Fig. 658. (S. 1–4.) Florida pottery. Andover collection.
Fig. 659. (S. 1–3.) Vessel, from Arkansas. Davenport Academy collection. Middle Mississippi Valley Group.
Fig. 660. (S. 1–2.) Vase with incised design. From Louisiana.
Fig. 661. (S. 1–4.) Florida pottery. Phillips Academy collection.
The ceramic arts among the aborigines embrace not only clay forms used in cooking and ollas for cooling, rather common in hot countries; but also effigies were made of clay, there were clay spindle-whorls, also clay rings, discs, and objects we know not the use of. Clay beads have been found in a number of places. Illustrations, with brief descriptions, are presented of all these clay things. It is quite likely that on the large village-sites in the Tennessee and Cumberland valleys, extending from central Kentucky to central Tennessee and northern Alabama, many sun-dried clay objects, or objects imperfectly burned, have disappeared through climatic agencies. I have remarked on the importance of comparing historic sites with prehistoric sites and have insisted that this should be done. I shall show, in the chapter cited above, that the prehistoric as well as the modern Indians selected the most favorable localities for villages; therefore modern villages were often built on the site occupied by a prehistoric building. The presence of stone, clay, bone, and shell objects on these sites indicates that the population was greater in prehistoric times than in modern. The fabrics and the wooden objects of ancient times have long since disappeared, as have most such things of even two centuries ago. It is observed on many sites that there are no shell objects even in the ash-pits, and few bone objects.
