Then followed an interval of song and accompanying rattle, at the termination of which Intiwa's associate took the bird whistle (tatükpi) and blew three times into the liquid, making a noise not unlike that produced by a toy bird whistle. This was repeated four times, accompanied by song and rattle. He first inserted the bone whistle on the north side, then on the other cardinal points in turn. The monotonous song and rattle then ceased, and Intiwa sprinkled corn pollen on the ears of corn in the water, and upon the line of pahos.
The object of the whistle is to call the summer birds which are associated with planting and harvesting. The whistle figures in many rites, especially in those connected with the making of medicine or charm liquid.
MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS
Ornaments in the Form of Birds and Shells
In the excavations, as well as on the surface of the mounds at Awatobi, were found many imitations of marine shells made of clay, often painted red and ranging from the size of half a dollar to that of the thumb nail ([plate clxxiii], j-m). On the convex surface of these objects parallel lines are etched, and they are pierced at the valves for suspension. I have never found them suspended from the neck of a skeleton, although their general appearance indicates that they were used as ornaments. Similarly made clay images of birds ([plate clxxiii], g, h, i) with extended wings were also found, and of these there are several different forms in the collection. A small perforated knob at the breast served for attachment. In the absence of any better explanation of these objects, I have regarded them as gorgets, or pendants, for personal decoration.
In the Awatobi collections there are several small disks made apparently of pipe clay, which also were probably used as ornaments. These are very smooth and wonderfully regular in shape—in one case with a perforation near the rim. Turquois and shell beads were found in considerable numbers in the excavations at Awatobi, but, as they are similar to those from Sikyatki, I have reserved a discussion of them for following pages. A few fragments of shell armlets and wristlets were also exhumed. These were made generally of the Pacific coast Pectunculus, so common in the ruins of the Little Colorado.[92]
Clay Bell
Copper bells are said to be used in the secret ceremonials of the modern Tusayan villages, and in certain of the ceremonial foot races metal bells of great age and antique pattern are sometimes tied about the waists of the runners. Small copper hawk bells,[93] found in southern Arizonian ruins, are identical in form and make with those used by the ancient Nahuatl people. So far as the study of the antiquities of the ruins of Tusayan immediately about the inhabited towns has gone, we have no record of the finding of copper bells of any great age. It was, therefore, with considerable interest that I exhumed from one of the rooms of the westernmost or oldest section of Awatobi a clay bell ([figure 261]) made in exact imitation of one of the copper bells that have been reported from several southern ruins ([plate clxxiii], a). While it may be said that it would be more decisive evidence of the prehistoric character of this object if Awatobi had not been under Spanish influence for over a century, still, from the position where it was dug up and its resemblance to metal bells which are undoubtedly prehistoric, there seems to be little reason to question its age. As with the imitation of marine shells in clay, it is probable that in this bell we have a facsimile of a metal bell with which the ancient Tusayan people were undoubtedly familiar.[94]
