POTTERY.
manufacture of pottery is the art which broadly draws a line between neolithic and palzeolithic man. Some nations on the American continent did not possess it; but the reason of this is seen in their geological surroundings, which did not offer them the quality of earth suitable for the purpose, or in their restless life, which made such fragile objects burdensome. Usually, the material was prepared by mix ing pounded shells or coarse angular gravel with suitably moistened clay. The wheel being unknown, the vessels were formed by band, dried in the shade, and afterward further hardened by exposure to the sun or to the flames of an open fire or kiln,.
The ancient potters were not familiar with glazing, but they very generally had an eye for the beautiful as they understood it, and there are few specimens which do not strive after symmetry of outline or which fail to display traces of decoration in lino or color (p1. 6, figs. 45-53). Glaz ing, indeed, is occasionally seen on their ware, but it was accidental.
In size and weight the utensils vary widely, some of the pots holding a few ounces only, while those intended for boiling the sap for maple sugar have a capacity of several gallons. The largest are the wide shallow pans, four or five feet in diameter, employed as evaporating-pans at the natural salt-wells of Illinois and Kentucky.
Pottery of the Middle Atlantic and Yew ET,rland pottery of the Middle Atlantic States does not essentially differ, either in mate rial, form, or decoration, from that of New England. In both sections it is rude in character, imperfectly burned, and ornamented by indenta tions or tracings with the finger or a pointed instrument, or by pressure with a cord. Vessels with handles or feet or with flat bottoms are very rare. Animal-shaped vessels are practically unknown.
Pottery of the Ohio mounds of the Ohio Valley furnish an abundance of pottery of a better character. The vessels are of fine clay, and sonic of them have been worked pure, while with others the clay has been mixed with quartz and mica. Some present images of birds, quadrupeds, and the human form. Sometimes several vessels are connected, making a complex arrangement. Handles and feet occasion ally appear. The decoration is often in curved lines agreeable to the eye. (See Vol. I. pr. Pottery of the llNddle Uzzlley of the pottery of the middle valley of the Mississippi was usually of clay mixed with shells.
lie vessels were often covered with a thick coating of black or red paint, vestiges of which are still visible. The sides of some of the jars are not more than an eighth of an inch in thickness. The pottery exhumed in Southern Missouri and Arkansas is usually black, and the jars have foot like knobs to maintain them in the erect position.
Pottery of the Gulf specimens from the Gulf States prove that in this art the natives of that region were superior to their northern relatives. These specimens are more varied in form, symmetrical in shape, the composition fairly good, and the ornamentation diversified. Red, blue, yellow, and black clays were employed, and often without the admixture of any foreign substance. Many of the vessels were baked in kilns, the remains of which have been discovered. Some of the vessels have flat bottoms (pr. 6, fig. 53); others strong ears or handles (fig. so); others pointed bottoms (fig. 49); all of which points are indicative of gradual improvement in the art. Even lids of baked clay were manufac tured, fitting closely into the mouths of the vessels for which they were intended.
The ornamentation was imposed by moulding the rims, incising the clay, pressing designs into it, painting it in various colors, and occasion ally by inserting into it, when moist, diamond-shaped and square or circu lar pieces of mica and shell.
Pottery of New ilIerico and of the tribes of New Mexico and Arizona still manufacture pottery, and surprising quantities of fragments strew the soil of the valleys of the Gila and Little Colorado Rivers. These shards are often highly decorated and painted in various colors, exhibiting a style of workmanship differing from and surpassing that which prevailed on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains.
Images and ceramic industry of many of the tribes, both ancient and modern, extended beyond the manufacture of dishes and jars. Terra-cotta images have been exhumed in considerable numbers in the Ohio Valley and the States south of it. Professor Putnam obtained many such from an altar-mound in Southern Ohio. They were figurines some six or seven inches in length, neatly moulded, and not devoid of grace in position. Ornamented pipes in terra-cotta are also frequent, and were manufactured from the early Mound Period down to the advent of the whites. (See Vol I., pr. 38.) use of clay in the form of bricks for building purposes was wholly unknown in the Mississippi Valley and east of it. The instances which have been alleged to the contrary have not borne examination. Indeed, we may say the same of the whole area of which we are speaking; for the adobes or sun-dried bricks of the Pueblo Indians are not really bricks, shaped and baked and then laid in the wall. They are formed upon the wall itself, in a manner closely similar to that in which the Thibetans raise their structures of dried mud.