ILLUSTRATIONS.
DISTRICT OF THE RIO VIRGEN.
Under the head of coiled pottery I have given a detailed description of the remarkable dwelling-site tumulus at Saint George, Utah, which has furnished such a complete set of the fictile works of the cliff-house potter, the first collection of importance known to have been made by exhumation. I will now present the painted ware and point out its very interesting local peculiarities. All the ordinary shapes are present excepting the olla. Vessels of this form are all of the plain or coiled varieties. The paste is gray and the surface color is usually a light gray. A small percentage of the vessels are painted or stained red. The designs are all executed in black, and are for the most part nicely drawn. They differ slightly in a number of ways from those of other districts, their relationships being, with a few exceptions, more intimate with the ware of the Rio San Juan. A characteristic of this pottery is the thinness of the walls and the hardness and tenacity of the paste. In form a striking feature is the occurrence of bowls of oval form, and in one case such a bowl has sides cut down or scalloped and ends prolonged. The oval form is sometimes seen in other districts, and the elongation of portions of the rim is a feature especially characteristic of the Pima and Mojave work of to-day.
Bowls.—I have already shown in Fig. 244 a small bowl from this locality, in which a coiled exterior is combined with a polished and painted interior. This is an unusual combination, the exterior commonly being plain. The following examples are grouped, as far as possible, according to their painted designs. A usual and very widely distributed decoration consists of a belt of figures encircling the inner margin. In its simplest condition it is only a single broad line, but more frequently it is elaborated into a tasteful border so wide as to leave only a small circle of the plain surface in the bottom of the vessel. The figures present much variety of effect, but combine only a few elements or ideas, as the following figures will amply show. All are rectilinear, or as nearly so as the conformation of the vessels will permit. No example of exterior decoration occurs. As my illustrations are necessarily limited to a few pieces, those having the simpler combinations of lines are omitted, and such only are given as exhibit the decorations of this district to the best advantage.
The bowl shown in Fig. 258 may be regarded as a typical example.
Fig. 258.—Bowl: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
It is a plain hemisphere of gray clay, with roughly finished exterior and whitened and polished interior surface. It is eight inches in diameter and nearly four inches deep. The painted design occupies a band about two inches wide, and consists of two broad bordering lines inclosing meandered lines. The triangular interspaces are occupied by serrate figures, giving to the whole ornament an appearance characteristic of textile borders.
Two small bowls have borders in which the meandered lines are in the natural color of the ground, the triangular spaces being filled in with black. In one case the effect of the guilloche is given in the same manner.
Few vessels exhibit a more characteristic example of the ornamentation of this ware than that given in Fig. 259. It is identical in surface finish with the last, excepting that the exterior has been painted red. An exceptional feature may be noticed in the shaping of the rim, which has been brought to a sharp edge.
Fig. 259.—Bowl: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
The design occupies the usual space, and consists of a very elaborately meandered or fretted line, which is so involved that the eye follows it with difficulty. Four units of the combination complete the circuit of the vessel. In another specimen, which also has the design divided into four parts, the lower line of each part is made straight, by which means the space left in the bottom of the vessel is square instead of round, as in the other cases.
Fig. 260.—Bowl: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
Another variety of decoration, quite characteristic of this region, consists of a band of fret-work dashed boldly across the inner surface of the bowl, giving a most striking result. These figures appear to be fragments of continuous borders, taken from their proper connections and made to do duty on a surface that had ordinarily been left without decoration. This observation has led to the proper interpretation of many enigmatic combinations at first thought to have especial application and significance.
Fig. 261.—Painted device.
The handsome shallow bowl presented in Fig. 260 has been badly broken and carefully mended while still in the hands of its aboriginal owners. It is ten and one-half inches in diameter, and only three and three-fourths inches in depth. The surface finish is identical with that of the preceding example. The design, which consists of a single segment of a chain of fret-work, is drawn in broad, steady lines. Fig. 261.
Not unlike the last in its leading features is the vessel illustrated in Fig. 262. The label indicates that it was collected at Kanab, Utah, a Mormon village ninety miles east of Saint George. The design is carried over the whole inner surface, and is somewhat difficult to analyze. There is little doubt, however, that it consists of portions of fretted or meandered patterns arbitrarily selected from basketry or other geometrically embellished articles, and applied to this use. The complete device is shown in Fig. 263.
Fig. 262.—Bowl from Kanab.—1/4.
The following examples are unique in their styles of decoration. The first, Fig. 264, resembles the preceding save in its painted device. Like a few others, it has been badly fractured and carefully mended by its Indian owners. It was obtained also at Kanab, and is nine inches in diameter by four and one-half in height. The design is cruciform in arrangement, the four parts being joined in pairs by connecting lines. It exhibits some very unusual features (Fig. 265), and we are led to suspect that it may in some way have been significant, or at least that it is a copy of some emblematic device.
Fig. 263.—Painted device.
The almost total absence of life forms in the art of the primitive Pueblos has often been remarked. One example only has been discovered in this region. This occurs in a subject painted on the inner surface of a rather rude, oblong, bowl, from the Saint George tumulus, Fig. 266. A checkered belt in black extends longitudinally across the bowl. At the sides of this, near the middle, are two human figures, executed in the most primitive style, as shown in Fig. 267. Their angular forms are indicative of textile influence. The middle part of the bowl is broken out, so that the feet of one figure and the head of the other are lost.
Fig. 264.—Bowl from Kanab.—1/3.
Fig. 265.—Painted device.
These figures resemble those painted upon and picked in the rocks of the pueblo region, and the triangular head is sometimes seen in the ceramic decoration of modern tribes. A bowl with similar figures was brought from Tusayan by Mr. Mindeleff. It is illustrated in Fig. 268.
Fig. 266.—Bowl with human figures: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
Fig. 267.—Painted design.
Fig. 268.—Bowl with human figures: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Among the many fine things from the mound at Saint George are a few red bowls. They were made of a slightly reddish clay, or the paste has reddened uniformly in burning, and a slip or wash of bright red color has been applied to the surface. The designs are painted in black, but differ in style from any of the preceding. This work corresponds very closely indeed with the decorations of similar vessels from the Little Colorado. The marked peculiarities of the ornamentation and color of these bowls give rise to the idea that they may have been intended for some especial service of a ceremonial character. It is not impossible, however, that these vessels reached very distant localities by means of trade. A representative example is shown in Fig. 269. The broad interior band of ornament is divided into four compartments by vertical panels of reticulated lines. The compartments are occupied by groups of disconnected rectangular fret-links on a ground of oblique stripes.
Fig. 269.—Red bowl: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
The heart-shaped bowls previously mentioned include medium sized and small vases, with slightly conical bases, distended shoulders, and much constricted, often depressed, apertures. They are of very general distribution, but like the hemispherical red bowls are rarely found in numbers. It is probable that they were devoted to ceremonial rather than to domestic uses. The shapes are generally pleasing to the eye; the finish is exceptionally fine, and the designs, though simple, are applied with more than usual care.
A very good specimen from the tumulus at Saint George is illustrated in Fig. 270.
Fig. 270.—Heart shaped bowl of red ware: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
The bottom in this case is slightly flattened, and the incurved lip but slightly sunken. The paste is a light red and the surface has received a coat of bright red color. The design is in black, is extremely simple, and rather carelessly drawn. The principal figure seems to be a very simple form of the favorite device—the meander.
A large fine bowl much like the preceding, and obtained from the same locality, is owned by the Salt Lake City Museum. The design is of the same class, but very much more elaborate. Another example from Saint George is smaller and yellowish-gray in color, with figures in red and black. At Kanab I picked up fragments of a small vessel, highly polished and of a rich, brownish-purple color, the designs being in black. Another fragment showed designs in bright red and black upon a yellowish ground.
Ollas.—I have already called attention to the fact, that the Saint George tumulus furnished no example of ollas or large-necked vases of the painted variety, vessels of this class being plain or of the coiled ware. In the vicinity, however, I collected fragments of the white painted pottery derived from large vessels of this class, very much like the large, handsome vessels of ancient Tusayan. A number of such fragments come from the vicinity of Kanab. Plain vessels of this shape were obtained from the tumulus at Saint George. They are identical in every other respect, save the presence of designs, with the painted pottery. Some have received a wash of red, while it is not improbable that others have lost their color or decorative figures by wear or weather.
Fig. 271.—Red pitcher: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
Handled vessels.—From the tumulus at Saint George we have a very excellent example of pitcher, which is shown in Fig. 271. The shape is not quite satisfactory, the neck being clumsy, but the workmanship is exceptionally good. The surface is even and well polished and the color is a strong red. The painted design in black, upon the red ground, consists of a number of meandered lines, to which are added at intervals small dentate figures, as seen in the cut.
DISTRICT OF THE RIO SAN JUAN.
In a number of ways the valley of the Rio San Juan possesses unusual interest to the antiquarian. Until within the latter half of the nineteenth century, it remained wholly unknown. The early Spanish expeditions are not known to have penetrated its secluded precincts, and its cliff-houses, its ruined pueblos and curious towers have been so long deserted that it is doubtful whether even a tradition of their occupation has been preserved, either by the nomadic tribes of the district or by the modern pueblos of the south. Certain it is that no foreign hand has influenced the art of this district, and no Spanish adventurer has left traces of his presence.
The ceramic remains are more uniform in character and apparently more archaic in decoration than those of any other district. They belong almost exclusively to two varieties, the coiled ware and the white ware with black figures. The former has already been described, the latter must now pass under review.
It is unfortunate that so few entire vessels of the painted pottery have been found in this region. The fragments, however, are very plentiful, and by proper study of these a great deal can be done to restore the various forms of vessels. In my paper upon this region, in the Annual Report of the Survey of the Territories for 1876, I gave a pretty careful review of the material then in hand. Finding that in very few cases were there whole vessels representing the achievements of the ancient potter and decorator, I presented a number of restorations from the better class of fragments. This was done in a way that could lead to no serious misapprehension, as the fragments used were always clearly indicated. The expert need never go astray in his estimate of the character of the vessel to which given pieces belonged, and his restoration from them gives a completeness of conception to the reader or student at a distance that could never be acquired by the most careful study of illustrations of the fragments. The fragments are exceedingly plentiful about camp sites and ruins, and fairly whiten the debris slopes beneath the houses in the cliffs. I found my mind so diverted by these fascinating relics that it was often difficult to keep the geologic problems of the district properly in view.
No tumuli or burial places were observed, but I suspect that careful search will bring them to light, and that they will yield much richer results than the scattered fragments of the surface. The district now under consideration comprises the entire drainage of the Rio San Juan. It includes the well-known valleys of the Animas, the La Plata, the Mancos, the McElmel, and the Montezuma on the north, and the Chaco and the de Chelly on the south. On the north I include also a portion of the valley of the Rio Dolores. The center of the district will not be very far distant from the corner stone of the four political divisions of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
The collections from the valley of the Rio de Chelly, one of the richest sections of this district, are very badly scattered, and the vessels cannot be identified. Many fine things have been carried away to the south and are now in the collections from Cibola and Tusayan; while others have been brought east by the various expeditions without a proper record of the locality. This is to be regretted, as it makes it impossible to study the shades of distinction between the wares of neighboring localities.
Bowls were very numerous and greatly varied in size, finish, and ornamentation. Many have received painted designs both inside and out. This occurs with those having nearly upright rims. Handled-cups of hemispherical shape are also common, but the heart-shaped bowls are of rare occurrence. Bottle-shaped vessels and ollas have not, as in the south, formed a prominent feature. For some of the latter very neat lids have been made, the rims being shaped for their reception. Upright vessels with handles are common. Eccentric or animal forms have not been found.
Bowls.—The arrangement of the designs upon the bowls is far from uniform. In a great majority of cases, however, they occupy belts encircling the inner and outer margin. The fragmentary condition of the remains makes it impossible to restore designs that covered the entire surface of the vessels. The decorations comprise nearly all the usual elements and motives. In Fig. 272 we have a small bowl from Montezuma Cañon, Utah. In form it is a deep hemisphere. The design is upon the interior surface, and consists of a broad band bordered by heavy lines and filled in with vertical lines. The rim is ornamented with seven pairs of dots. Fig. 273 is restored from a fragment obtained in southwest Colorado. It shows an interior ornament consisting of a well-drawn chain of volutes.
Fig. 272.—Bowl: MontezumaCañon—1/3
Fig. 273.—Bowl: Rio San Juan.—1/3.
Many of the bowls were large and handsomely finished, both surfaces being whitened and polished. A superior example is given in Fig. 274. Neat borders have been applied to both interior and exterior surfaces. They are suggestive of patterns produced through the technique of textile products, and consist of interrupted forms of the meander. I have restored from small fragments in this and other cases, for the reason that no large fragments of the finer vessels are preserved.
Fig. 274.—Bowl: Rio San Juan.
Fig. 275.—Bowl: Rio San Juan.
Fig. 275 illustrates a very pleasing vessel. It is hemispherical, and about eleven inches in diameter. A narrow zone of ornament based upon the meander encircles the exterior margin of the rim, and a broad, carefully drawn design, consisting of two parallel meanders, Fig. 276, occupies the interior. It will be seen that the meandered fillets are in white, and the bordering stripes and the upper and lower rows of triangular interspaces are in solid black, while the median band and its connecting triangles are obliquely striped. It should be noticed that the oblique portions of the meanders are indented or stepped. This is a very usual occurrence in these decorations, and may be taken as a pretty decided indication that they were copied, more or less directly, from textile ornamentation in which all oblique lines are necessarily stepped.
Fig. 276.—Painted design.
Fig. 277.—Handled cups: Montezuma Cañon.—1/3.
Fig. 278.—Handled cups: Montezuma Cañon.—1/3.
Handled cups.—Small cups were generally furnished with handles and probably served as ladles and spoons. An entire specimen is rarely found. Two are illustrated in Figs. 277 and 278. They were obtained by W. H. Jackson from the ruins of Montezuma Cañon. The handles of these vessels vary a great deal; some are flat, while others are round, consisting either of a single or a looped roll of clay; some are hollow, resembling the handles of gourds, and a few are made of twisted fillets. This latter form belongs generally to upright cups.
Fig. 279.—Vase : Rio San Juan.
Ollas.—It is quite impossible to make satisfactory restorations of the vases or ollas from the small fragments recovered. The evidence is sufficient, however, to show that vessels of this class were numerous, and often large. I have made two restorations of small examples belonging to this class, of which there are fragments showing the neck and upper part of the bodies. The bottoms are so universally rounded that I have drawn full globular shapes; Figs. 279 and 280. The most striking character of Fig. 279 is the shape of the rim, which is fashioned for the reception of a lid. The same feature is noticed in a small vessel obtained at Zuñi.
Fig. 280.—Vase: Rio San Juan.
Examples of lids from the San Juan Valley are shown in Figs. 281 and 282. They were evidently designed for vessels of the class just described. The specimen given in Fig. 281 is neatly finished and embellished, and the quality of the ware is very superior.
Fig. 281.—Vase lid: Rio San Juan
Fig. 282..—Vase lid: Rio San Juan.
Handled vases.—Many small vessels were furnished with handles, some horizontal and others vertical. Of the first variety is the example shown in Fig. 283. The fragment was obtained from the great ruin at "Aztec Springs," Colorado. It shows a small, symmetrical vessel, with black lines and devices. The handle, which probably had a companion on the opposite side, is strong and neatly made.
Figure 284 represents a very pretty little vessel, brought by Mr. W. H. Jackson from the Cañon de Chelly. It is of the usual gray polished ware, the base being somewhat roughened by use. The design consists of encircling lines combined with a belt of disconnected triangular hooks or fret-links.
Fig. 283.—Handled bottle: Rio San Juan.
Handled mugs with round bodies and wide high necks were in great favor with the San Juan potter. There are but two entire specimens in the collection. These were obtained by Capt. Moss, of Parrott, who stated that they, with other relics, had been exhumed from a grave in the San Juan Valley. Both are comparatively rude in construction, and seem to be considerably weathered. The one shown in Fig. 285 is decorated with a classic meander which encircles the body of the vessel. The other, illustrated in Fig. 286, has the upper part covered with simple figures resembling bird tracks.
Among the most novel works of the ancient potter are the flat-bottomed mugs with upright sides, and with vertical handles which extend the whole length of the vessel, giving very much the appearance of a German beer mug. For a long time it was thought improbable that a vessel of this character should be the bona fide work of the cliff-dweller, for his status of culture seemed to call for globular bodies and rounded bases. But so many examples have been found that there is no longer room for doubt.
Fig. 284.—Small bottle: Rio San Juan.—1/3.
Fig. 285.—Vase lid: Rio San Juan.—1/3.
Fig. 286..—Vase lid: Rio San Juan.—1/3.
Fig. 287.—Handled mug: Rio San Juan.—1/2.
Fig. 288..—Handled mug: Southern Utah.—1/2.
Fig. 287 is restored from a large fragment brought from the San Juan Valley. Its walls widen a little below, and the very pretty ornament is somewhat unevenly applied. The handle is made of a double rope of clay, and extends from the lip to the base. The example shown in Fig. 288 was obtained in the vicinity of Provo, Utah, by Capt. G. M. Wheeler's expedition. It is so like those from the San Juan that I place it here for comparison. It is a little wider toward the base, and is nearly symmetrical. It is four inches in height and the same in diameter. A very similar vessel, probably from the Province of Tusayan, is found in the Keam collection.
DISTRICT OF THE COLORADO CHIQUITO.
The collection from this district, which includes the ancient provinces of Cibola and Tusayan, is already very large, and much more material will yet accrue, for pottery fanciers have taken up the search, and both whites and Indians are on the qui vive for additional examples of the artistic and showy specimens.
The National Museum has procured many fine pieces through the agents of the Bureau of Ethnology, and the collection of Mr. Keam is especially rich in the pottery of Tusayan. Some of the finer examples of the latter collection are selected for illustration.
It seems unaccountable that such a large number of the ancient vessels should be preserved, and that too in a country where vessels are constantly in demand. Many have been picked up by the Pueblo tribes and laid away for especial uses or possibly as heirlooms; but many of those secured by recent collectors were obtained from the sites of ancient settlements, from burial places, and from caves, and brought directly to the market so recently made for them.
There can be no doubt that many of the specimens accredited to this district have come from neighboring or distant provinces; yet within the valley of the Little Colorado there are such wide variations from predominant types that foreign pieces cannot be readily detected. Many of the finer pieces of the white ware are rather new looking and show very superior taste and skill. The indications are that the manufacture of this white ware was kept up in portions of this district down to a comparatively recent date, possibly until the coming of the Europeans. It will probably be impossible to determine just why and how the archaic types gave way to the transitional and modern. It may be found, however, that the influence of the Spaniard was a factor in the change.
Beside the archaic white ware and its closely associated red ware the province of Tusayan furnishes two or three distinct varieties, all of which, unlike that ware, are apparently confined to very limited districts. These have been briefly described on a preceding page.
Many pieces of the white ware are of large size and of elegant shape and finish. Some of the ollas and bottles are masterpieces of the art. The texture of the paste is fine and the color is often quite white. The designs are uniformly in black and are superior in execution and conception to those of the north.
Bowls.—The bowls are very generally hemispherical. The finish, like that of the pottery of the San Juan and the Rio Virgen, is rather rough on the exterior, and whitened and polished on the inner surface. The painted figures are confined to the interior, and are highly elaborated combinations of the usual geometric motives. They are generally made up of four sections of double-zoned borders such as occur on the exterior of vases, cut out, as it were, and fitted into the bowl in a cruciform arrangement, a plain square remaining in the bottom of the vessel. See Fig. 291. There are, however, many examples which consist of two encircling zones of ornament identical in style and arrangement with examples from the Rio Virgen, Figs. 230 and 231, and from the Rio San Juan, Figs. 248, 259, and 274.
In Fig. 289 we have a representative example of the bowls of ancient Tusayan. The outer surface is rudely trowel-finished, but the inside is well polished. The painted design consists of four parts arranged about a central square. Each part comprises a number of alternate bands of straight and zigzag lines.
Fig. 289.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
The superb bowl presented in Fig. 290 is nearly fifteen inches in diameter and seven inches deep. It is hemispherical but not quite symmetrical. Having been broken, it was mended by its owners after their aboriginal fashion. Two pairs of holes have been bored on opposite sides of a long fracture for the insertion of thongs. Other perforations have been commenced but do not penetrate the vessel. The walls are upwards of one-eighth of an inch in thickness near the rim, but are less than that throughout the body of the bowl. The paste is of a dark gray color, speckled with ashy-white particles, which may be pulverized potsherds. The interior surface is finished with a slip of white clay and has received a fair degree of polish. The exterior is only trowel-finished and is much scarified by use. The interior is embellished with a very elaborate design, which is given with all possible accuracy in a plain projection, in Fig. 291. The work does not exhibit a great deal of skill or neatness in execution, but the whole design is carefully made out and well adjusted to the deeply concave surface. An analysis of this figure is easily given. It is a cruciform arrangement of four portions of rather elaborate double borders. Each part consists of two parallel bands, a principal and a subordinate, separated by parallel lines and taking the relation to each other always noticed in the two belts of designs painted upon the exterior of vases. Two of the sections are alike. The others differ from these and from each other.
Fig. 290.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 291.—Painted design.
One figure, consisting of three linked volutes, is defined in white by painting around it a black ground. The artist in painting this vessel has probably not thought of achieving anything beyond the filling up neatly of the four spaces, and has followed the usual practice of borrowing his motives from other objects; yet it will not be wise to conclude that these figures are really meaningless combinations of lines. The persistency and individuality of certain motives makes it almost certain that they are not the result of aimless elaboration, and that the potter understood their significance. They are too purely geometric, however, to furnish any clew to us through internal evidence. We have no resource beyond the analogies of historic art. Modern tribes use the current meander to symbolize water, and a leading motive in many of these designs—the linked scroll running through a field of serrate lines—is wonderfully like some forms of the Aztec symbol for water, as may be seen by reference to the Mexican codices.
Fig. 292.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
Another very excellent example of these bowls is presented in Fig. 292. It is small and shallow, measuring six and a half inches in diameter and two and a half in depth. The material is somewhat soft and chalky. The walls are thick and the surface is well finished. The painted design is cruciform, like the preceding, but is much more simple and satisfactory. It is interesting to note the changes rung upon the few simple motives employed in these designs. Again apparently each of the four parts is a fragment of a double border, cut up and fitted into the concave surface. The bands with oblique, dotted, or stepped lines, Fig. 293, are repetitions of the neck belt of a bottle-shaped vase or basket, and the other bands with their chaste fret-work repeat a section of the body zone.
Fig. 293.—Painted design.
Bowls and cups of the hemispherical model are very often supplied with handles. Like other bowls, they are embellished with painted designs derived from vases or from textile sources. In order of evolution, they probably follow the plain form—the handles being added to facilitate use.
Fig. 294.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
The principal varieties of handles have already been described. The bowl illustrated in Fig. 294 is furnished with a single semicircular loop. In form, finish, and color it is the same as that of the other bowls, and the painted design has a similar derivation and arrangement.
In the collection we have a fine large red bowl, now in a fragmentary state. It is eleven inches in diameter and six inches deep. A small loop is attached to the outside near the margin. It has a very decided resemblance in color, finish, and ornamentation to the red bowls of the Rio Virgen. The color of both the surface and the mass is a dull red. A broad band of bright red paint encircles the exterior, leaving a plain marginal band of the ground color and a plain area of the same upon the bottom. The painted design, which covers the inner surface is shown in Fig. 295. We discover in it at first sight a type to all appearances totally distinct from the usual devices of this locality, but a closer study reveals the existence of the favorite motive—the meander—doubled up across the middle in a way to challenge detection, with the ever-present auxiliary band above and below. The curiously complex and very pleasing ornament is amplified in Fig. 296.
Fig. 295.—Painted design.
Fig. 296.—Orignal form of painted design.
One small cup or bowl has two ears, not semicircular, but rectangular, which are placed horizontally and project in sharp points at the corners.
The neat little vessel given in Fig. 297 has a much elongated horizontal loop, carelessly made and rudely attached. The bowl is handsomely finished. The margin is ornamented with a series of closely placed transverse lines or dots, a character appearing more frequently in the northern ware. The interior design is made up of four independent parts as usual.
The cup presented in Fig. 298 serves to illustrate another variety of handle—a large vertical loop, extending from rim to base, like those on the upright cups given in Figs. 287 and 288. The paste is very fine grained, and breaks with a conchoidal fracture. The color is gray and the paint reddish from the firing. The bottom is flat, a rare occurrence in the more archaic, pottery. The painted design is based upon the meander, and occupies nearly the entire exterior surface of the cup. The handle has two bird-track shaped figures on its outer surface.
Fig. 297.—Handled cup: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 298.—Handled cup: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 299.—Dipper: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Vessels with long cylindrical handles are distributed over a very extended district, but in Tusayan they are of a better class of ware than elsewhere. Here the handles are long and stout and frequently terminate in a loop, probably intended for the attachment of a cord. The bowl is often graceful in form and tasteful in ornament. One of the finer examples is illustrated in Fig. 299. It is of the chalky ware, and has a very good surface finish. The handle is one inch in diameter and five inches long. It is hollow and terminates in a narrow loop. It is decorated with two groups of spirally inclined lines. The interior decoration of the bowl furnishes a most excellent example of the crucifrm designs previously described. This is well shown in Fig. 300. The exterior surface is embellished with a most primitive drawing of a bird, Fig. 301—a striking illustration of the pictorial accomplishments of these classic decorators. Subjects of this class are of rare occurrence upon the ancient white ware.
Fig. 300.—Dipper: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 301.—Figure of bird from exterior of dipper.
Fig. 302.—Dipper: Province of Tusayan.—1/3..
The dipper presented in Fig. 302 is somewhat inferior in workmanship to the preceding example. The handle is plain and terminates in a horizontal loop. The painted design is not arranged about a square, as in the examples given, but leaves a space in the center of the bowl resembling a four-cornered star. This shape is, however, the result of accident. The four parts are units of an elaborate border, not severed from their original connection, but contorted from crowding into the circular space. The design drawn upon a plain surface is shown in Fig. 303. Projected in a straight line, as in Fig. 304, it is readily recognized as the lower three-fourths of a zone of scroll ornamentation. A unit of the design drawn in black is shown in Fig. 305. The meander is developed in the white color of the ground, and consists of two charmingly varied threads running side by side through a field of black, bordered by heavy black lines. The involute ends of the units are connected by two minute auxiliary scrolls.
Fig. 303.—Painted design.
Fig. 304.—Painted design.
Fig. 305.—Unit of the design drawn in black.
Bowls heretofore referred to as heart-shaped are of frequent occurrence in the valley of the Little Colorado. A number have been obtained by the Bureau of Ethnology directly from the Pueblo Indians, while a few very superior specimens are in the collection of Mr. Keam. A somewhat globular example is represented in Fig. 306.
Fig. 306.—Heart-shaped bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
It is remarkable in having four zones of devices. The narrow belt next the lip contains a single line of bird-track figures. The others exhibit simple forms of the meander. It is interesting to notice the variety of treatment. In the upper band we have a chain of units imperfectly connected. In the others there are series of triangular links quite disconnected from each other. All are defined in white by painting in a ground of black.
This district has furnished few vessels of more exquisite form and decoration than that shown in Fig. 307. It is from the Keam collection. The outlines are exceptionally symmetrical, and the design, developed in the white of the ground, is drawn with more than usual care. The figures are severely simple, however, and comprise but one motive—the typical scroll, which is arranged in three zones, separated by parallel lines. The spaces are filled in with serrate lines, parallel with the connecting fillets or stems of the volutes, as in the case given in Fig. 290.
Another smaller vessel from the same collection is simple and unpretentious, but so thoroughly satisfactory in every respect that one could hardly suggest an improvement. The surface is well polished. The ground color is whitish, and the design—a chain of classic scrolls—is produced in white by filling up the interstices with black. It is a noteworthy fact that the base of this cup has been perforated, apparently for use as a strainer. Nearly a hundred small round holes have been made while the clay was still soft. A pottery ladle from this region, now in the National collection, exhibits the same feature.
Fig. 307.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
I add another example from the Keam collection, Fig. 309. The margins of the figures are serrate and the volutes, which are in white, have clumsy, disconnected stems.
Fig. 308.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
The vessel presented in Fig. 310 has a flattened upper surface, an angular shoulder, and a high body, slightly conical below. The painted design is nearly obliterated in places by abrasion or weathering, but is correctly presented in Fig. 311, which gives the three zones in horizontal projection. This brings out a very marked feature, the cruciform arrangement of the parts, which would not be apparent in a vertical projection.
Fig. 309.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
Fig. 310.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
The two inner circles occupy the upper surface of the vessel and the outer one the most expanded portion of the body. The inner belt is separated into four panels or compartments by as many series of transverse lines, the panels being filled in with longitudinal, broken lines. The second band is also divided by four series of straight lines, but the compartments are occupied by scrolls in white, bordered by serrate wings in black. The outer band exhibits a very curious combination of features, the whole figure, however, being based upon the meander. It is probable that the grouping in fours is accidental, the division of a surface into four being much more readily accomplished than into any other number above two.
Fig. 311.—Painted design.
There are few better examples of the skill and good taste of the ancient potter than the bowl illustrated in Fig. 312. The body is much flattened and the incurved margin considerably depressed. The color is reddish, both on the surface and in the mass, while the upper part is painted a bright red. Upon this color, encircling the shoulder and extending inward toward the lip, is a handsome design in black and white lines. This is nearly obliterated, but enough is left to show that it consists of a highly elaborated rectilinear meander pattern, the idea being developed apparently in the light ground color. The painted lines are in black bordered with fine white stripes—a common occurrence in the south.
Fig. 312.—Red bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
We have in the Museum an exquisitely shaped vessel of this class obtained from the Zuñi Indians. The material and color are identical with the red specimen from Saint George. The whole surface is painted red and a neat border design in black is worked over this. The lip is not so much depressed as in the preceding examples. Two perforations occur near the margin, through which the Zuñis have passed a buckskin thong. Another plain bowl is very much compressed vertically.
Fig. 313.—Oblong bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Oblong bowls are not a prominent feature in Pueblo pottery. A few examples were found at Saint George, Utah, but these are of the shallow variety. The only oblong bowl with incurved rim yet sent in is shown in Fig. 313. It is six inches long and four inches wide. The ornamentation consists of three lines of meanders, that upon the flat upper surface being irregular and not continuous.
Fig. 314.—Globular vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
In Fig. 314 we see another variation from the two usual forms of bowls. This vessel is globular, and the aperture quite large. Two small nodes attached to the sides and vertically perforated serve as handles. The ornamentation consists of a number of disconnected and greatly varied bands of meandered lines and figures, obliquely placed. The ornamented surface is separated into two parts by vertical panels at the handles. This affords a suggestion, of an adventitious or mechanical origin for the vertical bands which are so prominent a feature in modern Pueblo pottery. One of these is partially visible at the right side in the cut.
Fig. 315.—Vasel: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Ollas.—A typical example of the chalky ware of Tusayan is illustrated in Fig. 315. It is a wide, low vase of symmetrical form. The body is flattened above and hemispherical below. The material is almost as white and as soft as chalk. The design comprises two zones of devices. One occupies the upright neck, and consists of encircling lines interrupted by vertical bands. The other, upon the flattened shoulder, is based upon the meander. Both are bordered by wide bands in the dark color and an additional band encircles the body.
Another handsome little vase is presented in Fig. 316. The two meanders show very diverse styles of treatment. In the upper the lines are all oblique, while in the lower they are chiefly rectangular and much prolonged horizontally. Corresponding treatment of the two bands occurs in other vessels.
The vessel shown in Fig. 317 is very different in appearance from the two preceding, and is much larger and ruder in finish. The surface has been finished with the trowel or hand without polishing. It is ten inches high and the same in width. The whole decoration consists of interlinked meander-units not arranged in belts, but thrown together in a careless manner across the body of the vase. In the Keam collection there is a water bottle nearly twice as large as this, similar in shape and finish, but having a very different though equally rude painted design. This collection contains also the large pot-like vessel or cauldron shown in Fig. 318. The walls are heavy, the lip is rounded, and the form is such as to be very serviceable for ordinary domestic use. The ornamentation consists of two bands of figures, the upper, as usual, being very simple. The figures of the body zone are in black upon the light ground. Two sets, or pairs, of the triangular links make the circuit of the vessel, the entire ornament appearing in Fig. 319.
Fig. 317.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 318.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
Fig. 319.—Painted design.
Fig. 320.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
There is, however, something less simple and consistent in the ornament seen in Fig. 320. The connecting stems of the units are heavy dark lines. The ends of the links are but imperfectly developed or are obscured by elaboration giving a suggestion of degeneracy, but the whole result is highly pleasing. The shape is an exceptional one, the body being flattened to a greater degree than usual. The ground color and the paste are quite white, yet there is in the design and its treatment a suggestion of the decoration of the cream colored ware of Tusayan. This suggestion is emphasized by the occurrence of the two pairs of dark strokes on the neck—a feature more usual in the yellow wares.
Fig. 321.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 322.—Painted design.
In 1883 Mr. Mindeleff brought in two superb examples of ancient water vases. They are excellent illustrations of the skill and taste of the ancient Pueblo potter. The example illustrated in Fig. 321 is ten and a half inches in height and twelve inches in diameter. Its form is symmetrical and graceful. The surface has been whitened, but is somewhat uneven and not highly polished. The painted design is well preserved, and consists of two broad belts of devices. The upper, occupying the sloping neck, is a very simple combination of lines, based upon a single white meandered line, and the lower is quite complex and encircles the widest part of the body. The latter appears at first sight to be rather complicated, but is easily resolved into its elements.
Fig. 323.—Unit of the design.
Fig. 324.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
The zone is five and a half inches in width and consists of two lines of highly elaborated meanders combined in a most ingenious and pleasing manner. The design is projected in Fig. 322 and compares favorably with the exquisite diaper patterns of oriental decorators. A single unit of its structure is given in Fig. 323. The triangular spaces along the border are filled in with fragments of designs harmonious in style with the principal figures. Certain spaces of the expanded connecting fillets of the units, are filled in with serrate or dotted lines. Some portion of the design seem to be developed in the white ground, as, for instance, the figures in the lateral triangles.
Fig. 325.—Painted design.
Fig. 326.—Unit of the design.
The boldness of the primitive decorator is well shown in the manipulation of these large vases. Simplicity and breadth were not sacrificed when it became necessary to carry the oft-repeated figures over the broad surface of such a vessel as that shown in Fig. 324, whose height and width measure fourteen inches each. In shape, in surface treatment, and in the arrangement of the broad belts of decoration this vessel corresponds very closely with the preceding, but the favorite motives are executed in the white color of the ground, and are thrown across the surface of the vessel with charming freedom and boldness. The upper zone encircling the neck is occupied by a large, rather rudely drawn chain of scrolls developed in the white ground by painting the interspaces black. The broad belt of figures encircling the body of the vase is not filled out as in the preceding case, the lower series of triangular spaces being plain. The principal feature consists of a single line of the fret-work developed in the white ground. This is shown in Fig. 325. A unit of the design is given in black in Fig. 326. The connecting curve or stem of the unit incloses a rectangular space, through which the fillet returns in a series of fine scrolls. The interlocked ends of the units of the principal chain have terminations or hooks angular in two cases and curved in another, demonstrating the identity of the curvilinear and the rectilinear forms of this ornament. The small isolated stepped figure between the hooks tells, I imagine, of a textile ancestry.
Fig. 327.—Large vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/9.
In Fig. 327 we have another vase of still higher grade—a very masterpiece of fictile work. It is next to the largest piece of the ancient ware yet described, being twenty-four inches in diameter and upward of twenty inches in height. The form is not quite symmetrical, but the outline is highly satisfactory. The body is full and slightly conical at the base, and above joins the neck with a graceful convex curve. The surface is even and well polished, and the painted design is executed with great precision. The motives employed are identical with the preceding. Scrolls and fretted figures are carried around the neck, shoulder, and body in three bands suited exactly in width and in size of parts to the conformation of the vessel. The simple scrolls of the upper part need no explanation, and a careful analysis of the broader band, as projected in Fig. 328, furnishes a key to its rather extraordinary construction. The dark lines are drawn with mechanical exactness, and the delicate white lines, in which many of the finer details are worked out, are left with a nicety of handling worthy of the most skilled decorator. By a reference to the outline given in Fig. 329 it will be seen that the whole ornament hangs upon a single thread woven into a chain of delicate fret-work running through the middle of the design. The long connecting band of each unit consists of two lines (taking the black lines as representative of the idea or motive), which separate in the middle part, inclosing a wide rectangular space. This is filled with geometric ornamentation in white lines upon a black ground, as shown in Fig. 328. The triangular spaces above are occupied by checker-work of light and heavy lines. The very marked rectangular character of this handsome design indicates familiarity with the textile embodiment of the motive.
Fig. 328.—Painted design.
Fig. 329.—Unit of the design.
Fig. 330.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 331.—Vase: Province of Cibola.—1/3.
Bottles.—Under this head I desire to present a number of vases having high, narrow necks. Few examples of the pottery of any people show bolder and more successful treatment than the specimen illustrated in Fig. 330. It is a large, full-bodied bottle, the neck and lip of which unfortunately are lost. The restored outline can profess to be approximate only. The surface is well polished, though gray from age. Two masterly scrolls, formed each of a broad black line bordered by white lines, are thrown across opposite sides of the vase. The ground upon which they are drawn is filled in with series of lines which accommodate themselves very gracefully to the surface of the vessel and to the scrolls.
A number of ancient vessels, found in the hands of the Zuñi Indians, were probably obtained by them from some of the neighboring ruins, although in a few cases they may have been carried from distant places in the north or west. The finer examples correspond very closely to the ware of which multitudes of fragments are found at old Zuñi, San Antonio Springs, Nutria, and other places in or near the province of Cibola. They seem to be identical also in many respects with the better class of the white ware of Tusayan. The forms are very much the same and the ornaments exhibit similar arrangements of identical motives.
Fig. 332.—Vase: Province of Cibola.—1/3.
The superb vessel illustrated in Fig. 331, is a typical example of the work of the ancient potters of Cibola. In form it falls but little short of perfect symmetry. The body is nearly globular, being slightly compressed vertically. The neck is small and the lip slightly recurved. The surface, originally white, now darkened from use, is well polished excepting where roughened by age. In Fig. 333 we have a partial projection of the painted design obtained by viewing the vase vertically. This may be described as a rosette of spiral rays which consist of gracefully meandered lines alternating with groups of plain stripes. These are developed in the light color of the vase by painting in a black ground. Viewed from the side the decoration is seen to consist of the two usual zones—a narrow one about the neck, occupied by a meander, and a broad one covering the greater part of the body, crossed obliquely by a number of bands of ornament.
A similar vase, also from Zuñi, is illustrated in Fig. 332. It is much darkened by use and age and has suffered considerably from wear and tear. The ornament consists of three zones, a band of stepped figures about the neck, a handsome meander-chain with terraced links upon the rounded collar, and a broad belt of radiating meanders encircling the body. A vertical view showing the two outer lines of decoration is given in Fig. 334. A peculiar feature in this vessel is the indented finger-hold seen in the lower part of the body, Fig. 332.
In both form and ornament these bottles exhibit decided resemblances to wicker vessels. The introduction of stepped figures and spiral rays sufficiently demonstrates the textile origin of the painted designs.
Fig. 333.—Painted design.
Fig. 334.—Painted design.
A few bottles are larger than the examples given. One having a high narrow neck is seventeen inches high and sixteen in diameter of body. Generally vases of this shape are below medium size, and they are very often supplied with handles or perforated knobs, either upon the shoulder or the neck. In a few cases only the necks are high and slender like the bottles of the mound-builders of the middle Mississippi region.
The vessel illustrated in Fig. 335 is not properly classified either with the preceding or with the following group, but I place it here on account of its peculiar painted device, which appears in other forms and connections in the two succeeding figures. The ornament as usual occupies two zones, each of which has three groups of vertical lines alternating with as many star-like figures resembling somewhat the Maltese cross. The latter device may possibly have been introduced to represent some idea, and I have no doubt that almost any member of the modern tribes could be induced to give a full explanation of its significance. It would, however, be his idea only and not necessarily that of the ancient potter.
Fig. 335.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 336.—Handled vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
Handled vessels.—Handled vessels of this province are greatly varied. Examples of the dippers have already been given. Besides them there is a long series of vessels with more or less constricted necks; the handles of which are of three or four pretty distinct varieties, including the long vertical loop connecting the rim with the shoulder or body, the strong horizontal loop set at the base of the neck, and the perforated knob placed upon the shoulder. There are also a few examples of cup-shaped projections, Fig. 351, and heads of animals, Fig. 352, which are set upon the neck near the rim and seem to be survivals of handles or ornaments merely.
Fig. 337.—Painted design.
Fig. 338.—Handled mug: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
The vessel shown in Fig. 336 has an interesting combination of decorative features. I present it here, although a little out of place in my classification by form, in order to point out the similarity between its decoration and that of Fig. 335. It is a handsome mug of hard gray ware, finished with a white slip, and decorated with painted designs in the prevailing arrangement. Four equidistant nodes of large size are placed about the shoulder of the vessel. These occur along the middle of the lower zone of painted devices, the notable feature being that the volutes of the painted scroll-work encircle the nodes and inclose, between their interlinked points, cross-like devices, resembling those found upon the preceding specimen. These crosses occupy the apices of the nodes, as shown in the illustration. The painted design is given in Fig. 337. The design proper—the interlinked scrolls—is in white, the dark color being used as a ground to develop it. This is true of a great majority of the examples presented. The same device, with a slightly different combination, is seen in Fig. 338, which illustrates a small jug from the Keam collection. The design is well shown in Fig. 339, and in this case it will readily be seen that the motive proper is in white, while the black hooks and the connecting lozenge-shaped figures, forming the cross, represent the ground. This association of the cross with the linking of the scrolls is suggestive of a possible origin of the device as used independently in the instance given in Fig. 335.
Fig. 339.—Painted design.
Fig. 340.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 341.—Painted design.
I shall now present a small group of handled vessels of varying characters upon which we have some illustrations of a peculiar treatment of meander motives.
Fig. 342.—Handled cup: Province of Cibola.—1/3.
Fig. 343.—Painted ornament.
The vessel illustrated in Fig. 340 belongs to the Keam collection. The decoration is very simple and consists of a novel combination of running scrolls. The design is produced by filling in the space between two separate chains of scrolls in black with fine oblique lines, Fig. 341. Identical treatment of the meander is found upon a mug brought from Zuñi and illustrated by Mr. Stevenson in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Fig. 342. This will be apparent when the design, Fig. 343, is placed by the side of the preceding. The first is drawn in curved black lines, the ground remaining white, the second is in rectilinear white lines, the ground being black.
Fig. 344.—Painted ornament.
Two others of like character, one angular and the other curvilinear, are found upon small red vessels from Tusayan, Figs. 344 and 345. Still another noteworthy example is found upon the interior surface of a red bowl from Cibola, which, when projected in a straight line, gives the handsome ornament illustrated in Fig. 346.
Fig. 345.—Painted ornament.
Fig. 346.—Painted ornament.
There is in the Keam collection a very interesting vessel, having two heavy horizontal loops attached to opposite sides of the body. The painted figure consists chiefly of a rectangular meander in white bordered by black and forming a wide zone about the body of the vessel. The spaces are filled in with fine parallel oblique lines. With the addition of a foot this vessel would be found to resemble, in both form and ornament, some early varieties of the Greek kylix.
Fig. 347.—Handled vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
The wide-mouthed vase shown in Fig. 348 differs very decidedly in style from the last. It is finer in texture and much more carefully finished. The form is decidedly antique. The painted design is quite indistinct, the color having rubbed off or faded out. The work has been neatly done with a fine brush and exhibits some new features in point of detail. If we trace out the figures, however, we will see that there are no new motives, the meander forming the basis of all. There is a double line of figures, the upper one being the more simple, as usual.
Fig. 348.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 349.—Bottle: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
In the bottle illustrated in Fig. 349 the usual motives have been employed. A few heavy lines serve to give emphasis to the lip, while a band of linked scrolls is carried around the shoulder, bordered by simple parallel lines. Unpretentious as the work is, it has a very pleasing effect. The shape is repeated in modern Pueblo pottery. It is the original of the canteen, which has acquired the flattened form through accident, or change in the habits of the people employing it. A very superior example of these bottles is given in Fig. 350. The body is somewhat flattened and the sides are nearly perpendicular, giving two well defined spaces for decoration, the one above and the other about the middle of the body. The latter space is occupied by a very slender, meandered line in white, the interspaces being filled in with black. Four links encircle the vessel, two oblong ones occurring upon the sides and two short ones beneath the handles. The upper surface is decorated with a band of scrolls, four in number, partially defined in white by painting the space on one side black. There are two low, knob-like, vertically perforated handles on the shoulder of the vessel.
Fig. 350.—Bottle: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
Fig. 351.—Bottle: Province of Tusayan.—1/2.
The vessel shown in Fig. 351 is interesting on account of the peculiar knobs or ears placed on the sides of the neck, near the lip. They rudely resemble the corolla of a flower, but suggest as well the wheel-like coils of hair gathered up at the sides of the head by the women of Moki. They were probably associated with some superstition of the ancients. The neck of the bottle is unusually high. The shape is quite graceful and the painted decoration is simple and effective.
Fig. 352.—Vase: Eastern Arizona.—1/2.
In a collection recently sent from the vicinity of Springerville, Arizona, by E. W. Nelson, there are a number of vessels similar in appearance to the preceding, but with shorter necks and rounder bodies. They are small, well-finished, and in some cases quite new looking. The designs in black are nicely executed and exhibit considerable refinement of taste. One having a small animal head attached to the side of the neck is illustrated in Fig. 352. A broad meandered border encircles the neck, and a superb pattern, consisting of four ingeniously combined horizontal chains of meanders in white covers the upper three fourths of the body.
Eccentric and life forms.—In the collection made by Mr. Nelson there are several eccentric forms. One, a two-storied vessel of good proportion, neat finish and ornamentation, is illustrated in Fig. 353. The form is an exceptional one in the ancient ware, but is frequently seen in modern work of the Pueblos and other tribes. It had its origin perhaps in a double-lobed form of the gourd, or possibly the idea was suggested by the superposition of one vessel upon another.
As previously observed, the Pueblo ware is characterized, in a general way, by great simplicity of form. There is, however, one small group of eccentric forms within which we find a pretty wide range of outline, a few specimens exhibiting undoubted resemblances to life forms. Nearly all are bottles with handles and lobed bodies, often unsymmetrical. The handle in each case connects the lip with the shoulder or body of the vessel. The lobes are generally three in number and are rarely of equal dimensions, one being more or less prolonged.
Fig. 353.—Vase of eccentric form: Eastern Arizona.—1/3.
It is very difficult to say where these curious forms originated, or in what direction they were developing. Did the archaic potter, by exaggerating the accidental eccentricities of early and simple forms, arrive at these grotesque shapes, did use determine their conformation, or must we look for their originals in antecedent utensils derived from, or made in direct imitation of, life forms?
Fig. 354.—Vase of eccentric form: Tusayan.—1/2.
It is manifestly useless to seek for their antecedents within the limits of the ceramic art. A few are of such a shape as to suggest the skin vessels so often used by primitive peoples, and their origin in this manner would be entirely consistent with the laws of art growth. One variety is shaped somewhat like a shoe or moccasin. Another takes the form of a bird. In regard to their origin it would indeed be a marvel if they should be found to represent an intermediate step between the skin vessels of primitive peoples and the conventional pitcher of civilization, as corresponding shapes are thought to do in Eastern countries.
Fig. 355.—Vase of eccentric form: Tusayan.—1/3.
Within the Pueblo province these vessels are widely but not very generally distributed, so far as specimens at hand show. I have already described two examples, Figs. 255 and 256, from Saint George, Utah, which are of the simplest type, having three nodes with no suggestion of life form.
Fig. 356.—Vase of eccentric form: Tusayan.—1/2.
In Fig. 354 we have a small, well-finished cup of white ware, from Tusayan, similar in outline to the Saint George specimens. One of the three somewhat pointed nodes is considerably more prominent than the others. The handle is unique, being modeled apparently after the curved neck of a gourd, the pointed tip touching but not uniting with the body of the vessel. This vessel is handsomely decorated with two bands of scrolls. That upon the neck is of a usual form consisting of three sets of linked scrolls with zigzag or stepped connecting fillets. The scrolls of the lower bands interlock upon the three nodes and are connected by broad Z-shaped stems also stepped or notched. This specimen is from the Keam collection.
Another smaller vessel, still more unique in character, is illustrated in Fig. 355. One of the nodes is very much prolonged, giving, with the upright neck, a form rudely suggestive of a bird. The ornament, like the last, consists of two bands. The upper is of diamond-shaped figures in white upon a black ground, and the lower of a cleverly managed meander, which is made to conform neatly to the eccentricities of the body. The hooks encircle the nodes as in the preceding case.
A smaller specimen is given in Fig. 356. The node next the handle being prolonged resembles the tail of a bird, while the other nodes, which would occupy the place of the two prominences of the breast, are barely suggested. The decoration is extremely simple.
Fig. 357.—Vase of eccentric form: Tusayan.—1/2.
A fine specimen of these novel vessels is illustrated in Fig. 357. The body is much prolonged on one side and has no prominence whatever at the breast points. The handle is but slightly arched and connects the rim with the extreme point of the projecting lobe. There is here a rather decided suggestion of a skin or intestine vessel. It is but a step from this form to the well-known shoe or moccasin shape of a later period of Pueblo art, a form known in nearly all centers of ancient American culture. The decoration is simple and unique, consisting of a meandered figure in white upon a black ground, with parallel bordering lines in black. It connects opposite sides of the rim passing beneath the projecting lobe.
A number of the best examples are in the National collection. One of these, Fig. 358, is figured by Mr. Stevenson in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. It might be described as shoe-shaped, yet we are forcibly reminded of the headless body of a bird, the rather square projecting breast being a marked feature. The painted ornament consists of broad zigzag, meandered bands filled in with fine oblique stripes.
Fig. 358.—Vase of eccentric form: Cibola.—1/3.
One of the finest specimens is presented in Fig. 359. The triangular or three-lobed form of body is still noticeable, two of the points forming the breast, and the other, much prolonged, standing for the tail of the bird. The meaning of the latter feature is made plain by the painted figure. A conventional design, consisting of concentric, plain and zigzag lines, occupies the back, and terminates behind in a row of pinnate marks, evidently a conventional drawing of the tail. The wings are indicated at the sides by a design like that upon the back. The breast is embellished with a series of oblong dots probably intended for feathers. In this case the neck, which is high and narrow, has three prominences near the top; one at the front represents the bill of the bird, and others at the sides are meant for eyes. A handle has connected the head with the middle of the back. This is nearly all broken away and the stumps have been perforated for the insertion of cords. A serrate collar in black encircles the neck. The original of this vase was obtained in the Pueblo country and belongs to Dr. Sheldon Jackson. A specimen recently acquired by the National Museum is superior to this in its decorative treatment. The body has four lobes, one for the breast, another for the tail, and one for each of the wings. Each of these lobes is made the center about which the volutes of the very elaborate scroll-work are turned.
I shall give one more illustration, Fig. 360. This is taken from the Keam collection and represents a bird. The vessel is quite distinct in shape from those previously given, being much like the bird vessels of the mound-builders. It is a cup with constricted rim, the head, tail, and wings of the bird projecting horizontally from the outer margin of the rim. It is of the white ware and has had a painted design in black lines, now nearly obliterated.
Fig. 359.—Bird-shaped vase: Arizona.—1/3.
Fig. 360.—Bird-shaped cup: Tusayan.—1/2.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
Two great groups of ceramic products have now been presented—the coiled ware and the white decorated ware. These groups belong to the first great period of pueblo art in clay. Their chronological identity is sometimes questioned, the coiled ware to all appearances being the more archaic. It is simple in form and rude in finish, is without painted ornament, and was relegated to the more ordinary uses. These and other features give countenance to the theory of greater antiquity; but the intimate association of the two groups in nearly every locality indicates close identity in time. It cannot be said that the other classes of ware found within the same province belong to different times or to distinct races, but they are widely separated in many important characters from the two leading groups. They exhibit greater variety of form, less constraint in decoration, and greatly improved technique, points tending to prove advance in culture, and, presumably, in time.
The more closely the ceramic art of the ancient peoples is studied the more decidedly it appears that it was profoundly influenced by the textile arts, and especially by basketry. The latter art was practiced from remote antiquity, and within historic times the manufacture of baskets has been the most important industry of the tribes of the Pacific slope of temperate North America. Ceramic shapes, wherever found within this region, coincide closely with textile outlines, and the geometric ornamentation can be traced to textile prototypes originating in the technical peculiarities of construction.
Another point brought out by the preceding studies follows naturally the foregoing statement. There are in the pueblo country no primitive forms of earthenware. This may lead to the inference that the pueblo tribes migrated from other regions in which the earlier stages of the art had existed, but taken in connection with the lack of individuality in the potter's art, and its evident dependence upon the textile art, it leads decidedly to the conclusion that art in clay was acquired by these tribes in comparatively recent times. The ancient pueblos practised the art of basketry, but clearly remained ignorant of the plastic art, until by some accident of environment it was introduced or discovered. Under the influence of the sister art, pottery at once took a high stand. During the first stages, however, it was a servile art, reproducing the forms and decorations of basketry. The true plastic characters of clay remained practically undiscovered, and is only now, under the influence of the European, dawning upon the conservative mind of the inhabitant of the plateaus.
Besides basketry, it is probable that the early pueblos made use of gourds and of tissue vessels, traces of their influence occurring quite frequently, but there is no indication whatever of the presence of carvings in shell, wood, and stone.
I do not wish in this place to dwell upon the details of pueblo ornament. A single example will serve to illustrate the origin and character of the leading decorative conceptions. Glancing through the series of vases illustrated under painted ware, we find that ninety-four out of one hundred designs are meanders, or are based upon the meander. Beginning with the simple waved or broken line we pass up through all grades of increasing complexity to chains of curvilinear and rectilinear meanders in which the links are highly individualized, being composed of a sigmoid line, terminating in reversed hooks; but in no case do we reach a loop in the curved forms or an intersection in the angular forms. The typical intersecting Greek fret does not therefore occur, nor, I may add, is it found anywhere in native American art.
The constructional characters of the art in which these linear forms developed, although they encouraged geometrical elaboration, forbade intersections or crossings of a line upon itself, and the genius of the decorator had never freed itself from this bondage. The forms imposed upon decoration by the textile art are necessarily geometric and rectilinear, and their employment in other and less conventional arts, has been too limited to destroy or even greatly modify these characters.
The study of Pueblo art embodied in the preceding pages tells the simple story of the evolution of art—and especially of decorative art—in a period when the expanding mind of primitive man, still held in the firm grasp of instinctive and traditional methods—the bonds of nature—was steadily working out its æsthetic destiny.