Five modeled effigy pottery decorations or attachments were found in the
general excavations. Two were painted while the other three were of
Neeley’s Ferry paste. One was a human effigy of the full face with a
rounded open mouth, quite large and prominent nose and eyes defined only
by overhanging brows (Fig. 11). The hair arrangement was similar to
bangs indicated along the line of the top of the forehead. One of the
painted heads was of a bird, perhaps turkey, showing a trace of red,
white and black paint. This could possibly be a negative painted sherd
but the evidence was not conclusive. The other painted effigy was Old
Town Red and apparently represented some bird form. The other two forms
may have been bats and seem to have been facing inside the vessel.
Almost the entire shell tempered pottery complex is of Neeley’s Ferry
Plain with an extensive use of strap handles on large jars, many of
which were of six to eight gallons capacity (Fig. 9, center). These
handles were normally paired and on opposite sides of the vessel.
Decorated types are extremely rare, in all less than 2% of the sherds.
Of these Old Town Red comprises more than 50%.
Add the small percentage of Carson Red on Buff and Nodena Red and White
and these account for over 60% of all decorated types (Fig. 12). Of the
balance, only a sprinkling of incised types, one possibly Wallace
Incised, are present (Fig. 13). These low totals are possibly accounted
for by considering them trade pieces rather than local techniques, or
perhaps outside ideas of decoration that had not become fully accepted.
One form of local decoration which shows an increase when complete
vessels are considered is the pushing out of small areas around the pot
to form rounded nodes or projections. Associated with some of these
large jars was a crude incising around the shoulder area which was a
very poor imitation of the Barton Incised of the St. Francis area. This
is very suggestive of a new idea in decoration with little real interest
in technical achievement. That these people were skilled enough in
ceramics to have done fine work is attested to by the elaboration of
workmanship in the strap handle assemblage.
[Illustration: Figure 11. Human Effigy Head]
[Illustration: Figure 12. Painted Pottery
_(1. A large shallow bowl with red painted design on buff
background, painted areas intensified with water color, 2. Carson
Red on Buff)_]
[Illustration: Figure 13. Decorated Pottery Sherds]