[5] A vocabulary of the Tewa terms for clays, paints, and other ingredients; articles of paraphernalia; types of pottery; processes of pottery making, etc., was recorded by Dr. Guthe, and is available at Andover for consultation.
[6] See Harrington, 1916, Map 19, point 63. Under the nearby point (60; p. 314) he says: “Clay ... is obtained at this place; just where could not be learned.”
[7] Stevenson, to whom with Mrs. Stevenson we are indebted for practically our only comparative material, wrote in 1879 of Zuñi: “The clay mostly used by the Zuñians in the manufacture of pottery is a dark, bluish, carbonaceous clayey shale found in layers usually near the tops of the mesas” (1883, p. 329). Later, Mrs. Stevenson described at some length the ceremony of securing pottery clay (1904, p. 374). Among the San Ildefonso Indians of today there is no outward evidence of any such ceremony.
[8] At Zuñi the ingredients are ground and mixed, and the clay is kneaded on a stone slab. (See pl. 28, facing p. 76.)
[9] Stevenson said, in speaking of Zuñi pottery making: “This carbonaceous clay is first mixed with water and kneaded as a baker kneads dough until it reaches the proper consistency” (1883, p. 329). Mrs. Stevenson describes the preparation of clay at Zuñi as follows: “The clay is ground to a powder and mixed with a small quantity of pulverized pottery, fragments of the latter being carefully hoarded for this purpose. The powder thus compounded is mixed with water enough to make a pasty mass, which is kneaded like dough. The more care taken in pulverizing the material and the more time spent in working it, the finer becomes the paste. When the mass reaches such a state of consistency that the fingers can no longer detect the presence of gritty particles, it is still more delicately tested with the tongue, and when found to be satisfactory it is placed in a vessel and covered with a cloth, where it will retain the moisture until wanted for use” (1904, p. 374-5).
[10] Stevenson (1883, p. 329) says: “With this (clay), crushed volcanic lava is sometimes mixed; but the Zuñians more frequently pulverize fragments of broken pottery, which have been preserved for this purpose. This seems to prevent explosion, cracking, or fracture by rendering the paste sufficiently porous to allow the heat to pass through without injurious effect.” And again: “The clays used by the Santa Clara Indians are of a brick-red color, containing an admixture of very fine sand, which, no doubt, prevents cracking in burning, and hence dispenses with the necessity of using lava or pottery fragments, as is the custom of the Indians of the western pueblos” (1883, p. 331). Binns, in “The Potter’s Craft”, describing the preparation of clay, says, “If the clay prove very sandy it must be washed, ... but all the sand should not be removed. Clay with no sand in it will be apt to crack in drying and burning. Clay with too much sand will be short and brittle in working. If the clay is very smooth and shows no sand, a little fine builder’s sand may be added with advantage, a definite proportion being used and recorded” (1910, p. 40).
[11] Stevenson, in his catalogue of Zuñi collections, enumerated “Tierra amarilla, or yellow micaceous clay, of which the Rio Grande Indians make many varieties of vessels” (1883, p. 368).
[12] Harrington, in speaking of a clay-pit near the village of Las Truchas, writes: “It is said that at this place the best red pottery clay known to the Tewa is obtained. It is pebbly, but makes very strong dishes, and it is used especially for ollas. It is said that Tewa of various pueblos visit this place frequently and carry away the clay. The clay deposit is a mile or two southeast of Truchas town” (1916, p. 340). This may be the claypit referred to by the informant, although the clay, while pebbly, is by no means red.
[13] Stevenson, writing of the Zuñi, said of their white slip: “A paint or solution is then made, either of a fine white calcareous earth, consisting mainly of carbonate of lime, or of a milk-white indurated clay, almost wholly insoluble in acids, and apparently derived from decomposed feldspar with a small proportion of mica” (1883, p. 329). Mrs. Stevenson, in a later publication, said: “A white clay is dissolved in water and then made into cones which are dried in the sun. When required for use these cones are rubbed to powder on a stone, again mixed with water, and applied in a liquid state to the object” (1904, p. 375).
[14] Harrington mentions this bed as “a deposit of bright red paint situated about two miles east of Santa Fe, the informants think north of Santa Fe Creek, in high land a few hundred yards from that creek. This paint was used for body painting. It is said that Jicarilla Apache still go to the deposit to get this paint and sometimes sell it to the Tewa” (1916, p. 354). Stevenson is speaking of the black ware of Santa Clara and other Rio Grande pueblos, mentions “a solution of very fine ochre-colored clay” (1883, p. 331), which was probably this same substance. Mrs. Stevenson also mentions “red ochre” (1904, p. 375).