Above) This effigy dog-bottle is from the Mississipian period (1000-1600 C.E.). It's ten inches tall, recovered from a site in Monroe County, Tennessee, and now in the Frank H. McClung Museum of the University of Tennessee. It shows the fusing of dog and dragon iconography.

Below) A Mississippian dog effigy bowl that, again, can be taken simultaneously for a dragon or alligator with just the head and tail poking out of the water. The recurrence of this image strongly suggests an association with myth or cultic experience, not merely a utilitarian bowl.