Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 361-436Holmes, William Henry
History
Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 361-436
Holmes, William Henry
Indian pottery -- Mississippi River Valley; Mississippi River Valley -- Antiquities
A very interesting vessel obtained by Captain Hall from a mound in
Wisconsin is represented by a number of large fragments, probably
comprising about one-half of the walls. It must have been somewhat
larger than the vase given in Fig. 456, and in a general way resembles
it closely. It appears to be more pointed below than the other, and
has a slightly flaring rim. The walls are one-fourth of an inch thick.
The paste is coarse and is tempered with sand, as in the cases already
described. The lower part of the body is covered with nearly vertical
cord marks. The upper part was smoothed, rather rudely, for the
reception of additional decoration, which consists of several bands of
indented figures. The principal implement used was apparently a stiff
cord, or a slender osier wrapped with fine thread, which has been
laid on and impressed with the fingers, forming nearly continuous
encircling lines. Bands of short oblique lines made in the same
manner also occur. Just below the margin there is a line of annular
indentations made from the exterior, leaving nodes on the inside--the
reverse of the treatment noticed in the vessel already illustrated.
Fragments of identically marked ware from the vicinity of Prairie du
Chien may be seen in the National Museum.
A large fragment from Baraboo County, Wisconsin, shows a full body and
a slightly flaring rim. The upper part is ornamented with horizontal
lines of annular indentations, and the body is covered with rather
rude patterns made by rolling a notched wheel or _roulette_ back and
forth in zigzag lines.
Two handsome pieces of this ware were recently obtained by the Bureau
of Ethnology from a mound in Vernon County, Wisconsin. The finest of
these, which is shown in Fig. 457, is six and a half inches in height,
and in symmetry and finish rivals the best work of the south. The
paste is dark, compact, and fine grained, and tempered apparently
with sand. The color of the surface is a rich, mottled brown. The most
striking feature of the decoration consists of a number of polished
bands, extending in divers directions over the surface, the
interstices being filled in with indented figures. The lip is smooth
and the margin rounded. The exterior surface of the narrow collar is
ornamented with oblique lines made by a _roulette_, and crossed at
intervals with fine incised lines. The neck is slightly constricted,
and is encircled by a polished zone one and one-fourth inches wide,
having a line of indentations along the upper edge. The body is
separated into four lobes by four vertical, depressed, polished bands
about one inch wide. Two of these lobes are crossed obliquely by
similar polished bands. These bands were all finished with a polishing
implement, and are somewhat depressed, probably the result of strong
pressure with this tool. They are bordered by wide incised lines. The
intervening spaces are indented with a _roulette_.
[Illustration: FIG. 458.--Vase; Illinois.--3/4.]
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