The collection of pottery from this mound is of much interest. There is but one entire vessel, but the fragments are so plentiful and well preserved that many interesting forms can be restored, and a very good idea of the ceramic work of this locality be formed.
Form.—I have spent much time in the examination of these fragments, and have assigned each to the form of vessel to which it belonged. Where large pieces are preserved, especially if the rim is included, we have little trouble in reconstructing the entire vessel, without fear of being seriously wrong. The lower parts of the bodies of all forms are round or slightly flattened, and but a small fragment of the rim is needed to tell whether the vessel was a bottle, pot, or bowl.
I find, however, that the forms merge into each other in such a way that a complete graduated series can be found. Of first importance, are the round or globular vases with more or less constricted necks.
Ornamentation.—The inside of all forms is plain with the exception of accidental markings of the fingers. The rim is square, sharp, or round on the edge, and sometimes slightly enlarged or beaded on the outer margin. A collar is attached to many forms, which at the lower edge overhangs. It is added to the body with the rim, or as a strip afterward
attached. It is often notched or indented with a stick, bone, or reed, or with the fingers.
The necks of vases and pot-shaped vessels have a great variety of handles, knobs, and ornaments. Some of the latter seem to be atrophied handles. In some cases a low horizontal ridge, from 1 to 4 or more inches in length is placed near the rim, in place of the continuous collar. In other cases a narrow, crescent-shaped ridge is attached, the points reaching down on the shoulder, the arch lying upon the neck. Still others have one or more handles which connect the rim with the neck or shoulder of the vessel, leaving a round or oblong passage for a cord or vine.
These handles were added after the vessel was completed. They are never ornamented. In one case an arched handle, like the handle of a basket, connects the opposite sides of the rim. This is the only entire vessel recovered from the mound. It was associated with the upper layer of skeletons. Diameter 4½ inches. [Fig. 118].
| Fig. 118. |
The body of these vessels is sometimes quite plain, but is more frequently covered with cord markings. These, with one or two exceptions, seem to be made by a series of fine cords, approximately parallel, but without cross-threads of any kind. There is little uniformity of arrangement. In the upper part, and about the base of the neck, the indented lines are generally vertical. On the bottom they are quite irregular, as if the vessel, in making, had been rolled about on a piece of netting or coarse cloth. The cords have been about the size of the ordinary cotton cord used by merchants. One exception is seen in a fragment of a large, rudely-made vase, in which we have the impression of a fabric,
the warp of which, whether wood or cord, has consisted of fillets more than one-fourth of an inch in width, the woof being fine cord.