I have already pointed out the fact that most of the pottery of the Upper Mississippi region belongs to a distinct family. It has never been as abundant as the pottery of the more southern sections of the country and is not well represented in our museums. There are only a few pieces in the Davenport collection and these are all in a more or less fragmentary state. A majority are from a mound near the city of Davenport, but a limited number came from Wisconsin.
At this time it is impossible to define, with any degree of precision, the geographical limits of this class of ware. The tribes by whom it was manufactured have evidently, at one time or another, occupied the greater part of the Mississippi basin north of the mouth of the Missouri River. Similarities of material, shape, methods of manufacture, and ornamentation, tend to show that we must include the greater parts of the States of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, in the area covered by this or closely related ceramic groups, and indications of its presence are discovered far beyond these limits. The mounds of Manitoba have recently furnished examples of this class of ware, and it has decided relationships with the ware of the Eastern and Northeastern States. It is not yet time to draw close distinctions, as sufficiently detailed studies of the products of the various districts have not been made.
On the shelves of our museums the difference between the two great families of the middle and Upper Mississippi are strikingly manifest. The ware of the former district, as already shown, exhibits variously tinted pastes tempered with coarsely pulverized shells or potsherds; the vases, as a rule, having full bodies, well rounded bases, and in very many cases, narrow necks. They exhibit great variety of decoration and no little care in finish. The northern family shows a dark paste tempered with sand, often apparently granitic; a rough fracture, and generally a rude finish. The shapes are comparatively simple, often long, tapering below, and flat bottomed. The ornamentation is totally unlike that of the southern variety. It consists of cord impressions, incised lines, and implement indentations arranged in figures peculiar to the district. There are many other features that, like the subtile characters of human physiognomy, cannot easily be described, but which are of first importance as indices of relationship or the lack of it.
The best preserved of the Davenport specimens was described and illustrated in the first volume of the proceedings of the Davenport Academy. This vessel, Fig. 456, was found in a mound near Davenport along with human remains, and closely associated with other relics, among which were several copper implements covered with coarse woven fabrics. Its height is eleven inches, width of aperture seven and a half inches, and diameter of base four inches. It is estimated to contain a little over one gallon.
There is a broad, shallow constriction at the neck. The walls are from one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch thick, and the margin of the rim is squared off, showing the full thickness—a strong characteristic of the northern pottery. The form is nearly symmetrical, and the surface is hand-smoothed but not polished. The paste is now dark and crumbling, and shows a rough fracture. A large percentage of sand was used in tempering. The color is a dark gray-brown. The entire surface, with the exception of a narrow band about the base, has been covered with ornamentation. This is executed with considerable care, and shows a great deal of ingenuity and some taste. There is apparently no feature copied from nature or from ideographic art. Two or three distinct implements have been used. A part of the neck ornament was made by rolling back and forth a circular tool, a roulette, the edge of which was notched. A row of indented nodes has been produced upon the exterior surface of the neck by impressing upon the inside the end of a reed or hollow bone about one-fourth of an inch in diameter. Patterns of bold, rather carelessly drawn lines cover the body and seem to have been made by trailing, under pretty strong pressure, the smooth point of a stylus—probably the bone or reed already suggested. Some of the larger indentations upon the lower part of the neck may have been made by the same implement held in an oblique position. The use to which this vessel was applied can hardly be guessed. It was found with the remains of its owner, and probably contained food or drink.
Fig. 456.—Vase: Davenport, Iowa.—⅓.
Another smaller vessel from the same locality and found under similar conditions shows the same characteristics of material, form, and ornament. There are also a few other fragments of the same ware from this group of mounds. One of these shows that decoration by the indentation of twisted cords was practiced here as elsewhere. A similar vase tastefully decorated with indented lines about the neck, and a band of decoration consisting of broad, plain, sinuous bands upon the body, comes from a mound in Scott County, Iowa. Height six inches, diameter the same. The rims of all these vessels are square on the edge, showing the full thickness of the walls.
Fig. 457.—Vase: Wisconsin.—½.