Ceramic vessel: "Panther Rattlesnake Bottle"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 30 May 2014
label: Collection Date
content: 1 Oct 2007
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. J. D. Rogers
label: Donor Name
content: Jereldine (Jeri) Redcorn
notes: label: Notes
content: This vessel is part of a collection of three ceramic vessels (catalog numbers E432917 - E432919) made by Caddo tribe member, Jereldine (Jeri) Redcorn, née Cross. "Panther Rattlesnake Bottle" is a water bottle type vessel with high inward sloping sides that terminate in a narrow cylindrical neck. The figural forms are incised into the chocolate-brown colored clay body. The design is formed by cross hatched, incised lines bordered by smoothly burnished areas, both inside the design and on the body of the vessel. The shape of the vessel is reminiscent of styles of Caddo pottery dating between A.D. 1000 and 1500 (see Gonzalez et al. 2005). The engraved image on the vessel illustrates a motif of a composite winged, snake/serpent, crested/horned creature. The artist has chosen the word Panther to help describe this animal (sometimes also referred to as Underwater Panther). Similar styles of composite animals are found on engraved shells from Spiro Mounds in eastern Oklahoma, but also from several other sources in the Southeastern United States. The particular design here is reminiscent of one found on a Walls engraved pottery vessel from the central Mississippi Valley (Holms 1886: 402; Phillips and Brown 1978:199). Gonzalez, Bobby, Robert Cast, Timothy K. Perttula, and Bo Nelson. 2005. The W. T. Scott Collection at the American Museum of Natural History and Other Caddo Collections from Arkansas and Louisiana. Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, Binger, Oklahoma. Holmes, William H. 1886. Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley. Bureau of American Ethnology, 4th Annual Report, pp. 367-436. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Phillips, Phil and James A. Brown. 1978 Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma, Part 1. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Mass.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 14 Sep 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Norman, Oklahoma, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Caddo
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2060431
label: USNM Number
content: E432918-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Vessel
physicalDescription: label: Circumference - Widest Point Of Vessel
content: ca. 68.5 cm
label: Diameter - Mouth Opening Of Vessel
content: ca. 5.7 cm
label: Diameter - Base Of Vessel
content: ca 9 cm