Curved figures are rarely used, but such as are found are characteristic. Concentric rings, with or without central dots, are not uncommon.
Rectangles apparently follow the same general rules as circles, and are also sometimes simple, with or without central dots.
The triangle is much more common as a decorative motive than the circle or the rectangle, variety being brought about by the difference in length of the sides. The hourglass formed by two triangles with one angle of each united is common. The quail’s-head design, or triangle having two parallel marks on an extension at one angle, is not as common as on Little Colorado pottery and that from the Gila valley.
As in all ceramics from the San Juan area, the stepped figures are most abundant. There are two types of stepped figures, the sinistral and the dextral, according as the steps pass from left to right or vice versa. The color of the two stepped figures may be black, or one or both may have secondary ornamentation in forms of hachure or network. One may be solid black, the other filled in with lines.
In addition to the above-mentioned geometrical figures, the S-shaped design is common; when doubled, this forms the cross called swastika. The S figure is of course generally curved but may be angular, in which case the cross is more evident. One bowl has the S figure on the outside. All of the above-mentioned designs admit of variations and two or more are often combined in Spruce-tree House pottery, which is practically the same in type as that of the whole Mesa Verde region.
Ceramic Areas
While it is yet too early in our study of prehistoric pueblo culture to make or define subcultural areas, it is possible to recognize provisionally certain areas having features in common, which differ from other areas.[25] It has already been shown that the form of the subterranean ceremonial room can be used as a basis of classification. If pottery symbols are taken as the basis, it will be found that there are at least two great subsections in the pueblo country coinciding with the two divisions recognized as the result of study of the form of sacred rooms—the northeastern and the southwestern region or, for brevity, the northern and the southern area. In the former region lie, besides the Mesa Verde and the San Juan valley, Chaco and Chelly canyons; in the latter, the ruins of “great houses” along the Gila and Salt rivers.
From these two centers radiated in ancient times two types of pottery symbols expressive of two distinct cultures, each ceremonially distinct and, architecturally speaking, characteristic. The line of junction of the influences of these two subcultural areas practically follows the Little Colorado river, the valley of which is the site of a third ceramic subculture area; this is mixed, being related on one side to the northern, on the other to the southern, region. The course of this river and its tributaries has determined a trail of migration, which in turn has spread this intermingled ceramic art far and wide. The geographical features of the Little Colorado basin have prevented the evolution of characteristic ceramic culture in any part of the region.
Using color and symbolism of pottery as a basis of classification, the author has provisionally divided the sedentary people of the Southwest into the following divisions, or has recognized the following ceramic areas: (1) Hopi area, including the wonderful ware of Sikyatki, Awatobi, and the ruins on Antelope mesa, at old Mishongnovi, Shumopavi and neighboring ruins; (2) Casa Grande area; (3) San Juan area, including Mesa Verde, Chaco canyon, Chelly canyon as far west as St. George, Utah, and Navaho mountain, Arizona; (4) Little Colorado area, including Zuñi. The pottery of Casas Grandes in Chihuahua is allied in colors but not in symbols to old Hopi ware. So little is known of the old Piros ceramics and of the pottery from all ruins east of the Rio Grande, that they are not yet classified. The ceramics from the region west of the Rio Grande are related to the San Juan and Chaco areas.