(Courtesy Moundville Archaeological Park) The Moundville Duck Bowl-arguably the most beautiful piece of prehistoric Native American art ever discovered in the United States—has come home. Sculpted out of a single massive piece of stone, its creator adorned the rim of the elegant bowl with the graceful neck and head of what appears to be a supernatural bird creature. Called by its excavator, Clarence Bloomfield Moore, “a triumph of aboriginal endeavor, the ‘Portland vase’ of prehistoric art in the United States,” it remains unique in its execution and form. Some of the nation’s great museums have displayed the Duck Bowl or “Bird-Serpent Effigy Bowl,” as it has been called recently. Until now this important artifact has not been in Alabama since Moore found it at Moundville 105 years ago.
Moore, a Philadelphia aristocrat turned archaeologist, spent several decades in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries traveling the waterways of the southeastern United States excavating mound sites. In 1905 and 1906, working under the auspices of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, he anchored his steamboat, The Gopher, in the Black Warrior River at Moundville. There, he unearthed a fantastic collection of prehistoric Native American art. The bulk of the collections that Moore excavated, including the famous Moundville Duck Bowl, was sent back to Philadelphia. Angered that these collections left Alabama to reside in northern museums, the Alabama state legislature later passed an antiquities law in 1915 barring the removal of artifacts from the state. Eventually, these collections were transferred to New York City before ending up in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Shortly after it was discovered, the Moundville Duck Bowl created a national stir when Harper’s Magazine, the most popular magazine in the United States, published a major feature story in January 1906 on the excavations at Moundville. The article, authored by Moore’s laboratory assistant, Harriet Newell Wardle, described the bowl as “the most remarkable piece of sculpture ever discovered north of Mexico on the American continent.... This is the find that has set the archaeological world agog—an absolutely unique piece, beautiful in its workmanship and in the symmetry of its form.”
Shortly after it was discovered, the Moundville Duck Bowl created a national stir when Harper’s Magazine, the most popular magazine in the United States, published a major feature story in January 1906 on the excavations at Moundville. The article, authored by Moore’s laboratory assistant, Harriet Newell Wardle, described the bowl as “the most remarkable piece of sculpture ever discovered north of Mexico on the American continent.... This is the find that has set the archaeological world agog—an absolutely unique piece, beautiful in its workmanship and in the symmetry of its form.”
Sculpted out of a single massive piece of stone, its creator adorned the rim of the elegant bowl with the graceful neck and head of what appears to be a supernatural bird creature.
The bowl was probably made in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Archaeological investigations have revealed that several of the mounds supported craft workshops, but it is not known if the bowl was made at Moundville or imported from another Mississippian chiefdom. If the Duck Bowl was created at Moundville, it demonstrates the great skill and imagination of the area’s artists and craftsmen. At first glance, the bird on the rim appears to be the gracefully arching neck, head, and tail of a creature originally identified as a wood duck. Dr. F. Kent Reilly of Texas State University, and guest curator of the new exhibition at Moundville, argues that “upon closer examination, however, the duck is instead a supernatural representation that combines the crested head of a bird with crosshatching and motifs that serve as serpent markings in Mississippian art.” Historical sources from the eighteenth century record that in some instances, Native American temples displayed similar bowls carved from wood, which were made to hold offerings of maize.
Though it has been long absent, today the national treasure, along with fifty other significant Moundville pieces, has returned on loan to the state archaeological park. The items are on exhibit at the Jones Museum (reopened after a five-million-dollar renovation and expansion) at the University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park. Gaining approval for the loan of the Duck Bowl and the other Moundville treasures from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) was no easy task. Several trips were made to Washington, DC, to present exhibition plans and to select proposed objects for loan. Throughout the design phase, conservators at the NMAI reviewed all drawings and specifications for the artifact case and security, along with temperature and humidity controls. In the final hour before exhibit production began, however, the Duck Bowl was nearly removed from the loan because NMAI curators wanted to exhibit it at their branch museum in New York.
Recognizing the importance of this particular artifact to the planned exhibition storyline, Moundville Archaeological Park turned to its constituency of Native Americans and scholars for support. Chiefs of southeastern tribes in Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, along with a number of respected archaeologists, wrote letters of support requesting that the Duck Bowl be exhibited at Moundville. Thankfully, the loan was approved and thousands of park visitors, including hundreds of Native Americans, have enjoyed seeing this spectacular piece at the site of its origin. In addition, staff from the Smithsonian Institution have visited the exhibition and have been thrilled with the way in which these objects are presented. The Smithsonian recently renewed the loan for the Duck Bowl through September of 2011, providing Alabamians an extended opportunity to visit one of the most valuable and impressive prehistoric relics ever discovered in their state.
This feature was previously published in Issue 100, Spring 2011.
Though it has been long absent, today the national treasure, along with fifty other significant Moundville pieces, has returned on loan to the state archaeological park. The items are on exhibit at the Jones Museum (reopened after a five-million-dollar renovation and expansion) at the University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park. Gaining approval for the loan of the Duck Bowl and the other Moundville treasures from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) was no easy task. Several trips were made to Washington, DC, to present exhibition plans and to select proposed objects for loan. Throughout the design phase, conservators at the NMAI reviewed all drawings and specifications for the artifact case and security, along with temperature and humidity controls. In the final hour before exhibit production began, however, the Duck Bowl was nearly removed from the loan because NMAI curators wanted to exhibit it at their branch museum in New York.
Recognizing the importance of this particular artifact to the planned exhibition storyline, Moundville Archaeological Park turned to its constituency of Native Americans and scholars for support. Chiefs of southeastern tribes in Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, along with a number of respected archaeologists, wrote letters of support requesting that the Duck Bowl be exhibited at Moundville. Thankfully, the loan was approved and thousands of park visitors, including hundreds of Native Americans, have enjoyed seeing this spectacular piece at the site of its origin. In addition, staff from the Smithsonian Institution have visited the exhibition and have been thrilled with the way in which these objects are presented. The Smithsonian recently renewed the loan for the Duck Bowl through September of 2011, providing Alabamians an extended opportunity to visit one of the most valuable and impressive prehistoric relics ever discovered in their state.
This feature was previously published in Issue 100, Spring 2011.
Author
Bill Bomar is the director of the University of Alabama’s Moundville Archaeological Park and Museum. He has worked in museums and heritage sites for over twenty years and teaches museum studies as an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama.
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