Fig. 268.—Bowl with human figures: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Among the many fine things from the mound at Saint George are a few red bowls. They were made of a slightly reddish clay, or the paste has reddened uniformly in burning, and a slip or wash of bright red color has been applied to the surface. The designs are painted in black, but differ in style from any of the preceding. This work corresponds very closely indeed with the decorations of similar vessels from the Little Colorado. The marked peculiarities of the ornamentation and color of these bowls give rise to the idea that they may have been intended for some especial service of a ceremonial character. It is not impossible, however, that these vessels reached very distant localities by means of trade. A representative example is shown in Fig. 269. The broad interior band of ornament is divided into four compartments by vertical panels of reticulated lines. The compartments are occupied by groups of disconnected rectangular fret-links on a ground of oblique stripes.
Fig. 269.—Red bowl: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
The heart-shaped bowls previously mentioned include medium sized and small vases, with slightly conical bases, distended shoulders, and much constricted, often depressed, apertures. They are of very general distribution, but like the hemispherical red bowls are rarely found in numbers. It is probable that they were devoted to ceremonial rather than to domestic uses. The shapes are generally pleasing to the eye; the finish is exceptionally fine, and the designs, though simple, are applied with more than usual care.
A very good specimen from the tumulus at Saint George is illustrated in Fig. 270.
Fig. 270.—Heart shaped bowl of red ware: tumulus at Saint George.—1/3.
The bottom in this case is slightly flattened, and the incurved lip but slightly sunken. The paste is a light red and the surface has received a coat of bright red color. The design is in black, is extremely simple, and rather carelessly drawn. The principal figure seems to be a very simple form of the favorite device—the meander.
A large fine bowl much like the preceding, and obtained from the same locality, is owned by the Salt Lake City Museum. The design is of the same class, but very much more elaborate. Another example from Saint George is smaller and yellowish-gray in color, with figures in red and black. At Kanab I picked up fragments of a small vessel, highly polished and of a rich, brownish-purple color, the designs being in black. Another fragment showed designs in bright red and black upon a yellowish ground.