The differentiation in modern Cibolan and Tusayan symbolism is much greater than that of the ancient pottery from the same provinces, a fact which is believed to point to a similarity, possibly identity, of culture in ancient times. With this thought in mind, it would be highly instructive to study the ancient ruins of the Rio Grande region, as unfortunately no large collections of archeological objects from that part of the Southwest have been made.[86]
The majority of the bowls from Awatobi are decorated in geometric patterns and a few have animal or human figures. The symbols, as well as the pottery itself, can not be distinguished from those of Sikyatki. Fragments of glazed ware are not unknown at Awatobi, but so far as recorded, entire specimens have never been obtained from the latter ruin.
In order that the character of the geometric designs on Awatobi pottery may be better understood, two plates are introduced to illustrate their modifications in connection with my discussion of the geometric forms figured on Sikyatki ware. The figures on these bowls ([plates clxvi], [clxvii]), with one or two exceptions, need no special description in addition to what is said of Sikyatki geometric designs, which they closely resemble.
The cross-shape figure ([plate clxvi], b) may profitably be studied in connection with the account of the modification of Sikyatki sun symbols. Evidences of the use of a white pigment as a slip were found on one or two fragments of fine pottery from Awatobi, but no decoration of this kind was observed on the Sikyatki vessels. The red ware is the same as that found in ancient Cibola, while one or two fragments of glossy black recall the type common to modern Santa Clara.
Two bird-shape vessels, one made of black-and-white ware, the other red with black-and-white decoration, were found at Awatobi. Large masses of clay suited to the potter's art were not uncommonly found in the corners of the rooms or in the niches in their walls. Some of these masses are of fine paste, the others coarse with grains of sand. The former variety was used in making the finest Tusayan ceramics; the latter was employed in modeling cooking pots and other vessels of ruder finish.
Several flute-shape objects of clay, with flaring extremities, were found on the surface of the mounds of Awatobi, and one was taken from a Sikyatki grave. The use of these objects is unknown to me.
Among the fragments of dippers from Awatobi are several with perforations in the bottom, irregularly arranged or in geometric form, as that of a cross. These colanders were rare at Sikyatki, but I find nothing in them to betray Spanish influence.[87] Handled dippers or mugs have been found so often by me in the prehistoric ruins of our Southwest that I can not accept the dictum that the mug form was not prehistoric, and the conclusion is legitimate that the Tusayan Indians were familiar with mugs when the Spaniards came among them. The handles of the dippers or ladles are single or double, solid or hollow, simply turned up at one end or terminating with the head of an animal. The upper side of the ladle handle may be grooved or convex. No ladle handle decorated with an image of a "mud-head" or clown priest, so common on modern ladles, was found either at Awatobi or Sikyatki.
Rudely made imitations in miniature of all kinds of pottery, especially of ladles, were common. These are regarded as votive offerings, from the fact that they were found usually in the graves of children, and were apparently used as playthings before they were buried.
A common decoration on the handles of ladles is a series of short parallel lines arranged in alternating longitudinal and transverse zones. This form of decoration of ladle handles I have observed on similar vessels from the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, and it reappears on pottery in all the ruins I have studied between Mexico and Tusayan. In the exhibit of the Mexican Government at Madrid in 1892-93 a fine collection of ancient pottery from Oaxaca was shown, and I have drawings of one of these ladles with the same parallel marks on the handle that are found on Pueblo ware from the Gila-Salado, the Cibola, and the Tusayan regions.
The only fragment of pottery from Awatobi or Sikyatki with designs which could be identified with any modern picture of a katcina was found, as might be expected, in the former ruin. This small fragment is instructive, in that it indicates the existence of the katcina cult in Tusayan before 1700; but the rarity of the figures of these supernatural beings is very suggestive. The fragment in question is of ancient ware, resembling the so-called orange type of pottery, and is apparently a part of the neck of a vase. The figure represents Wupamo, the Great-cloud katcina, and is marked like the doll of the same as it appears in the Powamû or February celebration at Walpi.[88]