiefly for convenience of treatment.
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. The bottom is very generally rounded. A few of the form
modifications are shown in Fig. 392. The rim or neck is always short,
and is upright or slightly recurved. Many vessels resembling the
shapes here presented are placed with the succeeding group, as they
appear to be functionally distinct from this. There are no examples
with legs or stands.
[Illustration: FIG. 392.--Forms of pots.]
HANDLES.--Looped handles are confined almost wholly to this class
of vessels. They are generally ranged about the rim or neck. In a
majority of cases there are four handles to a vessel. We rarely find
less than that number, but often more. It is a usual thing to see
fifteen or twenty handles set about the rim. Originally the handles
may have been exclusively functional in character; they were so at
least in antecedent forms. These potters have certainly, at times,
employed them for purposes of embellishment. In some cases they are
too fragile for use, in others they are flattened out against the neck
of the vessel and united with it throughout their whole length. Again,
they have degenerated into mere ridges, notched and otherwise modified
to suit the fancy. In many instances their place is taken by incised
lines or indentations which form effective and appropriate ornamental
figures. A series of vessels showing gradations from perfect handles
to their atrophied representatives is shown in Fig. 393.
[Illustration: FIG. 393.--Handles.]
ORIGIN OF HANDLES.--Handles were doubtless originally attached to
facilitate the suspension and handling of vessels and other articles.
They probably had their typical development in basketry, and there
are good reasons for supposing that certain forms of the handles upon
pottery owe their existence to contact with the sister art. This idea
is confirmed by their shapes, and by the fact that a large percentage
of the pottery handles are useless as aids to suspension or
transportation.
ORNAMENT.--Rim margins are modified for decorative purposes, very much
as they are in bowls. See Fig. 363.
The bodies of these vessels are often elaborately ornamented, mostly
by incised figures, but often by punctures, nodes and ribs. The
incised lines are arranged principally in groups of straight lines
forming angular figures--a very archaic style--and in groups of
festooned lines so placed as to resemble scales. The punctures
are made with a sharp point, and form encircling lines and various
carelessly executed patterns. A rude sort of ornamentation is produced
by pinching up the soft clay of the surface between the nails of the
fingers and thumb. Relief ornament consists chiefly of applied fillets
of clay, arranged to form vertical ribs. Rows of nodes are sometimes
seen, and in a few cases the whole body is covered with rude nodes.
ILLUSTRATIONS.--The specimens selected for illustration are intended
to epitomize the forms and decorations of a very great number of
vessels, and are not always the most showy examples to be found.
A vessel of rather exceptional shape is given in Fig. 394. It could as
well be classed with bowls as with pots. The ware is of the rude kind
generally used over the fire. The body is high and cylindrical, the
rim flaring, and the bottom quite flat. The form is suggestive of our
domestic crockery.
[Illustration: FIG. 394.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]
Another bowl-like pot is illustrated in Fig. 395. It is of the dark,
rudely hand-polished variety. The body is globular, the neck is very
short and is ornamented with a dentate band. Below this are two pairs
of perforations, probably used for suspending the vessel. There are
a number of vessels of this variety, mostly smaller than the example
given.
The vessel shown in Fig. 396 is still more pot-like. The neck is
higher than the preceding and is slightly constricted. It is of very
rude construction and finish. The rim is furnished with two small
horizontal projections, and the body is somewhat obscurely lobed. It
represents a very numerous class, especially plentiful in Southeast
Missouri.
[Illustration: FIG. 395.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 396.--Pot: Waverly, Tennessee.--1/3.]
The little pot presented in Fig. 397 has the body covered with rude
nodes. The neck is surrounded by a heavy fillet, notched obliquely
in imitation of a twisted cord. Four rude handles have also been
attached.
[Illustration: FIG. 397.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 398.--Pot: Arkansas.--1/3.]
In Fig. 398 we have one of the rudest examples in the collection.
The neck is furnished with four handles, which alternate with four
vertical ribs. The body is misshapen and rough, and is ornamented with
a series of nearly vertical ridges, a rather usual device, and one
which is sometimes very neatly executed.
The body of the nicely finished pot shown in Fig. 399 is embellished
with short, incised markings, arranged in vertical lines. The neck
is furnished with a heavy indented band and four strong handles. The
locality given is "Four-Mile Bayou, Alabama."
The specimen given in Fig. 400 illustrates the use of great numbers
of handles. In this case there are sixteen. They are gracefully formed
and add much to the appearance of the vessel, which is really a bowl
with wide, flaring rim. In most of its characters it resembles the
pots.
[Illustration: FIG. 399.--Pot: Alabama (?).--1/3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 400.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]
Another curious variation in the shape of handles is shown in the
little cup given in Fig. 401. This can hardly be called a usual
feature, although occurring in vessels of various localities. I have
seen an example from the Missouri Valley in which a great number of
perforated handles were set about the rim, and another in which there
was a continuous, partially free, collar perforated at intervals.
There is a specimen of this class in the Davenport Academy collection
in which the flattened handles are so placed about the neck as to form
a series of arches. These, I take it, are partially atrophied forms.
The body is ornamented by a scale-like pattern of incised lines--a
favorite method of decoration with the ancient potter.
[Illustration: FIG. 401.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 402.--Pot: Arkansas (?).--1/3.]
In Fig. 402 we have an illustration of total atrophy. The handles are
represented by simple incised lines. There is no relief whatever. In
many cases the form of the handles is shown in low relief, the outer
surface being plain or ornamented with incised lines or punctures.
The body of the vessel last mentioned is covered with rudely incised
scroll designs.
Another good illustration of this class of vessels is shown in Fig.
403.
The cut is taken from my paper in the Third Annual Report of the
Bureau of Ethnology. The handles are indicated by incised lines. The
body was ornamented by pinching up the clay between the nails of the
thumb and forefinger. Locality: Pecan Point, Arkansas.
[Illustration: FIG. 403.--Pot: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3. [_National
Museum_]]
[Illustration: FIG. 404.--Pot: Hale's Point, Tennessee.--1/3.]
A good example of the larger pots is illustrated in Fig. 404. It is
engraved a little less than one-fourth the dimensions of the original.
The height is seventeen inches and the greatest diameter eighteen
inches. It is very well made. The walls are even and only moderately
thick. The dark, unpolished surface is profusely speckled with
fragments of white shell. There are four wide, strong handles. The
rim and neck are ornamented with encircling lines of finger-nail
indentations.
[Illustration: FIG. 405.--Pot: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]
A masterpiece of this class of work is shown in Fig. 405. It was
obtained at Pecan Point. It is not quite symmetrical in form but is
carefully finished. The color is gray, with mottlings of dark spots,
the result of firing. The height is eleven inches, and the aperture
is ten inches in diameter. There are ten strong, well-proportioned
handles, each having a knob resembling a rivet head, near the upper
end. The margin of the rim has a circle of indentations. There are a
few red vessels of this shape which have figures of reptiles attached
to the neck.