In form there are many suggestions of the characteristic utensils of the north, in ornament there are occasional hints of the south--of Caribbean and Mexican art.
With the Pueblo peoples, notwithstanding their proximity, there is hardly a hint of relationship of any kind. Unlike the Pueblos, the ethnical environment of the Mississippi Valley races would seem to have been considerably diversified; there was less isolation; yet there are strong indications that the art is mainly of indigenous growth, as there is unity and consistency in all its features.
In reference to the period of culture represented by this ware, a few words may be added. There is no feature in it that could not reasonably be expected of the more advanced historic tribes of the Valley. It indicates a culture differing in many ways from that of the Pueblos, ancient and modern, but on the whole rather inferior to it. The work of Mexico, Central and South America is decidedly superior in every essential feature.
There are many difficulties in the way of instituting a comparison of this work with that of the primitive work of the Old World. These I shall not stop to present in this place. In the most general way, I may say that the ceramic art of the Middle Mississippi is apparently superior to that of the stone age in Europe, but little can be inferred in regard to relative grades of culture. In classic countries it is difficult to find its true equivalent. To reach a stage of art correspondingly low we shall have to go behind the heroic age--to pass down through more than the five prehistoric cities of the hill of Hissarlik and descend into the lowest archæologic substratum. Even this, unless it represent the first achievement of that grade of art upon the continent, would afford uncertain data for comparative study.
A given grade of ceramic achievement runs so freely up and down the scale of culture that alone its evidence is of little value in determining culture status.
Adams County, Ohio, Serpent earthwork in 402 Age of pottery in Mississippi Valley 371 Alabama, Pottery from 395, 396, 431, 434 Albany, Illinois, Pottery from 430 Ancient pottery of the Mississippi Valley, William H. Holmes 361-436 Animal forms in pottery 383-392 Arkansas, Pottery from 378-392, 394-398, 399-410, 413-426