The fragments of pottery from this mound are unusually large and well
preserved, and exhibit a number of varieties of form and ornamentation.
_Forms._--The prevailing form is a pot-shaped vase, with wide mouth,
and rounded body; the neck is short and straight or but slightly
constricted. The handles or ears which connect the upper part of the
neck with the shoulder are in some cases as much as 3 inches wide. The
bowls are mostly hemispherical, but in a few cases have incurved lips,
the shoulder being rounded and the base somewhat flattened. The largest
specimens have been 11 or 12 inches in diameter. The vases have been
somewhat larger.
_Material._--Classified by material, there seem to be two varieties,
one with a very large percentage of coarsely pulverized shell material,
the other without visible _degraissant_. The clay is usually fine and
apparently without admixture of sand or other impurities. A little
comminuted mica may be seen in some cases.
_Color._--The prevailing color is a reddish gray, more or less blackened
by use. A remarkable variety has a bright red surface, the mass being
gray.
_Ornamentation._--The ornamentation consists of cord and net
impressions, incised lines, stamped figures, indented fillets, and life
and fanciful forms modeled in relief.
The study of cord impressions is quite interesting. The cords are
twisted and as large as medium twine. These cords appear to have been
disconnected, at least, not woven into a fabric, and the impressions are
generally nearly vertical about the upper part of the vessel, but below
take all positions, the result being a sort of hatching of the lines.
This effect may be the result of placing the vessel upon a coarse fabric
while the rim was being finished or the handles added.
It seems possible that a loose net of cords, probably with fine
crossthreads, is used to suspend the vessel in during the process of
modeling. It appears, however, if this has been the case, that the
vessel has been taken out of this net before it was burned. Where
handles have been added, it will be found that the cord markings have
been destroyed by the touch of the fingers. But the body has impressions
of the net made after the addition of the handles and ornaments, as the
impressions appear on the outside or lower edges of these additions. The
lower part of the body may still have been supported by the net during
the process of drying; but as some vessels have no cord markings
whatever, it is evident that it was not difficult to complete the vessel
without the support of the net.
[Illustration: Fig. 139.]
By making a clay impression of one of the fragments I have been able
to determine the character of the fabric used. It was loosely woven and
quite flexible, the clay often receiving finger impressions through it.
It was probably made of grasses or the fibre of bark.
Beside the net and cord marks, which may or may not be the result of an
attempt at ornament, there are ornaments made of fillets of clay. In a
number of cases a comb-like figure made of thin fillets has been added
to the shoulder of a vase. In other cases a fillet has been carried
around the neck of the vase and indented by the finger or an implement.
The rim of one bowl has been ornamented with three deeply incised
or excavated lines, which form a sort of embattled figure about the
incurved lip. Another has a series of shallow, vertical, incised lines
near the rim, and a circle of annular indentations, three-eighths of an
inch in diameter, about one-fourth of an inch from the lip.
There are also various forms of noded ornaments on the rims of bowls.
The handles of vases are in a few cases effectively ornamented. In one
case the handle has been elaborated into a life form, representing a
frog or human figure. The arms are attached to the upper part of the
handle and lie extended along the rim. The handle proper represents the
body, the breast being protruded. The legs lie flattened out upon the
shoulder of the vessel, the feet being bent back beneath the body;
height 3-1/2 inches. This vessel is illustrated in Fig. 139.