BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY—— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CL
FIGURES OF BIRDS AND FEATHERS FROM SIKYATKI
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY—— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLI
FIGURES OF BIRDS AND FEATHERS FROM SIKYATKI
In [plate clii], a, is shown a compound figure of doubtful significance, made up of a series of crescents, triangles, and spirals, which, in c, are more compactly joined together, and accompanied by three parallel lines crossing three other lines. The curved figure shown in b represents three feathers; a large one on each side, inclosing a medially smaller member. In d is shown the spiral bird form with appended feathers, triangles, and terraced figures. Figure f of this plate is decorated with a design which bears many resemblances to a flower, the peripheral appendages resembling bracts of a sunflower. A somewhat similar design is painted on the side of the helmets of some katcina dancers, where the bracts or petals are colored in sequence, with the pigments corresponding to the six directions—north, west, south, east, above, and below. In the decoration on the ancient Sikyatki bowl we find seven peripheral bracts, one of which is speckled. The six groups of stamens(?) are represented between the triangular bracts.
The designs shown in [plates cliii] to [clv], inclusive, still preserve the spiral form with attached feathers, some of them being greatly conventionalized or differentiated. In the first of these plates (figure b) is represented a bird form with triangular head with four feathers arranged in fan shape. These feathers are different from any which I have been able to find attached to the bodies of birds, and are thus identified from morphological rather than from other reasons.
The body of the conventionalized bird is decorated with terraced figures, spirals, flowers, and other designs arranged in a highly complicated manner. From a bar connecting the spiral with the encircling line there arises a tuft of feathers. Figure a of the same plate is characterized by a medially placed triangle and a graceful pendant from which hangs seven feathers. In this instance these structures take the form of triangles and pairs of lines. The relation of these structures to feathers would appear highly speculative, but they have been so interpreted for the following reason: If we compare them with the appendages represented in the design on the vase shown in cxliii, b, we find them the same in number, form, and arrangement; the triangles in the design on this vase are directly comparable with the figures in [plate cxliii], b, in the same position, which are undoubtedly feathers, as has been shown in the discussion of this figure. Consequently, although the triangles on the pendant in [plate cliii], a, appear at first glance to have no relation to the prescribed feather symbol, morphology shows their true interpretation. The reduction of the wing feather to a simple triangular figure is likewise shown in several other pictures on food vessels, notably in the figure, undoubtedly of a bird, represented in [plate cxlvi], a.
In the two figures forming [plate cliv] are found simple bird symbols and feather designs very much conventionalized. The same is true of the two figures given in [plate clv].
The vessels illustrated in [plate clvi], a, b, are decorated with designs of unknown meaning, save that the latter recalls the modification of the feather into long triangular forms. On the outer surface this bowl has a row of tadpoles encircling it in a sinistral direction, or with the center of the bowl on the left. The design of figure c shows a bird's head in profile, with a crest of feathers and with the two eyes on one side of the head and a necklace. The triangular figure bears the symbolism of the turkey feather, as at present designated in Tusayan altar paraphernalia. As with other bird figures, there is a representation in red of the triple star.
Figure d is the only specimen of a vessel in the conventional form of a bird which was found at Sikyatki; it evidently formerly had a handle. The vessel itself is globular, and the form of the bird is intensified by the designs on its surface. The bird's head is turned to the observer, and the row of triangles represent wing feathers. The signification of the designs on e and f is unknown to me.