Fig. 662. (S. 1–3.) Vase from Madisonville, Ohio. Ohio Valley Group.
I take this to mean that such sites are the oldest of all. The things that are preserved are only those of such substances as resist atmospheric agencies. If one will study a village-site, walking back and forth across the ploughed field for hours,—as I have done,—one will observe that there are pieces of pottery of firm texture. There are other pieces of pottery ready to disintegrate. The same is true of shells. While one’s conclusions as to pottery are based upon the specimens he finds, yet I do not consider it at all visionary to assume that forms in clay, other than pottery, were in use among the Indians. I, myself, have picked up fragments of pottery in such disintegrated condition that they could be crumbled up between the thumb and index finger.
Fig. 663. (S. 1–4.) Vase from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio. Ohio Valley Group.
Fig. 664. (S. 1–2.) Vase from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio Valley.
Fig. 665. (S. a little over 1–3.) Vessel, from Arkansas. Middle Mississippi Valley Group.
Fig. 667. (S. 1–3.) Vessel, from Arkansas. Davenport Academy collection.