The material does not differ from that of the other vessels of the same locality. There is a large percentage of shell, some particles of which are quite large. The paste is yellowish gray in color and rather coarse in texture. The vase was modeled in the plain clay and permitted to harden before the devices were engraved. After this a thick film of fine yellowish-gray clay was applied to the face, partially filling up the engraved lines. The remainder of the surface, including the lips, received a thick coat of dark red paint. The whole surface was then highly polished.
Fig. 420.—Head-shaped vase: Pecan Point, Arkansas.—½.
The illustration will convey a more vivid conception of this striking head than any description that can be given. The face cannot be said to have a single feature strongly characteristic of Indian physiognomy. We have instead the round forehead and the projecting mouth of the African. The nose, however, is small and the nostrils are narrow. The face would seem to be that of a youngish person, perhaps a female. The features are all well modeled, and are so decidedly individual in character that the artist must have had in his mind a pretty definite conception of the face to be produced as well as of the expression appropriate to it, before beginning his work. It will be impossible, however, to prove that the portrait of a particular personage was intended. The closed eyes, the rather sunken nose, and the parted lips were certainly intended to give the effect of death. The ears are large, correctly placed, and well modeled; they are perforated all along the margin, thus revealing a practice of the people to whom they referred. The septum of the nose appears to have been pierced, and the horizontal depression across the upper lip may indicate the former presence of a suspended ornament.
Fig. 421.—The engraved figures.
Fig. 422.—Head covering.
Perhaps the most unique and striking feature is the pattern of incised lines that covers the greater part of the face. The lines are deeply engraved and somewhat "scratchy," and were apparently executed in the hardened clay before the slip was applied. The left side of the face is plain, with the exception of a figure somewhat resembling a grappling hook in outline which partially surrounds the eye. The right side is covered with a comb-like pattern, placed vertically, with the teeth upwards. The middle of the forehead has a series of vertical lines and a few short horizontal ones just above the root of the nose. There are also three curved lines near the corner of the mouth not shown in the cut.
The diagram presented herewith (Fig. 421) gives in dotted lines the correct outline of the front face, and shows projected in solid lines the engraved figures. The significance of these markings can only be surmised in the most general way. Their function is probably the same as that of the tattooed and painted figures upon the faces of living races.