The handsome vase shown in Fig. 434 is of a somewhat different type from the preceding. It was obtained, along with many other fine specimens, from mounds near Little Rock, Arkansas. It is of the dark polished ware with the usual fire mottlings. The form is symmetrical and graceful. The neck is ornamented with a band of incised chevrons and the sloping upper surface of the body, viewed from above, has a cruciform arrangement of stepped figures engraved in the plastic clay.
One of the most striking of the bottle-shaped vases is shown in Fig. 435. It is symmetrical in shape, well proportioned and well finished. The color is now quite dark and the surface is roughened by a multitude of pits which have resulted from the decay of shell particles. The paste crumbles into a brownish dust when struck or pressed forcibly.
Fig. 435.—Engraved bottle: Arkansas.—⅓.
[National Museum.]
By far the most remarkable feature of the piece is the broad, convex hood-like collar that encircles the neck and spreads out over the body like an inverted saucer. This collar is curiously wrought in incised lines and low ridges by means of which two grotesque faces are produced. The eyes are readily detected, being indicated by low knobs with central pits surrounded each by three concentric circles. They are arranged in pairs on opposite sides. Between the eyes of each pair an incipient nose and mouth may be made out. The face is outlined below by the lower edge of the collar and above, by a low indented ridge crossing the collar tangent to the base of the neck.
The most expanded part of the body is encircled by an incised pattern consisting of five sets of partially interlocked scrolls—an ornament characteristic of the pottery of Arkansas.
Modifications of the simple outlines of bottles exhibit many interesting peculiarities. Compound forms are not unusual and consist generally of imitations of two vessels, the one superimposed upon or set in the mouth of another. A good example in the ordinary plain dark ware is given in Fig. 436. Similar shapes are suggested by lobed forms of the gourd.
