racter; they were so at
least in antecedent forms. These potters have certainly, at times,
employed them for purposes of embellishment. In some cases they are
too fragile for use, in others they are flattened out against the neck
of the vessel and united with it throughout their whole length. Again,
they have degenerated into mere ridges, notched and otherwise modified
to suit the fancy. In many instances their place is taken by incised
lines or indentations which form effective and appropriate ornamental
figures. A series of vessels showing gradations from perfect handles
to their atrophied representatives is shown in Fig. 393.

[Illustration: FIG. 393.--Handles.]

ORIGIN OF HANDLES.--Handles were doubtless originally attached to
facilitate the suspension and handling of vessels and other articles.
They probably had their typical development in basketry, and there
are good reasons for supposing that certain forms of the handles upon
pottery owe their existence to contact with the sister art. This idea
is confirmed by their shapes, and by the fact that a large percentage
of the pottery handles are useless as aids to suspension or
transportation.

ORNAMENT.--Rim margins are modified for decorative purposes, very much
as they are in bowls. See Fig. 363.

The bodies of these vessels are often elaborately ornamented, mostly
by incised figures, but often by punctures, nodes and ribs. The
incised lines are arranged principally in groups of straight lines
forming angular figures--a very archaic style--and in groups of
festooned lines so placed as to resemble scales. The punctures
are made with a sharp point, and form encircling lines and various
carelessly executed patterns. A rude sort of ornamentation is produced
by pinching up the soft clay of the surface between the nails of the
fingers and thumb. Relief ornament consists chiefly of applied fillets
of clay, arranged to form vertical ribs. Rows of nodes are sometimes
seen, and in a few cases the whole body is covered with rude nodes.

ILLUSTRATIONS.--The specimens selected for illustration are intended
to epitomize the forms and decorations of a very great number of
vessels, and are not always the most showy examples to be found.

A vessel of rather exceptional shape is given in Fig. 394. It could as
well be classed with bowls as with pots. The ware is of the rude kind
generally used over the fire. The body is high and cylindrical, the
rim flaring, and the bottom qui