Bowl

The Mississippian culture flourished from 900 to 1550 AD. During this time, large and complex political and cultural centres were built in the central Mississippi region of the United States. Thousands of people lived in these towns. Some of the settlements were large cities. The natural resources of the area were abundant. Edible plants included acorns from oak trees, wild rice, wild potato, wild onions, and a great variety of berries, nuts, and fruits. Mammals, birds, and fish were plentiful. With a short and warm winter (4°C) and hot summers, the climate was ideal for horticulture, and corn and squash were planted. The inhabitants needed containers for their food. Great numbers of bowls, jugs, and pots were made, all by hand, without a potter’s wheel, probably by pottery specialists for sale and trade. The pottery vessels these peoples left behind date to the Late Mississippian period, from about 1300 to 1550 AD. The ROM’s collection contains mostly plain rimmed bowls, undecorated long-necked bottles polished in red, and others not polished but with dull surfaces. However, some objects were more elaborately constructed and decorated. This bowl is called a tail rider, a distinctive type of bowl with an animal’s head on one side of the rim and its tail on the opposite side. Our tail rider has a duck’s head as an extension on the rim. Millions of ducks wintered in the region, and their sculpted presence on vessels likely reflects the importance of ducks to the Mississippian peoples.