The collection from this district, which includes the ancient provinces of Cibola and Tusayan, is already very large, and much more material will yet accrue, for pottery fanciers have taken up the search, and both whites and Indians are on the qui vive for additional examples of the artistic and showy specimens.
The National Museum has procured many fine pieces through the agents of the Bureau of Ethnology, and the collection of Mr. Keam is especially rich in the pottery of Tusayan. Some of the finer examples of the latter collection are selected for illustration.
It seems unaccountable that such a large number of the ancient vessels should be preserved, and that too in a country where vessels are constantly in demand. Many have been picked up by the Pueblo tribes and laid away for especial uses or possibly as heirlooms; but many of those secured by recent collectors were obtained from the sites of ancient settlements, from burial places, and from caves, and brought directly to the market so recently made for them.
There can be no doubt that many of the specimens accredited to this district have come from neighboring or distant provinces; yet within the valley of the Little Colorado there are such wide variations from predominant types that foreign pieces cannot be readily detected. Many of the finer pieces of the white ware are rather new looking and show very superior taste and skill. The indications are that the manufacture of this white ware was kept up in portions of this district down to a comparatively recent date, possibly until the coming of the Europeans. It will probably be impossible to determine just why and how the archaic types gave way to the transitional and modern. It may be found, however, that the influence of the Spaniard was a factor in the change.
Beside the archaic white ware and its closely associated red ware the province of Tusayan furnishes two or three distinct varieties, all of which, unlike that ware, are apparently confined to very limited districts. These have been briefly described on a preceding page.
Many pieces of the white ware are of large size and of elegant shape and finish. Some of the ollas and bottles are masterpieces of the art. The texture of the paste is fine and the color is often quite white. The designs are uniformly in black and are superior in execution and conception to those of the north.
Bowls.—The bowls are very generally hemispherical. The finish, like that of the pottery of the San Juan and the Rio Virgen, is rather rough on the exterior, and whitened and polished on the inner surface. The painted figures are confined to the interior, and are highly elaborated combinations of the usual geometric motives. They are generally made up of four sections of double-zoned borders such as occur on the exterior of vases, cut out, as it were, and fitted into the bowl in a cruciform arrangement, a plain square remaining in the bottom of the vessel. See Fig. 291. There are, however, many examples which consist of two encircling zones of ornament identical in style and arrangement with examples from the Rio Virgen, Figs. 230 and 231, and from the Rio San Juan, Figs. 248, 259, and 274.
In Fig. 289 we have a representative example of the bowls of ancient Tusayan. The outer surface is rudely trowel-finished, but the inside is well polished. The painted design consists of four parts arranged about a central square. Each part comprises a number of alternate bands of straight and zigzag lines.
Fig. 289.—Bowl: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.