Headpot

From Shawnee Village, this headpot is especially noteworthy for the incising on the face, which may represent tattooing. Headpots are a very rare and unique form of pre-historic Native American pottery found almost exclusively in northeast Arkansas and the adjacent boot heel region of Missouri. They are distinguished from other native North American pottery in that the entire vessel is molded into the general shape of a human head, as opposed to facial features such as eyes, nose, and mouth simply being applied to the surface of a bottle or jar form. As of 2005, only 137 head pots have been identified, ninety of which have been found in Arkansas.