Many fragments of obsidian, varying in size, are found strewn over the surface of the majority of ancient ruins in Tusayan, and the quantity of this material on some mounds indicates its abundance in those early habitations. This material must have been highly prized for knives, arrowpoints, and weapons of various kinds, as several of the graves contained large fragments of it, some more or less chipped, others in natural forms. The fact of its being deemed worthy of deposit in the graves of the Sikyatkians would indicate that it was greatly esteemed. I know of no natural deposit of obsidian near Sikyatki or in the province of Tusayan, so that the probability is that these fragments had been brought a considerable distance before they were buried in the earth that now covers the dead of the ancient pueblos.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY—— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLXXI
STONE IMPLEMENTS FROM PALATKI, AWATOBI, AND SIKYATKI
NECKLACES, GORGETS, AND OTHER ORNAMENTS
The Sikyatki people buried their dead adorned with necklaces and other ornaments as when living. The materials most highly prized for necklaces were turquois and shell which were fashioned into beads, some of which were finely made. These necklaces did not differ from those now worn, and the shells employed were mostly marine varieties of the genus Pectunculus. The turquois beads are often as finely cut as any now worn, and their presence in the graves led to the only serious trouble which I had with my native workmen, as they undoubtedly appropriated many which were found. Some of these turquois beads are simply flat fragments, perforated at one end, others are well formed. Many skeletons had a single turquois near the mastoid process of the skull, showing that they had been worn as ear pendants. On the neck of one skeleton we found a necklace of many strands, composed of segments of the leg bones of the turkey, stained green. There were other specimens of necklaces made of turkey bones, which were smoothly finished and apparently had not been stained.
Necklaces of perforated cedar berries were likewise found, some of them still hanging about the necks of the dead, and in one instance, a small saucer like vessel ([plate cxx], d) was filled with beads of this kind, as if the necklace had thus been deposited in the grave as a votive offering.
For gorgets the Sikyatki people apparently prized slabs of lignite ([plate clxxii], d) and plates of selenite. It was likewise customary to make small clay imitations of birds and shells for this and for other ornamental purposes; these, for the most part, however, were not found in the graves, but were picked up on the surface or in the débris within the rooms.
The three forms imitating birds shown in [plate clxxiii], g, h, i, are rude in character, and one of them is crossed by a black line from which depend parallel lines, representing falling rain; all of these specimens have a perforated knot on the under side for suspension, as shown in the figure between them.
The forms of imitations of shells, in clay, of which examples are shown in [plate clxxiii], j, k, l, are rude in character; they are often painted with longitudinal or vertical black lines, and have a single or double perforation for suspension. The shell imitated is probably the young Pectunculus, a Pacific-coast mollusk, with which the ancient Hopi were familiar.