Numbers of the early writers tell of the use of clay vessels for drums, and earthen whistles and rattles are common to-day (see Figs. [57] and [58]).
A curious-shaped implement, somewhat like a toadstool, was evidently a modelling tool—to support the walls of a partially stiffened piece of pottery from within, while the outer surface was finished with other tools.
In the lower Mississippi Valley clays were employed in plastering the walls of cave dwellings, as well as for the floors.
As burial urns, pottery bowls and vases were often made use of. Not so often, however, for holding the ashes of the dead as for the skull and other bones, which were crowded into a single jar, or bowl, such as was common in the household. This was covered with a smaller vessel (see [Fig. 59]). Sometimes several of these bowls surrounded and covered the bones. Occasionally, an earthen casket seems to have been made especially for the purpose. There have been found, beside these burial vessels in the Indian graves, smaller receptacles for food, and even rude toys. The latter were usually animal forms—figurines, images of fish, turtles, and birds. It is surmised that these were offerings made with the expectation of their being of service to the dead in a future life.
Unlike the Egyptians, the Indians made little use of clay in moulding beads and other personal ornaments. They evidently did not find it gay enough in colour, not knowing the secret of the brilliant enamels with which the early Egyptian potters coated their clays. Pipes, while they were often made of stone and other substances, were in some parts of the country moulded from clay, and ranged in form from a simple tube to curious and grotesque shapes. Those made by the Iroquois were particularly elaborate—a head of an animal or bird formed the bowl, or a snake coiled about it (see [Fig. 60]).