diff options
Diffstat (limited to '79063-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 79063-0.txt | 3227 |
1 files changed, 3227 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/79063-0.txt b/79063-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..755d7f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/79063-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3227 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79063 *** + + + + + DESIGNS ON PREHISTORIC + HOPI POTTERY + + BY + JESSE WALTER FEWKES + + REPRINTED FROM THE THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT + OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY + + [Illustration] + + WASHINGTON + GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE + 1919 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + Introduction 215 + Chronology of Hopi pottery symbols 215 + The ruin, Sikyatki 218 + Sikyatki epoch 219 + Human figures 220 + Quadruped figures 223 + Reptilian figures 225 + Winged figures 227 + Dorsal views of birds 228 + Lateral views of birds 233 + Feather designs 236 + Feathers suspended from strings 241 + Sky-band 242 + Vertical attachment to sky-band 243 + Birds attached longitudinally to sky-band 246 + Decorations on exteriors of food bowls 248 + Curved figure with attached feathers 251 + Spider and insects 252 + Butterfly and moth 252 + Geometrical designs 255 + Rain clouds 256 + Stars 257 + Sun emblems 258 + Rectangular figures representing shrines 262 + Symbols introduced from San Juan River settlements 264 + Symbols introduced by the Snake people 265 + Tanoan epoch 266 + Symbols introduced from the Little Colorado 267 + Symbols introduced by the Badger and Kachina clans 273 + Symbols introduced from Awatobi 275 + Shalako mana 275 + Symbols of Hano clans 279 + Conclusion 281 + Authorities cited 284 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Page + + PLATES + + 76. Various forms of conventionalized feathers 238 + 77. Conventionalized tail feathers 240 + 78. Conventionalized feathers attached to strings (nakwakwoci) 240 + 79. Sky-bands 242 + 80. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250 + 81. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250 + 82. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250 + 83. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250 + 84. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250 + 85. Conventionalized bird designs 250 + 86. Conventionalized bird designs 250 + 87. Bird, sun, and spider and sun symbols 258 + 88. Conventionalized bird figures 258 + 89. Shalakomana, Corn Maid (from tablet dance) 276 + 90. Top of butterfly vase 276 + + TEXT FIGURES + + 12. Human head with hair-in characteristic whorls 221 + 13. Woman with serpent-like animal 221 + 14. Kneeling woman, showing hair in characteristic whorls 222 + 15. Three human figures 223 + 16. _a_, Deer; _b_, rabbit 224 + 17. Quadruped 224 + 18. Antelope or mountain sheep 224 + 19. Mountain lion 225 + 20. Problematical reptile 225 + 21. Reptile 225 + 22. Reptile 225 + 23. Reptile 226 + 24. Reptile 227 + 25. Turtle 227 + 26. Clouds and tadpoles 228 + 27. Tadpoles 228 + 28. Dorsal view of a bird 229 + 29. Bird figure, two halves restored to natural position 229 + 30. Dorsal view of bird 230 + 31. Bird figure 230 + 32. Bird figure 231 + 33. Bird figure 231 + 34. Bird figure 231 + 35. Bird figure (Thunderbird) 231 + 36. Bird figure 232 + 37. Highly conventionalized figure of bird from dorsal side 232 + 38. Conventional figure of a bird 233 + 39. Conventional figure of a bird 233 + 40. Conventional figure of a bird 233 + 41. Conventional figure of a bird 233 + 42. Conventional figure of a bird 234 + 43. Triangular form of bird 234 + 44. Triangular form of bird 234 + 45. Simple form of bird with terraced body 234 + 46. Lateral view of triangular bird with two tail feathers 234 + 47. Lateral view of bird with three tail feathers 234 + 48. Problematical bird figure 234 + 49. Bird with two tail feathers 234 + 50. Highly conventionalized bird figure 234 + 51. Lateral view of bird 234 + 52. Profile of bird 235 + 53. Lateral view of bird with outspread wing 235 + 54. Lateral view of bird with twisted tail and wing feathers 235 + 55. Lateral view of conventionalized bird 236 + 56. Lateral view of conventionalized bird 236 + 57. Feather symbol with black notch 237 + 58. Feather symbol with black notch 237 + 59. Feathers 241 + 60. Curved feathers 241 + 61. Conventional feathers 241 + 62. Parallel lines representing feathers 241 + 63. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244 + 64. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244 + 65. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244 + 66. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244 + 67. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 245 + 68. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 245 + 69. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 245 + 70. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 246 + 71. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 246 + 72. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 247 + 73. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 247 + 74. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 247 + 75. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 248 + 76. Lateral view of bird with extended wing 248 + 77. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 249 + 78. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 249 + 79. Butterfly and flower 252 + 80. Butterfly with extended proboscis 253 + 81. Highly conventionalized butterfly 253 + 82. Moth 254 + 83. Moth 254 + 84. Moth of geometrical form 255 + 85. Geometrical form of moth 255 + 86. Highly conventionalized butterfly 255 + 87. Geometrical form of moth 255 + 88. Circle with triangles 255 + 89. Rain cloud 257 + 90. Rain cloud 257 + 91. Ring with appended feathers 258 + 92. Two circles with figure 259 + 93. Sun with feathers 259 + 94. Sun symbol 259 + 95. Ring with appended feathers 260 + 96. Ring figure with legs and appended feathers 260 + 97. Sun emblem with appended feathers 260 + 98. Sun symbol 261 + 99. Sun symbol 261 + 100. Horned snake with conventionalized shrine 263 + 101. Shrine 263 + 102. Shrine 264 + 103. Conventionalized winged bird with shrine 264 + 104. Lateral view of bird with double eyes 269 + 105. Lateral view of bird with double eyes 270 + 106. Bird with double eyes 271 + 107. Two birds with rain clouds 272 + 108. Head of Shalako mana, or Corn maid 276 + 109. Head of Kokle, or Earth woman 280 + 110. Head of Hahaiwugti, or Earth woman 280 + 111. Ladle with clown carved on handle and Earth woman on bowl 281 + 112. Püükon hoya, little War god 281 + + + + +DESIGNS ON PREHISTORIC HOPI POTTERY + +By JESSE WALTER FEWKES + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In the following pages the author has endeavored to draw attention to +some of the most important symbols on Hopi pottery, especially those of +prehistoric times. + +Consideration of this subject has led to a discussion of the character +of pottery designs at different epochs and the interpretation, by study +of survivals, of ancient designs in modern times. This chronological +treatment has necessitated an examination of ceramic material from ruins +of different ages and an ethnological study of ancient symbols still +surviving in ceremonials now practiced. It has also led to sociological +researches on the composition of the tribe, the sequence in the arrival +of clans at Walpi, and their culture in distant homes from which they +migrated. It will thus appear that the subject is a very complicated one, +and that the data upon which conclusions are based are sociological as +well as archeological. There are many ruins from which material might +have been obtained, but only a few have been adequately investigated. +The small number of ruins in the Hopi country which have thus far been +excavated necessarily makes our knowledge not only provisional but also +imperfect. It is hoped, however, that this article may serve to stimulate +others to renewed field work and so add desired data to the little we +have bearing on the subject. + + +CHRONOLOGY OF HOPI POTTERY SYMBOLS + +At least three well-marked epochs can be distinguished in the history +of Hopi ceramic symbolism. Each of these is intimately associated with +certain clans that have from time to time joined the Hopi and whose +descendants compose the present population. Although these epochs follow +each other in direct sequence, each was not evolved from its predecessor +or modified by it, except to a very limited extent. Each epoch has left +to the succeeding one a heritage of symbols, survivals which are somewhat +difficult to differentiate from exotic symbols introduced by incoming +clans. So that while each epoch grades almost imperceptibly into the +one directly following it, an abrupt change is sometimes evident in the +passage. + +In order to appreciate the relations between ceramic decoration and +history let me sketch in brief outline what I regard as the historical +development of the Hopi living near or on the East Mesa. We know little +of the group of people who first settled here except that they belonged +to the Bear clan, which is traditionally referred to the eastern pueblo +region. At about the time they entered Hopiland there was a settlement +called Sikyatki composed of Jemez colonists, situated about 3 miles from +the southern point of East Mesa, and other towns or pueblos on Awatobi +Mesa and in Antelope Valley, 10 miles away. + +The first great additions to this original population were Snake +clans, who came from the San Juan, followed by Flute clans from the +same direction but originally of southern origin. Having become well +established at the point of the East Mesa, the combined settlement +overthrew Sikyatki and appropriated its clans. + +Then came the strenuous days of Spanish invasion and the destruction of +Awatobi in 1700. The Little Colorado clans had already begun to seek +refuge in the Hopi mountains and their number was greatly augmented by +those from Zuñi, a Rio Grande settlement called Tewadi, and elsewhere, +each addition bringing new forms of culture and settling new pueblos +on or near the East Mesa, as has been shown in previous publications. +Traditions point out their former settlements and it remains for the +archeologist to excavate those settlements, now in ruins, and verify +these traditions. This can be done by a study of artifacts found in them. + +As a rule archeologists have relied on technique, form, and especially +color, in the classification of Pueblo pottery, leading, on the technical +side, to the groups known as (a) rough, coiled ware, and (b) smooth, +polished ware; and on that of form, to bowls, vases, jars, dippers, etc. +When color is used as the basis of classification the divisions black and +white, red, yellow, orange, and polychrome are readily differentiated. +Classifications based on these data are useful, as they indicate +cultural as well as geographical differences in Pueblo ceramics; but +these divisions can be used only with limitations in a study of stages +of culture growth. The fact that they are not emphasized in the present +article is not because their importance is overlooked, but rather for the +purpose of supplementing them with a classification that is independent +of and in some particulars more reliable for indicating chronology and +culture distinctions. + +The life-forms on ancient Sikyatki and other Hopi pottery are painted +on what is known as yellow ware, which is regarded by some authors as +characteristic of the Hopi area; but pottery of the same color, yet with +radically different symbolic life-forms, occurs also in other areas. It +thus appears that while a classification of Pueblo pottery by color is +convenient, differences of color are not so much indications of diversity +in culture as of geologic environment. Designs on pottery are more +comprehensive and more definite in culture studies than color, and are so +regarded in these pages. + +As there exists a general similarity in the form of prehistoric +pottery throughout the Southwest, shape alone is also inadequate for +a determination of Pueblo culture centers. The great multiplicity and +localization of symbols on Pueblo pottery furnishes adequate material +for classification by means of the designs depicted on vases, bowls, +and other pottery objects. Sikyatki pottery is especially suited to +a classification on such a basis, for it is recognized as the most +beautiful and the most elaborately decorated prehistoric pottery found +in the Southwest. Life-forms are abundant and their symbolism is +sufficiently characteristic to be regarded as typical of a well-defined +ceramic area. There can, of course, be no question regarding the ancient +character of the designs on Sikyatki pottery, nor were they introduced or +modified by white men, but are purely aboriginal and prehistoric. + +Pottery from the Sikyatki ruin is chosen as a type of the most highly +developed or golden epoch in Hopi ceramics. Several other ruins were +inhabited when Sikyatki was in its prime and pottery from these belongs +to the same epoch, and would probably be equally good to illustrate its +character. Fortunately, specimens are available from many of these, as +Awatobi, and the ruins in Antelope Valley, old Shumopavi, and other +Middle Mesa ruins. The date of the origin of this epoch, or the highest +development of Hopi ceramics, is not known, but there is evidence that it +lasted until the fall of Awatobi, in 1700. The destruction of Sikyatki +occurred before 1540, but Sikyatki has given the name to the epoch and is +taken as the type, not only because of the abundance of ceramic material +available from that ruin, but also because there can be no doubt of the +prehistoric nature of material from it. + +There is abundant evidence that the culture of Sikyatki was never +influenced by white man. After the overthrow of Awatobi there developed +on the East Mesa of the Hopi country a third ceramic epoch which was +largely influenced by the influx of Tanoan (Tewa) clans. They came either +directly from the Rio Grande or by way of Zuñi and other pueblos. Among +other arrivals about 1710 were those clans which settled Hano, a Tewa +pueblo on the East Mesa. The Hano and other symbols introduced in this +epoch are best known in the present generation by the earlier productions +of Nampeo, an expert modern potter. + +The pottery of this epoch differs from that of the second in form, color, +and technique, but mainly in its symbolism, which is radically different +from that of the epochs that preceded it. The symbolism of this phase +is easily determined from large collections now in museums. This epoch +was succeeded in 1895 by a fourth, in which there was a renaissance of +old Sikyatki patterns, under the lead of Nampeo. In that year Nampeo +visited the excavations at Sikyatki and made pencil copies of the designs +on mortuary bowls. From that time all pottery manufactured by her was +decorated with modified Sikyatki symbols, largely to meet the demand for +this beautiful ancient ware. The extent of her work, for which there +was a large demand, may be judged by the great numbers of Hopi bowls +displayed in every Harvey store from New Mexico to California. This +modified Sikyatki ware, often sold by unscrupulous traders as ancient, is +the fourth, or present, epoch of Hopi ceramics. These clever imitations, +however, are not as fine as the productions of the second epoch. There is +danger that in a few years some of Nampeo’s imitations will be regarded +as ancient Hopi ware of the second epoch, and more or less confusion +introduced by the difficulty in distinguishing her work from that +obtained in the ruins. + + + + +THE RUIN, SIKYATKI + + +The ruins of the ancient pueblo of Sikyatki, consisting of mounds and +a few outcropping walls, are situated on rocky elevations rising from +the sand hills at the eastern or sunny base of the East Mesa, about 3 +miles from the modern Hopi pueblo of Walpi in northeastern Arizona. The +founders of Sikyatki are said, in very circumstantial migration legends, +to have belonged to a [Keres?] clan called the Kokop, or Firewood, +which previously lived in a pueblo near Jemez, New Mexico. Preliminary +excavations were made at Sikyatki, under the author’s direction, by the +Smithsonian Institution in 1895, when there was obtained, chiefly from +its cemeteries, a valuable collection of pottery, most of which is now +installed in the National Museum.[1] + +Little is known of the history of Sikyatki save through tradition, but +enough has been discovered to show that it was abandoned before 1540, the +year of the visit to Tusayan of Pedro Tovar, an officer of the Coronado +expedition. It was probably settled much earlier, perhaps about the time +the Bear clans, also said to have come from the Jemez region, built the +first houses of Walpi near the point of the terrace at the west or cold +side of the East Mesa, below the present settlement.[2] Both of these +prehistoric pueblos occupied sites exposed to attack by enemies and +were not built on mesa tops, hence it may be assumed that there were no +enemies to fear in Tusayan at the time of their establishment. But later, +when the Snake clans from the north joined the Bear settlement at Walpi, +trouble seems to have commenced. As above mentioned, the Bear clans came +from the same region as the Kokop and were presumably friendly, probably +kin of the Sikyatkians; but the Snake clans came from Tokonabi, in the +north, and were no doubt of foreign stock, implying a hostility that may +have been the indirect cause of the overthrow of Sikyatki and Awatobi by +the other Hopi. + +The two epochs in Hopi ceramic development that can be distinguished +with certainty are (1) the Sikyatki epoch and (2) the Tanoan or historic +epoch. The third, or renaissance, of the Sikyatki dates back to 1895, and +may be called the modern epoch. The Sikyatki epoch gave way to the Tanoan +about the beginning of the eighteenth century. It did not develop from +any group preexisting in the neighborhood of the present Hopi pueblos but +was derived from the east and it ceased suddenly, being replaced by a +totally different group introduced by radically different clans.[3] + + +SIKYATKI EPOCH + +The most characteristic Hopi pottery bearing symbols of the Sikyatki +epoch occurs in a few ruins near the Hopi mesas, but from lack of +exploration it is impossible to determine the boundaries of the area in +which it is found. + +Several museums contain collections of Hopi ware of this epoch, among +which may be mentioned the National Museum at Washington, the Field +Columbian Museum of Natural History at Chicago, the Museum of the +University of Pennsylvania, the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, and the +Museum für Volkerkünde at Berlin, Germany. Many bowls of this epoch are +likewise found in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and +in the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute. Several private collections in +Europe and the United States likewise contain specimens of Sikyatki ware, +among them being that gathered by the late Dr. Miller, now at Phoenix, +Arizona. The collection of prehistoric Hopi pottery in the National +Museum is particularly rich, containing many specimens gathered by the +Stevenson expeditions, by the author, and by Dr. Hough, of the U. S. +National Museum. + +The symbols on the ancient pottery from the Middle Mesa of the Hopi are +almost identical with those of Sikyatki, indicating a similarity of +culture, a common geographical origin, and a synchronous culture. From +the character of the symbols on the ancient pottery from the ancient +Middle Mesa pueblos it is probable that the clans who founded them +came, like the colonists who settled Sikyatki, from the Jemez plateau +in New Mexico. Although the Field collection is very rich in old Walpi +ware, nothing of importance has been published on the symbols of this +collection; it contains some of the most instructive examples of the +Sikyatki epoch. A large and probably the most valuable portion of this +collection was gathered by Dr. George A. Dorsey and Mr. Charles L. Owen, +while many pieces were purchased from Mr. Frank Wattron, of Holbrook, and +from the late Mr. T. V. Keam, of Keams Canyon, Arizona. The source of +many of the Wattron specimens is unknown, but it is evident from their +decoration that some of them are ancient Hopi and probably belong to the +Sikyatki epoch and came from Shongopovi, Awatobi, or Sikyatki. + +Shortly before his death Mr. T. V. Keam sold to the Museum für +Volkerkünde at Berlin, Germany, a rich collection of pottery obtained +mainly from Awatobi and Sikyatki, containing several specimens of the +Sikyatki epoch which are highly instructive. Some of the designs on the +pottery of this collection are unique, and their publication would be a +great aid to a study of the most important epoch of Hopi ceramics. + +A large proportion of life-forms used in the decoration of Sikyatki +pottery are mythological subjects, showing the predominance of +supernatural beings and their magic power in the minds of the makers. +Like a child, the primitive artist is fond of complexity of detail, and +figures in which motion is indicated appealed more to his fancy than +those objects that do not move. It needs but a glance at the ancient +Sikyatki life-figures to show a tendency to represent detail and to +convince one of the superiority of the Sikyatki potters in this respect +over those of modern times. There has been a gradual deterioration, not +only less care being now devoted to the technique of the pottery but +also to the drawing of the figures. This lack in itself is significant, +for while modern ware reflects in its hasty crudeness the domination of +commercialism, the ancient pottery shows no indication of such influence. +Pottery is now made to please the purchaser; in ancient times another +motive influenced the maker, for then it was a product worthy of the +highest use to which it could be put, since it often formed a part of +sacred paraphernalia in religious ceremonies. + + +HUMAN FIGURES + +Sikyatki pictures of human beings depict men and women, singly or in +company, and are few in number and crude in execution. Organs of the +body—hands, feet, arms, and legs—are often represented separately. The +hand is portrayed on two vessels, and the foot, elaborately drawn, +appears on another; as a general thing when parts of the body are +represented they are greatly conventionalized. The few human figures on +Sikyatki pottery are crude representations as compared with those of +animals, and especially of birds. Several of the figures are represented +wearing ancient costumes and ornaments, and one or two have their hair +done up in unusual styles; others have the body or face tattooed or +painted; but as a whole these decorations are rare and shed little light +on prehistoric customs. There is nothing that can be identified as a +time count, calendric, hieroglyphic, or phonetic signs, or any record of +historical events. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.—Human head with hair in characteristic whorls.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 13.—Woman with serpent-like animal.] + +None of the human figures are represented with masks or headdresses to +indicate the impersonation of kachinas, nor are there double figures or +animal heads depicted on human bodies. The absence of animal or kachina +heads shows one of the marked differences between Sikyatki pictures and +the designs so common on some other pottery, where a relatively large +number of the heads of the latter occur. The best representation of a +human head is shown in figure 12,[4] in which a characteristic coiffure +is shown. Fig. 13 is identified as a figure of a maiden whose hair is +dressed in two whorls, one above each ear, like a modern Hopi maid.[5] +Opposite this maid is a reptile or similar animal with head decorated +with two eyes on one side and a single foreleg. These two figures +probably refer to some episode or Indian legend connecting a Sikyatki +maiden with some monster. + +The maiden depicted in figure 14 is evidently kneeling, her knees being +brought together below, and separated by four median parallel lines +that are supposed to indicate feathers; the curved objects at the lower +corners of the rectangular blanket probably are also feathers. One hand +of the maiden is raised to her head, while the other holds an unknown +object, possibly an ear of corn. The woman with an ear of corn recalls +a figure on the elaborately painted wooden slab carried by women in the +Hopi Marau dance or that on the wooden slab, or _monkohu_, carried by the +priests representing Alosaka, Eototo, and other ceremonial personages. +These painted slabs do not always bear pictures of corn ears, for those +of the priests known as the Aaltû have, instead of pictures of corn, +the corn itself tied to them; in the New-fire ceremony at Walpi members +of the Tataukyamû priesthood, at Walpi, also hold ears of corn with or +without wooden slabs, while those borne by the warrior Kwakwantû are +carved in the form of the sacred plumed serpent, which is their patron.[6] + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.—Kneeling woman, showing hair in characteristic +whorls.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.—Three human figures.] + +Different styles of hairdressing are exhibited in figures 13 and 14, that +of figure 14 being similar to the modern Hopi. The group of three figures +(fig. 15) possibly illustrates some ancient ceremony. The middle figure +of this group is represented as carrying a branched stick, or cornstalk, +in his mouth.[7] The accompanying figure, or that to the right, has in +his hand one of the strange frames used as rattles[8] in historic times +by clans (Asa or Honani) of Jemez or of Tewa descent who had settled at +the East Mesa. The author is inclined to identify the object held by this +figure as one of these ceremonial frames and the man as a Yaya priest. + +Another interpretation of the central figure of the group, figure 15, +is that he is performing the celebrated stick-swallowing act which was +practiced at Walpi until a few years ago. The last explanation suggested +implies that the human figures represent Snake and Antelope priests, a +doubtful interpretation, since, according to legends, these priests were +never represented at Sikyatki.[9] + +The character shown in another figure, not copied, may represent the +supernatural being, called the God of the Dead (Masauû) whose body, +according to legend, is spotted and girt by bands. The Little Fire god +(Shulewitse), when personated in modern ceremonies of the Tewa at Hano, +is represented by a man daubed with pigments of several colors. He is +personated likewise in the Hopi (Tewa) village of Sichomovi.[10] + +Several Zuñi ceremonies show evidence of derivation from eastern New +Mexican pueblos,[11] but a critical examination of the origin and +migration of Zuñi clan relations of societies still awaits the student of +this interesting pueblo. It is probable that Zuñi sociology is in some +respects like that of Walpi and that the present population is composite, +having descended from clans which have drifted together from different +directions, each bringing characteristic ceremonies and mythological +conceptions, while certain rites have been incorporated from time to time +from other Pueblo people. + + +QUADRUPED FIGURES + +Representations of quadrupeds are almost as rare as human figures +in Sikyatki pottery decorations. The deer (fig. 16, _a_), antelope, +mountain sheep, mountain lion, rabbit, and one or two other animals are +recognizable, but pictures of these are neither so common nor so highly +conventionalized as those of birds. + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.—_a_, Deer; _b_, rabbit.] + +Figure 17 shows one of two mammalian figures on a bowl, the surrounding +surface consisting of spatterwork, an uncommon but effective mode of +treatment. + +The outline of the animal shown in figure 18 is intensified by +spattering, as in the case of the animal last mentioned. The black spots +along the back and tail are absent in other figures. The design below the +figure suggests, in some particulars, that of a highly conventionalized +shrine, but its true meaning is unknown. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.—Quadruped.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.—Antelope or mountain sheep.] + +The design in figure 19 has been regarded as representing a mountain +lion, but there is some doubt of the validity of this identification. +Although the feet are like those of a carnivorous animal, the head is +not. The two projections from the head, which may represent horns, are +not unlike those associated with the two figures next described, which +have been regarded as feathers. + +The creature shown in figure 20 is also problematical. The appendages +to the head are prolonged, terminating in feathers that bend backward +and touch the body. The anterior body appendage has two crescentic +prolongations between which are parallel lines of unequal length. +The posterior limb is jointed, the lower half extending backward and +terminating in two claws, one long, the other short. Between these +extensions are two groups of slightly radiating lines that may be +regarded as feathers. The body has feathers like those of a highly +conventionalized bird, while the limbs resemble those of a lizard. The +body is serpentine, and tail feathers are wanting; both legs have talons +like those of birds, and the appendage to the head suggests a feather +headdress; the line connecting the head appendage and one claw of the +posterior limbs recalls a sky-band, commonly found in representations of +sky gods. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.—Mountain lion.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.—Problematical reptile.] + +The animal depicted in figure 21, which resembles figure 19 in the form +of the appendages to the head and mouth, is suspended inside of a circle +in the one case and is half within a circle in the other. + + +REPTILIAN FIGURES + +Several figures of reptiles and serpents occur in the Sikyatki +collection. Figure 22 represents an animal like a reptile; only two +legs are shown in the design and the form of the tail recalls that of +a bird. The head of this figure bears two horns resembling feathers in +some respects; the legs terminate in four claws. From a projection at the +posterior end of the body there arises a curved line dotted at intervals +and terminating in feathers. The dorsal appendage resembles the carapace +of a turtle, from beneath which feathers project. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21.—Reptile.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 22.—Reptile.] + +Figure 22 depicts a reptile from the head of which project horns and two +long feathers. Its back bears a row of feathers, but it has only two legs. + +The legless creature, figure 23, has two triangular earlike feathers +rising from the head, and two eyes; a wide-open mouth, in which are +six long, curved teeth, three in each jaw. The tongue terminates in an +arrow-shaped figure, recalling a conventional symbol of lightning, or +the death-dealing power of the serpent. The meaning of the narrow line +connecting the upper jaw with the tail is not known. The curved shape +of the body of the reptile is necessitated by the shape of the bowl +on which it is drawn. This figure may represent the monster feathered +serpent of Sikyatki, or a flying reptile, one of the most mysterious of +the elemental gods. It is interesting to note that while the effigies of +the feathered serpent used in Hopi (Walpi) and Zuñi religious practices +has a single horn on the head, the one here described is different from +both, for it is provided with two appendages resembling conventionalized +feathers. The Hopi feathered serpent was derived from the same source as +the Zuñi, namely, clans which originally came to the Little Colorado from +Gila Valley.[12] + +[Illustration: FIG. 23.—Reptile.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 24.—Reptile.] + +The Hopi (Walpi) figure is in a measure comparable with that shown in +figure 23—each has two hornlike feathers on the head, and the bodies are +curved in the same direction—that is, with the center (?) on the right +(dextral circuit), the reverse of modern Hopi pictures, which are placed +as if the figures were moving in a sinistral circuit.[13] + +The form shown in figure 24 reminds one of a frog or a turtle. The body +and feet are turtlelike. As in several pictures of reptiles, it is +provided with an anterior appendage, evidently the front leg, which has +characteristic claws. The row of white dots extending from the mouth +through the neck represents the esophagus or windpipe. The author is +unable to offer any interpretation of the appendages to the tail, but +suggests that they may have been intended for feathers. Figure 25 _a_, +_b_, is identified as a turtle. + +Figure 26 was evidently designed to represent several tadpoles swimming +across a bowl between rows of rain clouds, the whole inclosed in a circle +to which are attached five stars at approximately equal intervals. The +form of the rain clouds reminds one of conventional tail feathers. +There are six of these rain-cloud figures on one side of the field of +decoration and five on the other. The tadpoles shown in figure 27 occur +on the inside of the ladle. + + +WINGED FIGURES + +The term “winged figures” is here employed to designate all flying +creatures, as birds, insects, and bats, even though they belong +zoologically to different groups of animals. Among the prehistoric Hopi, +insects and birds were designated by similar symbols and when highly +conventionalized sometimes merge into one another. It was the custom +of Sikyatki potters to give more attention to specific than generic +characters of flying creatures, distinguishing different kinds of +birds by the form of their feathers. The symbol of a turkey, an eagle, +or a hawk feather was distinct from that of an owl, and each kind of +a bird had its own special symbolic marking, especially indicated in +the different kinds of feathers. Thus it occurs that Sikyatki bird +designs, instead of being realistically represented, are often so highly +conventionalized that the genus can not be identified. + +[Illustration: FIG. 25.—Turtle.] + +The flight of birds, like the movement of serpents, is regarded as +mysterious, and anything mysterious or uncanny has always profoundly +affected the mind of primitive man. The chief visible characteristics +connected with the flight of a bird are wings and feathers, and the +kind of feathers of a particular bird led to their association with +the supposed magic power of the bird itself among both the ancient and +modern Hopi. Different kinds of feathers have different powers; thus the +feathers of the turkey, for example, among the modern Hopi, are potent in +inducing rain; those of the eagle or the hawk pertain especially to the +power of the sun; a breast feather of an eagle is chosen as an individual +prayer bearer. The feathers of an owl, like the owl itself,[14] are +generally regarded as having a sinister influence; but sometimes the +feather of this bird is beneficial, it is believed, in making peach trees +yield abundantly. From the variety of feather designs and the frequency +with which they occur in modern Hopi ceremonies[15] it is evident that +the Sikyatki people, like their descendants, attributed special magic +power to different kinds of these objects. + +[Illustration: FIG. 26.—Clouds and tadpoles.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 27.—Tadpoles.] + +In their simplest forms bird symbols are little more than triangles, +the tail feathers being represented by appended parallel lines, which +are mere suggestions of birds and may be designated as cursive forms. +Such simple pictures of birds sometimes have, in addition to the +appended parallel lines referred to, an angular or a curved line or hook +extending from one of the angles of the triangle to represent a beak. +Such triangular bird figures may be free or attached; in the latter case +they are suspended from other figures or rise from the corners of a +rectangular design when one of the triangles may be without tail or beak +appendages, another may have parallel lines, while a third may take a +form readily recognizable as that of a bird. The form of the beak and the +claws of bird figures also varies, the claws often appearing as simple +crosses or crescents. The beak is sometimes toothed, often hooked like +that of a raptorial bird. The bird is designated by the combination of +the beak, claws, and body, as well as the feathers. + + +DORSAL VIEWS OF BIRDS + +Among the conventional pictures of birds on Sikyatki pottery some are +shown as seen from above, or dorsally, others from below, or ventrally, +and still others laterally. These pictures sometimes become so +conventionalized that it is difficult to identify the parts represented, +as will appear from illustrations to follow. + +[Illustration: FIG. 28.—Dorsal view of a bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 29.—Bird figure, two halves restored to natural +position.] + +Figure 28 represents a bird design in which three parallel bands +representing tail feathers of a well-marked type hang between two curved +extensions that occupy the relative position of wings. In the angles near +the attachment of these tail feathers there are two globular enlargements +which occur also in other pictures. The extremity of each winglike +crescent is spirally curved inward. Two semicircular figures representing +rain clouds are surmounted by two parallel lines and a heavy, solid band, +appearing at the proximal end of the tail in the position where the body +should end, as in other figures where the rain-cloud symbols are much +more complex. + +The two drawings shown in figure 29 are the two halves of a single figure +cut along its medial line. One of these halves is reversed in such a +way that corresponding parts are found on the same side. Viewing these +two parts in this position, we can readily identify various organs of a +highly conventionalized bird whose wings are represented by a curved body +terminating in a spiral, the body decorated with rain-cloud figures and +the bowl with conventionalized figures. This is the only figure showing +the distortions and reversions of the two halves of the bird’s body and +appendages. + +Homologous parts are recognizable also in the bird design shown in figure +30, but in this picture the size of the wings is greatly reduced, each +consisting merely of two feathers. The rectangular body bears a single +large terraced or rectangular rain-cloud symbol, three semicircular +figures, and two triangles. Two tail feathers and two posterior +extensions of the body, one on each side, are shown. There are three +parallel lines on each side of these posterior extensions. In a bird +design, figure 31, the body is decorated with four triangular rain clouds +and the wings are extended. The tail has six feathers with a lateral +extension on each side. The two detached figures associated with this +bird design possibly were intended to represent the shrines of these +birds. + +[Illustration: FIG. 30.—Dorsal view of a bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 31.—Bird figure.] + +The curved appendages are spreading in figure 32, and at their point of +junction with the body arises a typical feather symbol. The body has +four solid semicircular figures, possibly representing rain clouds, +and a single feather on the top of the head. Organs corresponding to +wings, body, and tail are traceable, but they are somewhat modified in +comparison with the forms already considered. This design is partly +surrounded by a band to which two star designs are attached. + +We find all the parts or organs associated with the bird designs already +described represented in figure 33, but the details of the symbolism +are more elaborated than in any of the preceding. Here the wings are +bent inward, while the feathers have taken more angular forms. The head +is rectangular, bearing representations of two rain clouds just above +the wings, while two others appear below. These have the same form as +the cloud symbols shown in figure 20. Although this drawing is far from +being a realistic representation of a bird, the presence of symbols +characteristic of certain avian features leaves no doubt that a bird was +intended. + +In figure 34 is shown a Sikyatki bird figure still further +conventionalized, but the parts are depicted in such manner as to make +the identification as a bird practically certain. Head, body, wings, and +tail are elaborately represented. The head is semicircular and surmounted +by a headdress with three vertical feathers. The wings are large, each +terminating in two symbols representing the feathers,[16] with pointed +distal extremities. The tail feathers have rounded extremities and +are three in number. On each side of the feathers of the headdress, +wings, and tail hang figures of unknown meaning. This is one of the most +instructive bird figures in the collection from Sikyatki. + +[Illustration: FIG. 32.—Bird figure.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 33.—Bird figure.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 34.—Bird figure.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 35.—Bird figure. (Thunderbird.)] + +Figure 35 represents a very elaborate figure of a bird, readily +comparable with the last mentioned, from which it differs in certain +particulars. This bird design is replete with symbolism and may be +regarded as one of the most instructive pictures that has come to us from +the ancient Hopi. The view is from the back, the legs being much reduced +in size, the claws alone being represented at each upper corner of the +body directly under the attachment of the wings. The beak is invisible, +but an elaborate headdress,[17] in which tail feathers are conspicuous, +is a prominent feature. The form of the tail and wing feathers of this +bird is practically the same as the last, except that they are more +elaborately drawn. Each wing has two feathers, and three others form the +tail. The arrow points projecting from beneath the extremities of the +wing feathers are possibly lightning symbols. Each is crossed by two bars +in the same manner as the tongue projecting from the mouth of the serpent +shown in figure 23, which is also a lightning symbol. + +[Illustration: FIG. 36.—Bird figure.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 37.—Highly conventionalized figure of bird from +dorsal side.] + +The design illustrated in figure 36 represents a bird, as seen from the +back, with outstretched wings, recalling the lateral view of a bird shown +in figure 54 in having smaller bird figures attached to the tips of the +wings. The place of attachment of the wings to the body is embellished +with crosshatched lines and stepped figures, recalling the rain-cloud +symbols. The head is rectangular, destitute of a beak, inclosing two +square figures with short parallel lines, representing falling rain, +projecting from the upper side. On one side of the head is a semicircular +design. The tail has three feathers, the two on the sides being broader +than the one in the middle. These feathers are without markings, but +the end of the body from which they depend is ornamented with stepped +figures surmounted by two horizontal parallel lines and two triangles. +In the background, at each side of the body, there are dotted circles, +suggesting flowers, a feature often accompanying designs representing +butterflies or moths. + +In figure 37 is shown a highly conventionalized dorsal view of a bird, +with sickle-formed wings slightly extended, seven pointed tail feathers +with lateral appendages, and a rectangular head with three semicircular +rain-cloud figures. The globular enlargement at the base of the wings in +one instance is accompanied by a fan-shaped figure. + +[Illustration: FIG. 38.—Conventional figure of a bird.] + +The design shown in figure 38 is regarded as a highly conventionalized +bird symbol, each wing being represented by a curved pendant, to the +extremities of which feathers are attached. The body is rectangular and +decorated with a median horizontal white band continued above and below +into black lateral triangles which possibly may represent feathers, and +flanked triangular white areas on each side. + +In figure 39 the design has been so greatly conventionalized that almost +all resemblance to a bird has been lost. The wings are represented +by simple terraces, the body by a rectangular figure, and the head +terminates in three points. It is possible that the limit of bird +conventionalization has been reached in this variant, and the difficulty +of identification of organs is correspondingly great. + +[Illustration: FIG. 39.—Conventional figure of a bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 40.—Conventional figure of a bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 41.—Conventional figure of a bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 42.—Conventional figure of a bird.] + +The design shown in figure 40 would perhaps more logically fall within +the series of circular figures, identified as sun emblems, elsewhere +considered, except for the extensions representing wings and tail. This +is mentioned as one of the instances where organs of birds are combined +with a circle to represent the Sun god. + +Figure 41 resembles figure 40 in some essential points and may also be +considered in connection with sun emblems. On account of the presence of +feathers it is here included among the bird designs. + +Figure 42 exhibits an exceptional bird form as viewed from the rear.[18] +Wings, body, tail, and possibly the head, are recognized after some study. + + +LATERAL VIEWS OF BIRDS + +Drawings representing side views of birds are usually highly +conventionalized, often taking the forms of simple geometric figures, as +shown in figures 43-45. The simplest representation of a bird viewed from +the side is a triangle, but another, slightly elaborated and a little +more complicated (fig. 43), consists of a triangular body with curved +lines representing a head and beak, extending from one of the angles, +and with two short lines indicating a feathered head crest. The head of +the bird shown in figure 44 resembles a section of a Greek fret, which +in figure 45 has become still further simplified. Figure 46 represents a +bird with triangular body and key-shaped head. Figure 47 shows a similar +design, except that the body is partly rectangular, with breast slightly +concave. The body in figure 48 is simply an outline of a terrace and the +tail is indicated by five parallel lines. + +[Illustration: FIG. 43.—Triangular form of a bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 44.—Triangular form of bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 45.—Simple form of bird with terraced body.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 46.—Lateral view of triangular bird with two tail +feathers.] + +The bird design shown in profile in figure 49 is realistic, all the parts +being clearly recognizable. This figure is one of four, each attached to +a corner of a rectangle. + +Another figure which may be a lateral view of a bird is represented +in figure 50, in which the part, representing the head is curved, the +body square, and two obliquely twisted feathers represent the tail. +This figure exhibits avian features more obscurely than those already +considered, but the head and the tail feathers are quite birdlike. + +[Illustration: FIG. 47.—Lateral view of bird with three tail feathers.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 48.—Problematical bird figure.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 49.—Bird with two tail feathers.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 50.—Highly conventionalized bird figure.] + +In figure 51 is shown a lateral view of a bird, seemingly in flight, +the head and beak of which are birdlike. The wings, feet, head, and +body are not difficult to recognize. Two legs and one wing are shown, +and the well-drawn tail, terminating in white-tipped feathers, suggests +the turkey, which bird is regarded by the modern Hopi as so efficacious +in bringing rain that its feathers are employed in almost all rain +ceremonies. The author has seen a similar drawing on altar and other +ceremonial paraphernalia among the Hopi priests of the present day. The +white tips which characterize the tail feathers of the turkey originated, +according to a Hopi legend, at the time when this bird dragged the end of +its tail in the mud after a flood had subsided. + +[Illustration: FIG. 51.—Lateral view of bird.] + +The bird shown in figure 52 has a curved, elongated beak, a more or less +angular body, two legs, and two small wings. The tail consists of three +feathers[19] with characteristic projections. + +[Illustration: FIG. 52.—Profile of bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 53.—Lateral view of bird with outspread wing.] + +One of the best bird pictures on Sikyatki pottery is shown in figure 53. +The body is somewhat triangular in shape and the wing is spread out, +here shown above the back; the tail is provided with three feathers +placed vertically instead of horizontally, and bent over at their ends +into triangles, evidently owing to the lack of available space. The beak +is characteristically curved; the single eye is provided with a pupil. +The long claws, single on each foot, suggest an eagle, hawk, or other +raptorial bird. The spiral appendage to the under rim of the tail is of +unknown meaning. + +[Illustration: FIG. 54.—Lateral view of bird with twisted tail and wing +feathers.] + +The design shown in figure 54 is one of the most complex bird drawings +found on Sikyatki pottery. The head is triangular, with an eye situated +in the center, and the beak continued into a very large, elaborate +fret. The body is rhomboidal in shape, the upper portion being occupied +by a patterned square. Rising above the body is a conventionalized +wing, while depending from its lowermost angle is a diminutive figure +resembling feathers. The tail consists of two elongate feathers, rounded +at their outer ends and fused at the point of union with the body. + +Having seen how prone the ancient Hopi were to represent birds on their +pottery and the extent to which conventionalization of these figures +prevailed, one finds many designs so closely related to known bird +figures that the tendency is to include with them many the identification +of which is doubtful. Certain simple geometrical forms originally derived +from bird designs were copied by these early potters, presumably without +intending to represent birds, but rather merely as decorative motives. +Two of these problematic designs are shown in figures 55 and 56. + +[Illustration: FIG. 55.—Lateral view of conventionalized bird.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 56.—Lateral view of conventionalized bird.] + + +FEATHER DESIGNS + +A large number of conventional figures representing feathers have been +identified, but there are many others which yet remain to be interpreted, +and the particular genus of birds to which each should be referred is +likewise problematical. There is no doubt, from a study of the uses of +different kinds of feathers in modern Hopi ceremonials, that each form +depicted on pottery represents a feather which played an important rôle +in ancient Hopi rituals. + +Many unquestionable feather designs pictured on Sikyatki pottery are +found depicted on serpents, or are attached to inanimate objects, such as +rainbows, clouds, and lightning. + +It is probable that the majority of feather designs on ancient Hopi +earthenware are included in the following types, to which no doubt other +forms of feather designs will be added later. These types are abundant in +vessels of the Sikyatki epoch. + +[Illustration: FIG. 57.—Feather symbol with black notch.] + +From the above pictures of birds and many others it may be seen that +feather symbols assume a variety of forms in sikyatki pottery decoration. +There are probably more than 50 different designs, each representing +a different kind of feather, and implying for each a distinct use or +ceremonial efficacy, as among the modern Hopi. Our knowledge of ancient +Hopi symbolism is not yet sufficient to enable us to identify all the +different birds to which these various forms of feathers belong, nor do +we know the uses to which all these feathers were put.[20] + +Several wooden slabs and idols on Hopi altars have features drawn upon +them, and many ceremonial sand-pictures contain designs representing +feathers. In rare instances, as in the altar of the Powamû,[21] typical +Sikyatki symbols of feathers are still used, but feather symbols of a +form not found on Sikyatki pottery far outnumber those from that ruin. +The existence of one type of Sikyatki feathers on the figure of Pokema in +kachina altars may point to the derivation of this feather symbol from +Sikyatki, but some of these types are widespread.[22] + +[Illustration: FIG. 58.—Feather symbol with black notch.] + +The forms assumed by feathers on Sikyatki pottery may best be presented +by considering a few examples of the more common types. Figure 57 +represents an unusual type of feather symbol, readily distinguished from +others by the notch at the end, the edge of which is commonly rounded. +There are two subdivisions of this type, one with a dotted shaft (fig. +58), the other plain. This form of feather design is found in most +unexpected associations, occurring on the heads of serpents or attached +to various parts of the body and under the wings of birds. It also hangs +from diametrical bands drawn across the inside of food bowls and from +other objects constituting the decoration of vessels. In a few instances +this type of feather is enlarged and constitutes the essential part of +the design, with other symbols attached. + +This type of feather sometimes forms a part of a bird’s tail, but it does +not occur in the wings, although, as above stated, it occurs under a +wing or on the body or the head of a bird, a localization that leads to +the belief that the device was designed to represent a breast feather, +such as the Hopi now use in their prayers. In ancient Hopi symbolism it +is often attached to circles representing the sun and represents a tail +feather. + +In plate 76, _a_, three feathers are represented with pointed tips and +without interior markings. It is one of the simplest drawings of the type +mentioned. + +This figure illustrates a well-known type of feather symbol. It has many +variations, all clearly differentiated from the form last described, +from which it differs in its elongate form and pointed tip. What may +be regarded as a subtype of this is marked with diagonal bands drawn +either at right angles at one edge or extending across the figure and +terminating at right angles to the opposite edge. Feather symbols of +this type, which have not been identified with any particular bird, are +constantly found in birds’ tails and wings. + +The next design (pl. 76, _b_) is similar in outline, but the three +feathers are painted solid black and are separated by spaces. This +conventional form of feather is common on wings and tails of birds. + +The group of symbols shown in plate 76, _c_, has pointed tips, like the +others described, but part of the shaft is painted, while the other is +plain, the line of demarcation between which is drawn diagonally. This +form occurs on the tails rather than on the wings of birds. + +The tips of the feathers in plate 76, _d_, are connected by a black band +and are divided by short vertical lines. A distinguishing feature of this +symbol is the oblique marking of each feather on the right side, by which +the feathers are narrowed at the base. A solid semicircular figure with +a double notch ornaments the upper edge. The few known examples of this +type of feather symbol are from the tails of unknown birds. + +The next form of feather, shown in _e_, differs from the last in that the +shaft is spotted and the proximal end is cut diagonally in a somewhat +different way.[23] The tips are slit as in the figure last described. + +The width of the feathers shown in _f_ is uniform throughout. The distal +ends are tipped with black; the proximal ends are each ornamented with a +black triangle. Midway of the length of the feathers are four continuous +parallel horizontal lines. + +The two feathers shown in _g_ have in one instance a black and in the +other a white tip separated from the rest of the shaft by an oblique +line. The essential difference between this form of pointed feather and +those previously considered is that the diagonal line marking the tip is +drawn at a greater angle. + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 76 + +VARIOUS FORMS OF CONVENTIONALIZED FEATHERS] + +The six feathers shown in _h_ resemble the last, but the terminal +portions of three are spotted instead of solid black. Like some of the +others described, this form tapers slightly from its distal end to its +base. + +In _i_ the feathers are likewise pointed at their tips, but are of +almost uniform breadth. Each is intersected by a series of triangles and +parallel lines, and suspended from the latter, one in each feather, are +several vertical lines, each with terminal dots. + +The symbol shown in _j_ is not unlike that already illustrated, but it +has in addition to the structure enumerated a lateral hornlike appendage +common in the tails of birds (see pl. 90, _i_, _tf_). + +The form of feather design shown in _k_ is somewhat different from those +already considered. The distal end is broad and pointed; the proximal +narrows almost to a point. The left half of the body of the feather is +black; the remainder, including the point, is plain. The design _l_ has +the same general form as _k_, but its tip is marked in a different manner. + +The double-pointed symbol represented in _m_ was evidently designed as +a feather (possibly two feathers), with parallel sides, and pointed +tips painted black. The symbol _n_ is similar to _d_ in outline, but it +lacks the terminal slit and black bands. There project, however, from +the angles formed by the tips of the feathers three vertical lines, each +with an arrow point at the extremity and two short crosslines, as in one +of the bird designs previously described (fig. 35). The present design +represents wing feathers; the complete bird figure (fig. 35), where they +also occur, represents a thunderbird. + +The three tail feathers shown in _o_ are in no respect peculiar. The +two-pointed appendages seen above are an almost constant feature of the +drawings of birds as seen from the back. The feathers represented in _p_ +are unlike others in their mode of attachment and in the ornamentation at +the base. + +Thus far we have considered a type of feathers with pointed tips (pl. 76, +_a-p_) imparting to the whole tail a serrate appearance. While in the +next figure, _q_, the tail feathers still terminate in points, a black +band connecting their extremities is prolonged at each side, recalling +the tail of certain swallows. + +Feathers are often represented on Sikyatki pottery as elsewhere in the +Southwest by parallel straight lines. The feathers represented in _r_ are +exceptional in that their length varies considerably, the median feather +here being the longest. + +While undoubtedly the series of designs shown in _s_ to _bb_, inclusive, +in each instance representing the feathers in the tail of a bird, are +all highly conventionalized, in one or two instances, as _u_ and _bb_, +the relation to feathers can be recognized only by comparative studies. + +The design illustrated in _cc_, taken from the neck of a vase, represents +several peculiar feathers of a type not yet described but highly +characteristic. Comparison of this with that of _dd_ shows the similarity +of the two and suggests that they pertain to the same kind of bird. The +tails represented in _v_, _aa_, and _bb_ are characteristic; the last +represents tail feathers hanging from the band later described. + +The series of feathers (possibly tail feathers) shown in several figures +have rounded tips, and as a rule are of uniform size and without +ornamentation. In plate 77, _a_, the three feathers composing the tail +are painted black and are slightly separated, while those of _b_ are half +black and half plain, the solid area being separated from the plain by a +diagonal line extending from the proximal to the distal extremity. + +The four feathers in _c_ are separated by slight intervals and lightly +shaded; otherwise they are similar to those in _a_. The two outside +feathers of _d_ are much broader than the middle feather, which is +reduced to a narrow line. In _e_ the three feathers are broader at the +tips, in which respect they differ from _c_. + +In the tail shown in _f_, the feathers are indicated by shallow notches +from which short parallel lines extend inward. They are without +superficial markings. Figure _g_ belongs to the notched type represented +above. + +The four feather symbols shown in the drawing of the bird’s tail +illustrated in _h_ differ from all others in the shape of their distal +ends, which are alternately black and plain, and are without superficial +ornamentation. Evidently this feather design, which is represented on a +single vessel from Sikyatki, is of a distinct type. + +There is some doubt whether _i_ represents a bird’s tail, the head and +body from which the design was taken being more like those of a moth or a +butterfly. The meaning of the design in _j_ is also doubtful. Figure _k_ +represents a single “breath” feather like that shown in figure 57. + +There is a general resemblance between the tail feathers of the bird +designed in _e_ and _l_; the latter represents the tail of a bird, +hanging between two triangles under a star design. + +Figure _m_ represents a bird’s tail with three tail feathers and lateral +extensions, while in _n_, where we also have a figure of the tail of a +bird, each feather is marked by a rectangular pattern. The four pairs of +parallel lines extending from these feathers may be regarded as parts of +these structures. + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 77 + +CONVENTIONALIZED TAIL FEATHERS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 78 + +CONVENTIONALIZED FEATHERS ATTACHED TO STRINGS (NAKWAKWOCI)] + +Figures _o_ to _q_, while suggesting bird and feather designs, are still +more or less problematical. In the same category belong the designs +illustrated in figures _r_ to _u_. There is reason to believe that of +these _o-r_ represent feathers, but a definite identification can not yet +be made of figures _s-u_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 59.—Feathers.] + +Two triangular designs, one above another, are believed to represent +feathers, but are rarely found on ancient Hopi pottery. They appear on +the heads of birds in Acoma, Laguna, and other pottery designs, which are +the nearest modern representatives of ancient Hopi decorations. + +A unique feather symbol from Sikyatki is characterized by a cigar-shaped +body outlined at the distal end, which is plain (fig. 59). + +[Illustration: FIG. 60.—Curved feathers.] + +There often occurs on Sikyatki pottery a combination of feather designs, +generally three, with other symbols. One form of these (fig. 60) has +four curved tail feathers. Other feathers of aberrant shape are shown in +figure 61, _a-e_. + + +FEATHERS SUSPENDED FROM STRINGS + +In their ceremonies the modern Hopi priests use in great numbers a kind +of prayer offering called _nakwakwoci_, consisting of breast feathers +tied in a prescribed way to the ends of strings. The same type of prayer +offerings is one of the most common designs on Sikyatki pottery. Various +modifications of it are shown in the accompanying illustration (fig. 62). + +[Illustration: FIG. 61.—Conventional feathers.] + +This use of the feather string as a decorative device is seemingly +peculiar to prehistoric Hopi pottery, not having been found in the +pictography of the people formerly inhabiting the valleys of San Juan and +Little Colorado Rivers. This restriction in its use indicates its local +origin and application, although descendants of clans from both the San +Juan and the Little Colorado are represented among the Hopi. + +[Illustration: FIG. 62.—Parallel lines representing feathers.] + +In one of the simplest forms of the stringed-feather designs is a +line (pl. 78, _b_, _c_, _d_) sometimes taking the form of an elongate +triangle, terminating in a ball from which spring three or more diverging +or parallel lines. This enlargement on stringed-feather designs may +represent a knot, as will appear from certain variations in the form of +the feathered string to which attention will be given later. + +In some cases (_e_, _l_) two knots appear between the string and the +attached feathers, while in another instance (_f_) one of the knots or +balls is replaced by two triangles. + +Other representations of stringed-feather or _nakwakwoci_ designs show +modifications in each of the three elements mentioned, the line (string), +the enlargement (knot), and the terminal projections (feathers). The +occurrence of crossbars near the dot (_g_, _h_, _i_) vary in number +from one to four, and are always parallel, but usually are placed on +one side of the knot, although in some cases (_i_) they appear on both +sides. In one example (_j_) no ball or knot is provided, the _nakwakwoci_ +consisting merely of the string intersected by pairs of equidistant +crosslines. A special modification of the dot with crosslines is shown in +the figure with the leaflike attachment (_q_). + +One of the most significant of the stringed-feather designs is shown +in _a_, where a feather of the first type is attached to the string +intersected by crosslines. As a terminal element in corresponding designs +is a typical feather symbol, this figure is also identical. The figure of +a string with enlargements and a pair of lines (_g_) probably represents +that form of stringed feather called by the Hopi a _purhu_, “road,” +an offering laid by the Hopi on the trails approaching the pueblo to +indicate that ceremonies are being performed, or on altars to show the +pathway of blessings. + +In another stringed-feather design (_n_) appears a triangular symbol +attached to the enlargement, the string terminating in radiating lines. +The feather sometimes preserves its triangular form (_m_). These +variations in the drawings of stringed feathers and the modifications of +the knot, string, and terminal attachments, are constantly repeated in +Sikyatki pottery decoration. + + +SKY-BAND + +Many food bowls from Sikyatki have a band from which is suspended +the figure of a nondescript animal passing diametrically across it. +Representations of a similar band with like appendage girt the necks of +small pottery objects and are, so far as is known, characteristic of +prehistoric Hopi pottery. + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 79 + +SKY-BANDS] + +Lines identified as sky-bands shown in plate 79 vary from single (_a_) +or double (_b_) to a broad undecorated band (_c_). In its simplest +form the sky-band extends entirely across the inside of the bowl, but +in the more complicated examples it surrounds the vessel parallel with +the rim surrounding the design on the inside of the bowl. Appendages of +several kinds as dots (_d_) or as stars (_f_), made up of oblong figures +in terrace form placed at intervals, are attached to this band. The +sky-band itself varies in width, being broad or narrow, crossed by series +of vertical parallel, zigzag, or other lines arranged at intervals, or +alternating with geometrical figures (_g_, _h_). In a single example +(_i_) the decoration is etched into the burnt clay, although in most +instances the decorations are painted. + +Various explanations of the meaning of this band have been suggested, +it being regarded by some of the priests as the Milky Way, by others as +the path of the sun through the sky, but so far as known this ancient +design is rare on modern Hopi ware.[24] According to Harrington the Tewa +recognize a “backbone” of the sky. + +In several Hopi legends there are allusions to a monster bird that +had been killed and hung in the sky by a cultus hero; and the general +character of this decorative band in Sikyatki pottery decoration renders +it probable that it was intended to represent some supernatural being, as +the Sky god. + +The chief interest of the Sikyatki sky-band lies in the figure or +figures attached to it, or suspended from it, and regarded as the +conventionalized representation of a bird. Sometimes the creature is +placed longitudinally, sometimes vertically. In some instances it is +elaborately drawn, in others it is a simple geometric figure bearing so +little resemblance to a life form as to make it one of the most highly +conventionalized of all ancient Hopi designs. + +Like other bird designs, these suspended figures may be considered +under two heads: (1) Those attached to the band in such a way as to be +seen from above (the dorsal side) or from below (the ventral side); and +(2) those suspended lengthwise of the band, showing one side in which +the tail and other parts are twisted into a plane at right angles. The +structure and relations of the hanging figure can best be seen by holding +the bowl in such manner that the sky-band is horizontal, bringing the +body of the suspended animal into the lower semicircle. + + +VERTICAL ATTACHMENT TO SKY-BAND + +Several Sikyatki pottery designs showing the sky-band with the bird +figure hanging vertically from it are shown in the accompanying +illustrations. In order that the modifications in form may be readily +followed, those parts of the bird figures regarded as homologous are +indicated by the same letters. + +The design in figure 63 represents one of the simplest forms of bird +symbols. A hornlike appendage is attached to the sky-band, on each side +of an elongate vertical body from which depends a number of parallel +lines representing tail feathers. The identification of this design +as that of a bird is based on comparative studies of designs less +conventional in character, to which attention has been and will later be +called. + +[Illustration: FIG. 63.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 64.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 65.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 66.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +A modification of the pendent body on the sky-band[25] appears to have +introduced the new element shown in figure 64 in which the body is drawn. +Although considerable variation exists in the form of the other parts, +a morphological identity exists in all these figures. In figure 65, in +which the feathers differ somewhat from those of the last design, the +parallel lines representing the bird’s tail are really seen. The design +shown in figure 66 is still more elaborate than the last, especially in +the anterior semicircle,[26] opposite that in which the tail feathers are +depicted. + +[Illustration: FIG. 67.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 68.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +The portion of the design situated in the anterior semicircle of figure +67 has no resemblance to a bird’s head, being destitute of eyes or beak. +The backward extending appendages on each side of the tail and the tail +itself has a projection on each side. + +In figure 68 the whole anterior part of the design above the sky-band +is colored, the head appearing as a still darker semicircle. The tail +feathers are here reduced to simple parallel lines. The general form of +figure 69 is birdlike, but its affinity to the bird figures, pendent +from a sky-band, is closer than to any others. The homologous parts—tail +feathers, lateral body extensions, sky-band, and head—may be readily +recognized; the last mentioned is an ornamented rectangle. The whole +anterior hemisphere of this design is occupied by representations +of feathers arranged in two clusters, while in the surrounding area +their triple lines are crossed similarly to that occurring in other +hanging bird figures. It is but a step from this figure to the group of +unattached bird designs already considered. + +[Illustration: FIG. 69.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 70.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +The wings of figure 70 are outspread and the head consists of two +terraced bodies conventionally placed. The body and the tail of this +figure are not exceptional, but dragon flies are also represented. + +Figure 71 presents a conventionalized bird seen in profile, and a broad +sky-band to which are attached representations of feathers and other +organs suggesting a bird. + +An animal depicted in figure 72 is one of three similar figures from the +neck of the same vase, which are connected by a line or band. The design +shown in figure 73 represents a highly conventionalized bird hanging from +the sky-band with head and wings on one side and tail feathers below. + + +BIRDS ATTACHED LONGITUDINALLY TO SKY-BAND + +The designs shown in figure 74 represent the simplest forms of birds +attached lengthwise to the sky-band. The parallel lines on the left hand +of the observer are supposed to represent tail feathers and the curve on +the right, the heads, or possibly the wings. + +[Illustration: FIG. 71.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 72.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +One of the best designs representing a bird attached to a sky-band is +shown in figure 75, taken from a bowl in the Wattron collection now owned +by the Field Columbian Museum, of Chicago. The interior surface of this +bowl is considerably worn by use, and the figure a little indistinct, +but the extremities of a band appear. There is a fairly realistic +figure on each side of a bird with head and wings above and tail below +a diametrical band. There are zigzag markings, supposed to represent +lightning, on the under side of the wing. The tail is spread out amply +enough to show the different feathers which compose it; and at the bases +or on its under side corresponding in position with like symbols on the +wing there appear two zigzag figures. The significance of two curved +bodies hanging from the sky-band, one on each side of the tail of this +figure, can not be satisfactorily interpreted, but the bird design shown +in figure 76 has four tail feathers, a prolongation on the opposite side +representing a head, and a curved extension comparable with a wing in +other figures. The so-called wing terminates in a triangular feather. + +[Illustration: FIG. 73.—Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band; +top view.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 74.—Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band.] + +The two designs, figures 76 and 77, have parts which evidently +correspond, the latter being one of the most beautiful in the collection. +Both represent from the side an unknown bird hanging from a band +extending across the middle of the bowls. Although the details of organs +are more carefully depicted in the latter, there can hardly be a doubt +that similar animals were intended in both designs. + +It requires some imagination to discover a conventionalized bird in +figure 78, but we may regard it as such. We have in this figure a good +example of a change in outline that may be produced by duplication or by +representing both sides of the body or its organs and appendages in the +same place. Three tail feathers are here apparent; the body is square, +with zigzag white lines, and the head, here twisted into a vertical +position, has a triangular form. The two crescentic appendages, one on +the right side, the other on the left, represent halves of wings which +are theoretically supposed to have been slit longitudinally and folded +backward[27] in order that both sides may be shown on the same plane; the +two bodies arising from the concave edges of these crescents—one to the +left, the other to the right of the square body—represent legs. Their +unusual form is brought about by a twisting of body and tail, by which +feathers of the latter are brought to longitudinal position, and one of +the legs is twisted to the right side and the other to the left. If the +two appendages supposed to represent the legs or the two parts shaped +like crescentlike knives were brought together, the two crescents would +likewise merge into one, and we would then have a highly conventionalized +bird with three tail feathers and a triangular head, the body being +represented by a square design crossed diagonally by zigzag figures each +in its own rectangular inclosed field. + +[Illustration: FIG. 75.—Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 76.—Lateral view of bird with extended wing.] + + +DECORATIONS ON EXTERIORS OF FOOD BOWLS + +The exterior surface of almost every bowl from Sikyatki is decorated +with lines or geometrical designs. Many of these designs may represent +animals, probably birds highly conventionalized or so aberrant that +the avian form can be recognized only by comparative or morphological +studies. They are confined to one side of the bowl; there appears to +be little resemblance and no connection between them and the figure +depicted on the inside of the same bowls. Although linear in form, one +end is sometimes so crooked or bent at an angle, not curved, as to form a +head, while the other bears parallel lines, representations of the tail +feathers, terraces, or triangles. + +[Illustration: FIG. 77.—Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 78.—Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band.] + +In plate 80, _a_, we have a characteristic example of one of these +exterior decorations. The crooked end is supposed to represent a bird’s +head; to the other end, or tail, are appended six feathers like those +already considered. A row of five stars is strung along the band. A +likeness to a bird is very obscure in _b_, while _c_ shows several simple +triangles with stepped figures in the middle and triangles at the ends. +Design _d_ has a square form and two triangles appended to each opposite +angle. The appendages on the remaining opposite angles have four parallel +lines. Design _e_ consists of two highly conventionalized bird symbols, +united to a third which forms the interior design. + +The design _f_ recalls the sky-band described in the preceding pages. The +extremities of this so-called band are enlarged into round spots from +which arise parallel lines and triangular designs. From it hang terraced +and crooked figures, while strung along one side at equal intervals are +five stars, a common accompaniment of sky symbols. The bird symbol comes +out clearly in _g_, where the crook design with terraces is repeated. + +All crooked figures have a similarity in general form, some more +closely resembling birds than others, and it is taken for granted that +the intention of the artist was to represent a bird in plate 81, _a_, +notwithstanding the avian form is highly conventionalized. Design _b_ +is composite, consisting of a rectangular figure, to the angles of +which are attached feathers. Terraced and triangular figures of unknown +significance, stars, and other designs cover the rectangle. Design _c_ is +made up of a triangle with notched borders and a central rectangle with +a dot characterizes this design; it has also two triangular extensions +that may represent feathers. Design _d_ resembles previous figures +identified as feathers and terraces hanging from a sky-band. + +The most prominent part of the design _e_ is a crook and parallel lines. +In _f_ are variously combined triangles with appended feathers, crooks, +and terraced designs, so united as to make up a compound decoration of +geometric character. + +The geometrical designs in the series, plate 82, _a-f_, may be +interpreted as representing birds in flight or with extended wings. +Considered in this way, it appears that we have in the figure on each +side a highly conventionalized wing forming triangles with extensions at +one angle, ending in terraces, crooks, or other designs. In these figures +we constantly have a line that may be likened to the sky-band, each end +generally terminating in a dot to which parallel lines are attached. + +Design _a_ has two triangular bodies resembling the letter W, and the +line terminating in two dots has two crossbars, while in _b_ there is +a union of designs. Elongated triangles terminate in lines which are +enlarged into dots. These triangles are modified on one side into crooks +with smaller triangles. + +From remote resemblances rather than similarity of form, _c_ is placed +near the preceding. Here a band is enlarged at the end representing the +knots with attached parallel lines or feathers. The triangular pendants +of _b_ and the line with terminal dots of _a_ are here represented. On +the middle vertical of this figure is a trapezoidal design with notched +edges. + +The elements of _d_ form a compound in which triangles predominate. Two +W-shaped designs, _e_ and _f_, have a form quite unlike _a_, _b_, _c_, +and _d_. Of these, _f_ is the more complicated, but the similarity of the +two is apparent. + +Plate 83, _a_, represents two triangles with serrate margins hanging to a +horizontal band, one end of which terminates in dots and lines, the other +with two parallel notched feathers. + +Plate 84, _a-c_, have the W shape shown in plate 82, _e_, _f_; the +approach to the conventional bird form with extended wings and tail being +most marked in _a_. Design _d_ on plate 84 recalls plate 83, _f_, with +modifications that are apparent. + +The above-mentioned geometrical figures from the exteriors of Sikyatki +food bowls show considerable variety of form but all can be reduced to +a few elemental designs throughout in which the curved line is absent. +The rectangular design is always dominant, but it will be seen from the +following plate that it is not omnipresent, especially on the interiors +of bowls. + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 80 + +GEOMETRICAL FIGURES ON OUTSIDE OF BOWLS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 81 + +GEOMETRICAL FIGURES ON OUTSIDE OF BOWLS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 82 + +GEOMETRICAL FIGURES ON OUTSIDE OF BOWLS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 83 + +GEOMETRICAL FIGURES ON OUTSIDE OF BOWLS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 84 + +GEOMETRICAL FIGURES ON OUTSIDE OF BOWLS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 85 + +CONVENTIONALIZED BIRD DESIGNS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 86 + +CONVENTIONALIZED BIRD DESIGNS] + + +CURVED FIGURE WITH ATTACHED FEATHERS + +The curved spiral figures shown in plates 85 and 86 are combinations +of simple and complicated designs, among the most conspicuous of which +are feathers. When these figures are placed in the same position it is +possible to recognize three or four components which are designated (a) +spiral, (b) appendage to the tip of the spiral, (c) a bundle of feathers +recalling a bird’s tail, and (d) and (e) other parts of unknown homology +occasionally represented. In plate 85, _A_ the appendage _b_ to the +spiral _a_ is two triangles and two supplemental spirals arising from +their attachments. There is no representation of _c_, _d_, or _e_ in this +figure. + +In _B_ of the same plate the elements _a_, _b_, _c_, and _d_ are +represented. The appendage _b_ attached to the tip of the spiral _a_ has +the form of a feather of the first type (see pl. 76), and four parallel +lines, _c_, indicating feathers, are attached to the body. The two +toothlike appendages _e_, of unknown significance, complete the figure. +In plate 85, _C_, the design _a_ has two dots _b_ on the distal tip, from +one of which arises a number of lines. The fact that _b_ in figure _B_ is +a feather leads to the belief that _b_ in figure _C_ is the same design. + +Plate 85, _D_ and _E_, have a resemblance in form, _a_ and _c_ being +represented in both; _b_ and _e_ are wanting in _E_. The different +elements in these designs can be readily seen by comparing the same +lettering in _F_ and _G_, and in plate 86, _A_ and _B_, where a new +element, _t_, is introduced. + +Plate 86, _B_ and _E_, are highly conventionalized designs; they suggest +bird form, examples of which have been already considered elsewhere, but +are very much modified. + +There can be no doubt that it was intended to represent birds or parts of +birds as feathers in many of the above figures, but the perspective is so +distorted that their morphology or relative position on the bird to which +they belong can not be made out. In plate 86, _A_, for instance, the +bird’s body seems to be split in two parts and laid on a flat plane. The +pendent body, _t_, in the middle would be a representation of a bird’s +tail composed of three feathers and with a double triangle terminating in +dots from which arise lines of would-be feathers. + +Two of the parts, _a_ and _t_, that occur in the last mentioned, are +found in plate 86, _B_, in somewhat modified form. Thus the position of +the tail feathers, _t_, figure _C_, is taken by feathers of a different +form, their extremities being cut off flat and not curved. The bundles +of feathers in _B_ and _C_ are here reversed, the left side of _B_ +corresponding to the right of _C_, and the appendage on the left of the +tail of _B_ being represented by the appendage on the right of _C_. +There are other remote likenesses between them. + + +SPIDER AND INSECTS + +Other flying animals, like bats and insects, are depicted on Sikyatki +pottery, but not as constantly as birds. The spider, and insects like the +dragon fly, moth, and butterfly, are the most common. In Hopi mythology +the spider[28] and the sun are associated, the former being the symbol of +an earth goddess. Although no design that can be referred to the spider +has yet been found on Sikyatki pottery, it is not wanting from Hopi (pl. +87, _c_). + +The symbol of the dragon fly, which occurs on several bowls from ancient +Hopi ruins, is a line often enlarged at one end to form a head, and +always with two crossbars near this enlargement to indicate wings. As +this insect lives near springs and is constantly associated in modern +symbolism with water it is probable that its occurrence on ancient Hopi +pottery has practically the same significance as in modern conceptions. + + +BUTTERFLY AND MOTH + +Five typical figures that may be referred to the butterfly or moth occur +on Sikyatki pottery. These figures have in common a triangular body which +suggests a highly conventionalized picture of a bird. Their wings are, as +a rule, extended horizontally, assuming the attitude of moths while at +rest, there being only one of the five examples where wings are folded +above the back, the normal position of these organs in a butterfly. With +one exception, all these conventional butterfly figures bear two curved +rows of dots on the head, probably intended to represent antennæ. + +[Illustration: FIG. 79.—Butterfly and flower.] + +The figure of a moth in figure 79 has a body of triangular form, and the +extremities of the wings are shown on each side of a medially placed +backward-extending projection, which is the posterior end of the +abdomen. These wings bear white dots on their posterior edges suggesting +the markings on certain genera of butterflies.[29] There arises from the +head, which here is circular, a single jointed appendage curved at the +end, possibly the antenna, and an unjointed appendage, like a proboscis, +inserted into a figure of a flower, mounted on a stalk that terminates +at the other extremity in five parallel extensions or roots. A row of +dots about the periphery of the flower suggests petals. The figures are +accompanied by crosses representing stars. + +The second moth design (fig. 80) has even a closer resemblance to a bird +than the last, for it also has a single antenna or row of dots connected +by a curved line. It likewise has several curved lines resembling a crest +of feathers on top of the head, and lines recalling the tail of a bird. +The head this figure bears is a cross suggesting a female butterfly or +moth.[30] + +[Illustration: FIG. 80.—Butterfly with extended proboscis.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 81.—Highly conventionalized butterfly.] + +The body in figure 81 is crossed by five lines converging at one angle, +imparting to it the appearance of having been formed by a union of +several spherical triangles on each of which appear rectangular spaces +painted black. A head is not differentiated from the body, but at the +point of union of the five lines above mentioned there arise two rows of +dots which have the form of circles, each inclosing a dot. From analogy +these are supposed to represent antennæ. The middle of wing-shaped +extensions recalling butterfly designs are marked by circular figures +in figure 82, but the absence in this figure of a head with jointed +appendages renders it doubtful whether it represents an insect. The shape +of the body and its appendages resembling feathers indicate, so far as +they go, that this design represents some bird. + +It will be noted that in one of the above-mentioned figures, identified +as a moth, flowers are indicated by dotted circles, while in another +similar circle, figures, also surrounded with dots, are represented on +the wings. One pair of wings is represented in the last-mentioned figure, +but a second pair placed behind the larger may have been confounded with +the tail feathers. In one of these figures from Sikyatki there is a row +of dots around the margin of the wings—a common but not universal feature +in modern pictures of butterfly figures. None of the butterfly figures +have representations of legs, which is not strange considering how +inconspicuous these appendages are among these insects. + +[Illustration: FIG. 82.—Moth.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 83.—Moth.] + +A most striking figure of a butterfly is represented by six drawings +on the so-called “butterfly vase” (fig. 83). These, like the +above-mentioned, resemble birds, but they all have antennæ, which +identify them as insects. These six figures (pl. 90) are supposed to +be connected with the six cardinal points which in modern Hopi belief +have sex—the butterfly corresponding to the north, male; to the west, +female; to the south, male; to the east, female; to the above, male; and +to the below, female. The wings of all these insects are represented as +extended, the anterior pair extending far beyond the posterior, while +both have a uniform color and are without marginal dots. The appendages +to the head are two curved rows of dots representing antennæ, and two +parallel lines are the mouth parts or possibly the proboscis. The +markings on the bodies and the terminal parallel lines are like tail +feathers of birds. The heads of three figures, instead of having diagonal +lines, are covered with a crosshatching, _b_, _b_, _b_, and are supposed +to represent the males, as the former, _a_, _a_, _a_, are females.[31] + +[Illustration: FIG. 84.—Moth of geometrical form.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 85.—Geometrical form of moth.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 86.—Highly conventionalized butterfly.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 87.—Geometrical form of moth.] + +A moth with a conventionalized geometric form is represented in +figure 84 with outstretched wings, a rounded abdomen, and a spotted +rectangular body recalling designs on the upper embroidered margin of +modern ceremonial blankets. A like figure has been elsewhere described +by the author as a butterfly.[32] It occurs on the stone slab which +once formed one side of an Awatobi altar.[33] We have more complicated +forms of butterflies represented in figures 85-87, the identification +of which is even more doubtful than the last. Figure 86 reproduces in +its several parts figure 85, being composed of a central design, around +which are arranged six triangles, one of the last being placed above, +another below, the main figure, and there are two on each side. The +design, figure 88, is circular, the alternately colored quadrants forming +two hourglass combinations. The double triangle, shown in figure 84, +resembles a butterfly symbol, having a close likeness to a figure of this +insect found on the Awatobi tablet above mentioned. This figure also +resembles triangular designs painted on the walls of modern Hopi rooms +and in cliff-dwellings (Cliff Palace). These figures present very remote +likenesses to butterfly symbols and their identification as such is +difficult. + + +GEOMETRICAL DESIGNS + +[Illustration: FIG. 88.—Circle with triangles.] + +The geometrical designs on the pottery from Sikyatki consist of two +well-recognized groups: (1) Purely ornamental or nonsymbolic geometrical +figures, and (2) highly conventional life forms. Some of the figures of +the second group may be geometrical representations of birds or other +animals; but the former are simply embellishments used to beautify the +objects on which they are painted. Purely decorative designs, not being +symbolic, will not be specially considered, as they do not come within +the scope of the present treatise. An interpretation of the significance +of many of the second group of geometrical designs is not possible, +although they probably represent animal forms. + +The strictly geometrical figures so frequently found on pottery from +Sikyatki recall the linear decorations almost universal in ancient +southwestern ware. + +No one who has carefully compared specimens of decorated pottery from +Sikyatki with examples from any other southwestern region could fail to +be impressed with the differences in some of the geometrical designs from +the two localities. Such designs on the Sikyatki ware are almost always +rectangular, rarely curved. As compared with pottery from cliff-dwellings +there is a paucity or entire absence of terraced designs in the ancient +Hopi ware, while zigzags representing lightning are comparatively rare. +The characteristic geometrical decorations on Sikyatki pottery are found +on the outside of the food bowls, in which respect they are notably +different from those of other ceramic areas. Designs on Sikyatki pottery +show few survivals of preexisting materials or evolution from transfer of +those on textiles of any kind. Such as do exist are so masked that they +shed little light on current theories of art evolution. + +The designs on ancient Hopi pottery are in the main mythological, hence +their true interpretation involves a knowledge of the religious ideas +and especially of such psychological elements as sympathetic magic, so +prevalent among the Hopi of to-day. The idea that by the use of symbols +man could influence supernatural beings was no doubt latent in the +mind of the potter and explains the character of the symbols in many +instances. The fact that the bowls on which these designs are painted +were found with the dead, and contained food for the departed, implies a +cult of the dead, or at least a belief in a future life. + + +RAIN CLOUDS + +The most constant geometric designs on Pueblo pottery are those +representing the rain cloud, and from analogy we would expect to find the +rain-cloud figures conspicuously on ancient Hopi pottery. We look in vain +on Sikyatki ware for the familiar semicircular symbols of rain clouds so +constant among the modern Hopi; nor do we find the rectangular terraced +form which is equally common. These modifications were probably lately +introduced into Hopiland by those colonists of alien clans who came after +the destruction of Sikyatki, and consequently are not to be expected on +its pottery. Their place was taken by other characteristic forms closely +allied to rectangular terraced figures from which hang parallel lines, +representing falling rain in modern symbolism.[34] The typical Sikyatki +rain-cloud symbol is terraced without rain symbols and finds its nearest +relative on pottery derived from the eastern pueblo region. The form of +rain-cloud symbol on Sikyatki pottery may be regarded as characteristic +of the Kokop clan which, according to legends, settled this ancient +pueblo. Modified variants of this form of rain-cloud symbol occur on +almost every specimen in the Sikyatki collection, and can be seen hanging +from “sky-bands” with appended star signs or without such connections. + +[Illustration: FIG. 89.—Rain cloud.] + +The most common Sikyatki symbol of a rain cloud is shown in figure 89 and +plate 90, _f_, _g_. These rain-cloud designs rarely occur singly, being +more often six in number, as if intended to represent the six cardinal +points recognized in Hopi ceremonies. We find the Sikyatki rain-cloud +symbols resembling somewhat those of the modern Zuñi, or figures of +clouds found on the characteristic designs on Little Colorado ceramics. +Somewhat similar angular terraced forms are almost universally used in +eastern pueblos as rain-cloud symbols, but the semicircular forms (fig. +90) of modern Hopi ceremonials, being apparently a highly specialized +modification, rarely occur on Sikyatki pottery. + + +STARS + +The star sign occurs as an equal armed cross formed by the approximation +of four squares, leaving a central uncolored area. It is generally +accompanied by a rain-cloud symbol or bird figures, although likewise +found without them. We often find one arm of the component arms of +the cross missing and two of the remaining arms adherent to a band; +often these crosses have a circular enlargement at the junction of +their arms. A simple equal armed cross is the sole decoration on the +interior of numerous food bowls, and there are several examples of St. +Andrew’s crosses, the triangular arms of which have been interpreted as +representing four conventionalized birds; no example of a cross with +unequal arms has yet been found on Sikyatki pottery. + +[Illustration: FIG. 90.—Rain cloud.] + +These crosses, like that with four arms representing the Sky god in +modern Hopi symbolism, probably represent the Heart of the Sky. A similar +cross is figured on paraphernalia used in modern Hopi rites or on altar +slabs; when it is represented by a wooden frame, it is called _tokpela_, +and hangs before the altar. The same object is sometimes attached +horizontally to the top of the helmet of the personification of the +Sky god.[35] The swastika is rare in ancient pottery and was not found +at Sikyatki, although a single example was dug up at Awatobi and a few +others were obtained from the Little Colorado ruins. + +A multiple cross, formed of three parallel lines crossing three others +at an angle, generally accompanies certain conventionalized figures of +birds and in one example there are two multiple crosses, one on one side +and one on another of a moth or butterfly symbol. The multiple cross is +supposed to represent six canes used in a game, and on a prehistoric +decorated bowl from ancient Shongopovi,[36] we find what appears to be a +highly conventionalized bird figure occupying one-half of the interior +of the bowl, while four figures representing these canes appear on the +other. The bird figure, in this instance, is interpreted as a gambler’s +god, or a representation of the god of chance. + + +SUN EMBLEMS + +The most conventionalized sun emblem is a circle or ring with attached +feathers. The Sikyatki design (pl. 87, _b_) is a circle bearing on its +periphery appendages believed to represent feathers, with accompanying +lines, generally painted red, to represent the rays of the sun.[37] + +[Illustration: FIG. 91.—Ring with appended feathers.] + +The identification of the bird whose feathers are used in sun emblems has +not yet been made, although the position of similar feathers on the body +of other bird designs suggests that they represent eagle feathers. The +feather of the eagle is commonly associated with both ancient and modern +pictures representing the sun. Thus we have on a vessel from Sikyatki in +figure 91 a design bearing four feathers arranged at intervals a quadrant +apart alternating with radiating lines. If we interpret this figure in +the light of modern symbolism the circle would be regarded as the sun +and the feathers would be identified as eagle feathers, while the lines +might be considered to represent the red rays of the four cardinal points. + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 87 + +BIRD, SUN, AND SPIDER AND SUN SYMBOLS] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 88 + +CONVENTIONALIZED BIRD FIGURES] + +In a bowl found at old Shongopovi, a ruin inhabited at the same epoch as +Sikyatki, the sun takes the form of a sky bird. In this design the ring +figure is replaced by a bird with wings, tail, and a beak, evidently the +sun bird, hawk, or eagle (pl. 88, _a_). + +[Illustration: FIG. 92.—Two circles with figure.] + +A theoretical interpretation of plate 88, _b_, is facilitated by a +comparison of it with the design painted on a bowl from the Wattron +collection, now in the Field Columbian Museum. As this has all the parts +represented in figure 75, the conclusion would naturally be that the +intention of the artist was to represent a bird figure. + +Ring or circle shaped figures are found on several bowls from Sikyatki, +and in one case (fig. 92) we find two circles side by side separated by +a rectangular figure. The meaning of these rings and the accompanying +design is not known. Concentric circles diametrically accompanied with +two figures, one with a head and two lateral feathers, the other with the +form of a hash-knife figure, are shown in figure 93. + +In figure 94 the appendages of the ring design or sun emblem is much more +complicated than any of the preceding. Each of the four quadrants has +two appendages, a cluster with two feathers, and a curved body with a +sickle-shaped extension, the whole giving a swastika-like appearance to +the design. The interior of the circle is likewise complicated, showing a +structure difficult to interpret. From comparisons with preceding figures +this is likewise regarded as a sun emblem.[38] + +[Illustration: FIG. 93.—Sun with feathers.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 94.—Sun symbol.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 95.—Ring with appended feathers.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 96.—Ring figure with legs and appended feathers.] + +The ring or circle shown in figure 95 hangs from a band that may be +likened to the sky-band of previous description.[39] A triangle[40] is +attached to the upper side of this band, while appended to the ring +itself there is a featherlike object corresponding to a bird’s tail and +wing. This figure is unique in the Sikyatki collection of ancient Hopi +pictography. + +In figure 96 we find a leg appended to the lower side of the ring +balanced by three wing feathers above or on the opposite side, two +curved or crescentic extensions projecting from the rear, diametrically +opposite which arises a curved body (head) with terminating sickle-shaped +prolongation. This figure may be considered a bird design, having the +tail twisted from a lateral to a vertical position and the wing raised +from the body. + +[Illustration: FIG. 97.—Sun emblem with appended feathers.] + +In figure 97 we find a similar ring still further modified, the +appendages to it being somewhat different. The ring is here broader than +the last, inclosing an area crossed by two lines forming a cross, with +short parallel lines at the ends of each arm. There is a head showing a +circular face with dots indicating eyes and mouth. The head bears a crest +of feathers between two horns. Here we have in place of the appendage +to the lower side an elongated curved projection extending to the left, +balanced by a short, stumpy, curved appendage on the right, while +between these appendages hang four parallel lines suggesting the highly +conventional feathers of a tail. The horns with the crest of feathers +between them recall the crest of the Sun god, of the Kachina clan, +called Tunwup, a Sky god who flogs the children of modern Walpi. + +[Illustration: FIG. 98.—Sun symbol.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 99.—Sun symbol.] + +The ring design in figure 98 has a bunch of three feathers in each +quadrant, recalling the feathers of a sun emblem so well shown with other +kinds of feathers in plate 76, _b_. + +In figure 99 we have a circle with four appended bifurcated geometrical +extensions projecting outward on the periphery, and recalling featherless +tails of birds. This is also a highly conventionalized sun emblem reduced +to a geometrical figure. + +In connection with all these circular figures may be considered that +shown in figure 92, the form of which is highly suggestive. In the +various modifications above mentioned we detect two elements, the ring +and its peripheral appendages, interpreted as feathers, head, feet, +and other bird organs. Sometimes the ring predominates, sometimes the +feathers, and sometimes a bird figure replaces all, the ring being lost +or reduced in size. This variation is primitive and quite consistent with +the Pueblo conceptions and analogies known to occur in Hopi ceremonial +paraphernalia. This variation illustrates what is elsewhere said about +the influence of the magic power on the pictorial art of Hopi.[41] + +The sun, to the Hopi mind, is likewise represented by a bird, or a +compound of both becomes a Sky-god emblem; the horned serpent is the +servant of the Sky god. + +We find among the modern Hopi several disks with markings and decorations +of such a character that they are identified as representations of the +sun. One of these is worn by the leader of the kachinas in a ceremony +called the Powamû, an elaborate rite, the purpose of which is to purify +from evil influences. This Sun god[42] is called Ahül, and the symbolism +of his mask, especially feathers attached to the head, suggests some of +the Sikyatki designs considered above. + + +RECTANGULAR FIGURES REPRESENTING SHRINES + +The word _pahoki_, prayer-stick house or “shrine,” is applied by the +modern Hopi to the receptacle, commonly a ring of stones, in which +prayer offerings are deposited, and receives its name from the special +supernatural personage worshiped. These shrines are regarded as sacred by +the Hopi and are particularly numerous in the neighborhood of the Hopi +mesas.[43] They are ordinarily simply rude inclosures made of stones or +flat stone slabs set on edge, forming boxes, which may either be closed +or open on one side. The simplest pictographic representation of such +a shrine is the same as that of a house, or a circular or rectangular +figure. A similar design is drawn in meal on the floor of the kiva or +traced with the same material on the open plaza when the priest wishes to +represent a house or shrine. Elaborate pictures made of different colored +sands to represent gods are often inclosed by encircling lines, the whole +called a house of the gods. Thus the sand picture on the Antelope altar +of the Snake dance is called the house of the rain-cloud beings.[44] +When reptiles are washed on the ninth day of the Snake dance they are +said to be thrown into the house, a sand picture of the mountain lion. +It is customary to make in some ceremonies not only a picture of the god +worshiped, but also a representation of his or her house. The custom of +adding a picture of a shrine to that of the supernatural can be seen +by examining a series of pictures of Hopi kachinas. Here the shrine is +a rain-cloud symbol introduced to show that the house of the kachina +represented is a rain cloud. + +Sikyatki bowls decorated with figures identified as supernaturals often +bear accompanying designs which may, from comparative reasoning, be +interpreted as shrines of the supernatural being depicted. They have at +times a form not unlike that of certain sand pictures, as in the case of +the curved figure accompanying a highly conventionalized plumed serpent. +A great variety of figures of this kind are found on Sikyatki bowls,[45] +and often instead of being a rectangular figure they may be elongated +more like a prayer offering. + +The rectangular figure that accompanies a representation of a great +horned serpent (fig. 100) may be interpreted as the shrine house of +that monster, and it is to be mentioned that this shrine appears to +be surrounded by radial lines representing curved sticks like those +set around sand pictures of the Snake and Antelope altars of the Snake +ceremonies at Walpi.[46] + +It is suggested that the figure below the mountain sheep (see fig. 18) +and the circles with dots accompanying the butterfly and bird designs may +also represent shrines. Attention is also called to the fact that each +of the six animal figures of the elaborate butterfly vase (pl. 90, _c_) +is accompanied by a rectangular design representing a shrine in which +feathers are visible. + +[Illustration: FIG. 100.—Horned snake with conventionalized shrine.] + +The general forms of these shrines, are shown in figures 101 and 102. The +one shown in figure 103 is especially instructive from its association +with a highly conventionalized animal. + +[Illustration: FIG. 101.—Shrine.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 102.—Shrine.] + +The Sikyatki epoch of Hopi ceramics is more closely allied to early +Keresan[47] than to ancient Tanoan, and has many likenesses to modern +Keresan pottery. In fact, none of the distinctive figures have yet been +found on true Tanoan ware in any great numbers. There appear also no +evidences of increments peculiar to the Little Colorado culture center +of which Zuñi is the modern survival; consequently we look in vain for +evidence of early communication between these two centers; possibly +Sikyatki fell before Zuñi attained any prominence in the Little Colorado +area.[48] + + +SYMBOLS INTRODUCED FROM SAN JUAN RIVER SETTLEMENTS + +Although the majority of Hopi priests declare that the earliest clan +to settle Walpi was the Bear, coming from the east, by far the largest +number of early colonists are said to belong to the Snake people which +came from Tokonabi and other great settlements on tributaries of the San +Juan in northern Arizona. The route of their migration is fairly well +known from legendary sources supported in late years by some limited +excavations that have been made in ruins along its course, so that we +know something of the character of the Snake pottery and the symbols, +which these early colonists brought to the Bear settlement at the base of +the East Mesa. These are not unlike those found along the San Juan and +its tributaries from the Mesa Verde to Wukoki near the Black Falls on the +Little Colorado, west of the Hopi Mesa. + +[Illustration: FIG. 103.—Conventionalized winged bird with shrine.] + +This ware is commonly either black and white, or red, and can be readily +distinguished from that of Sikyatki by the wealth of geometrical +decorations and the poverty of such animal figures as birds, reptiles, +and insects. The designs of that early epoch appear to be uniform and +hardly distinctive from those that occur in all parts of the Southwest. + +We may judge of the character of the symbols and designs on pottery from +the San Juan and from the ruins of Wukoki on the Black Falls of Little +Colorado. It is characterized by an abundance of geometric figures and +an almost total absence of life forms or painted figures of men and +animals. The pottery is thin, well made, and sometimes colored red, but +the majority of specimens are gray or black-and-white ware not especially +different from a widespread type occurring pretty generally throughout +the Southwest. Coiled and incised ware is more abundant than smooth +painted, but these are not as varied in form as later examples. There is +no evidence available that there was any very great difference between +the Hopi pottery decorations of the first epoch and that of contemporary +time in the Southwest. When the Snake clans arrived at Walpi they found +the village of Bear people living on the terrace at the base of the East +Mesa, possessed of a symbolism like that of Sikyatki. The combined clans, +Bear and Snake, were later joined by the Horn and Flute, and it is not +unlikely that some of the likenesses between the pottery symbols of the +settlement on the terrace below Walpi and Sikyatki may have developed +about this time.[49] + +The designs on the ceramics of the Snake clans are best illustrated +by the prehistoric pottery from ruins and cliff-dwellings in Utah and +along the San Juan area, where geometrical patterns far outnumber those +representing life forms. This does not deny that many of the pieces of +pottery from this region are finely made, equal in technique perhaps to +some of the Sikyatki, but the geometric designs on San Juan pottery and +that from Sikyatki are radically different. This difference conforms with +tradition that the Snake clans left their homes at Tokonabi, in the San +Juan region, and came to Hopi after the foundation of Sikyatki, which had +probably developed its beautiful ceramic art before Walpi was settled. +There is no evidence that the potters of the Snake clan ever introduced +any modification in the symbolic decoration of pottery by the women of +Sikyatki. + + +SYMBOLS INTRODUCED BY THE SNAKE PEOPLE + +The designs on pottery taken from prehistoric ruins of pueblos or +villages once inhabited by the Snake clans claim the archeologist’s +especial attention. These clans were the most important early additions +to the Hopi villages and no doubt influenced early Hopi symbolism. There +is little trace in early pottery that can be recognized as peculiar to +the Snake. The Snake clans formerly lived at Betatakin, Kitsiel, and +neighboring ruins. + +Among many significant differences that occur between the designs on +pottery from the ruins in Navaho National Monument and those of Sikyatki +may be mentioned the rarity of bird designs and the conventional +feathers above described. Parallel lines and triangles have been found +on the pottery from Kitsiel and Betatakin. Terraced figures are common; +spirals are rare. Pottery designs from this region are simpler and like +those of the Mesa Verde cliff-houses and the ruins along the San Juan +River. Not only do the designs on prehistoric Sikyatki pottery have +little resemblance to those from Tokonabi, a former home of the Snake +clan, but the pottery from this region of Arizona is of coarser texture +and different color. It is the same as that of the San Juan area, the +decorations on which are about uniform with those from the Mesa Verde and +Chelly Canyon. The best vases and bowls are of red or black-and-white +ware. + +In the pottery symbols of the clans that lived at Tokonabi (Kitsiel, +Betatakin, etc.) the archaic predominated. The passage architecturally +from the fragile-walled dwelling into Prudden’s pueblo “unit type” +had taken place, but the pottery had not yet been greatly modified. +Even after the Snake clans moved to Wukoki, near the Black Falls of +the Little Colorado, we still find the survival of geometrical designs +characteristic of the prepuebloan epoch. Consequently when the Snake +clans came to Walpi and joined the Hopi they brought no new symbols and +introduced no great changes in symbols. The influence of the clans from +the north was slight—too small to greatly influence the development of +Hopi symbolism. + + + + +TANOAN EPOCH + + +The Tanoan epoch in the chronology of Hopi pottery symbolism is markedly +different from the Keresan. It began with the influx of Tanoan clans, +either directly or by way of Zuñi and the Little Colorado, being +represented in modern times by the early creations of Hano women, like +Nampeo. It is clearly marked and readily distinguished from the Sikyatki +epoch, being well represented in eastern museums by pottery collected +from Hano, the Tewan pueblo on the East Mesa. + +Migrations of Tanoan clans into the Hopi country began very early in Hopi +history, but waves of colonists with Tanoan kinship came to Walpi at +the close of the seventeenth century as a result of the great rebellion +(1680), when the number of colonists from the Rio Grande pueblos was +very large. The Badger, Kachina, Asa, and Hano clans seem to have been +the most numerous and important in modifying sociological conditions, +especially at the East Mesa of the Hopi. Some of these came directly +to Walpi, others entered by way of Zuñi, and still others by way of +Awatobi. They brought with them Tanoan and Keresan symbolism and Little +Colorado elements, all of which were incorporated. The Tanoan symbols are +very difficult to differentiate individually but created a considerable +modification in the artistic products, as a whole. + +The symbolism that the colonists from the Little Colorado settlements +brought to Walpi was mixed in character, containing certain Gila Valley +elements. Among the last-mentioned were increments derived directly +from Zuñi, as shown in the symbolism of their pottery. Among the most +important thus introduced were contributions of the Asa, Kachina, Badger, +and Butterfly clans. The most important element from the Little Colorado +clans that originally came from the Gila Valley (Palatkwabi) are those +connected with the plumed serpent.[50] It is possible to trace successive +epochs in the history of ceramic decoration in the Little Colorado ruins +and to identify, in a measure, the clans with which these epochs were +associated, but to follow out this identification in this paper would +take me too far afield and lead into a discussion of areas far distant +from the Hopi, for it belongs more especially to the history of ceramic +decorations of Zuñi decoration and composition.[51] In the present +article all the Little Colorado influences are treated as belonging to +the Tanoan epoch, which seems to have been the dominant one in the Little +Colorado when emigration, comparatively modern in time, began to Hopi. + + +SYMBOLS INTRODUCED FROM THE LITTLE COLORADO + +After the destruction of Sikyatki there was apparently a marked +deterioration in the excellence of Hopi ceramics, which continued as +late as the overthrow of Awatobi, when the Sikyatki epoch ceased. +Shortly before that date and for a few years later there was a notable +influx of foreigners into Hopiland; a number of southern clans from +the Little Colorado successively joined the Hopi, bringing with them +cultural conceptions and symbolic designs somewhat different from those +existing previously to their advent. Among these clans are those known in +migration legends as the Patki peoples. Although we can not distinguish +a special Patki epoch in Hopi ceramics, we have some ideas of the nature +of Patki symbolism from large collections from Homolobi, Chevlon, and +Chavez Pass. From traditions and ceremonial objects now in use we also +know something of the nature of the objective symbols they introduced +into Walpi, and we can detect some of these on pottery and other objects +used in ceremonies at Walpi. Some of these symbols did not come directly +from the Little Colorado ruins, but went first to Awatobi and from there +to Walpi[52] after the destruction of the former pueblo in the autumn of +the year 1700. The arrival of southern clans at the East Mesa with their +characteristic symbols occurred approximately in the seventeenth century, +about 200 years after the date of the discovery of Hopi by Tovar. Awatobi +received the Rabbit, Tobacco, and other clans from this migration from +the south between the years 1632 and 1700, and Walpi received the Patki +shortly after or at the same time the Hano clans came from the far east. +The similarities in ancient pottery from the Little Colorado and that +belonging to the Sikyatki epoch can not be ascribed to anything more +profound than superficial contact. It is not probable that the ancient +pottery of Awatobi or that of Kawaika and other Keres pueblos on the +Awatobi mesa or in the adjacent plain was modified in any considerable +degree by incoming clans from the south, but survived the Sikyatki epoch +a century after Sikyatki had been destroyed. + +The advent of the clans from the Little Colorado into the Hopi country +was too late to seriously affect the classic period of Hopi ceramics; +it appears also not to have exerted any great influence on later times. +Extensive excavations made at Homolobi, Chevlon, and Chavez Pass +have revealed much pottery which gives a good idea of the symbolism +characteristic of the clans living along this valley, which resembles +in some respects the classic Hopi pottery of the time of Sikyatki, +but several of these likenesses date back to a time before the union +of the Hopi and Little Colorado clans. As a rule the bird figures on +pottery from Homolobi, Chevlon, Chavez Pass, and other representative +Little Colorado ruins are more realistic and less conventionalized and +complex than those from Sikyatki. The peculiar forms of feathers found +so constantly in the latter do not occur in the former, nor does the +sky-band with its dependent bird figure ever occur on Little Colorado +ware. We are here dealing with less-developed conventionalism, a cruder +art, and less specialized symbolism. Even if the colors of the pottery +did not at once separate them, the expert can readily declare whether +he is dealing with a bowl from Sikyatki or Homolobi. There are, to be +sure, likenesses, but well-marked differences of local development. The +resemblances and differences in the case of bird figures on prehistoric +Hopi ware and that from the ruins on the Little Colorado can be readily +shown by considering figures 105, 106, and 107, found at Homolobi and +Chevlon, and the corresponding preceding bird figures. It may be +interesting to instance another example. Figure 104 shows a lateral view +of a bird with wings extended, bearing marginal dentations representing +feathers on the breast and a tail composed of four triangular feathers +and two eyes, each with iris and pupil. The upper and lower jaws in this +figure are extended to form a beak, as is customary in bird designs from +the Little Colorado ruins, but never found at Sikyatki. In figure 105 we +have another lateral view of a characteristic bird design from the Little +Colorado region, and figures 106 and 107 show hourglass bodies, a special +feature of the same region. + +[Illustration: FIG. 104.—Lateral view of bird with double eyes.] + +In the same way many other distinctive characteristics separating figures +of animals from the two regions might be mentioned. Those above given +may suffice to show that each is distinctive and in a way specialized in +its development, but the main reason to believe that the clans from the +Little Colorado never affected the symbolism of Sikyatki is the fact that +the latter ruin was destroyed before these clans joined the Hopi villages. + +The ruins Homolobi and Chevlon were probably inhabited well into historic +times, although there is no archeological evidence that artifacts from +them were modified by European influences. The symbolism on pottery +shows that their culture was composite and seems to have been the +result of acculturation from both south and east. Some of the clans, as +the Tobacco, that peopled these settlements joined Awatobi before its +overthrow, while others settled at Pakatcomo, the ruins of which near +Walpi are still visible, and later united with the people of the largest +village of the East Mesa. So far as known, Sikyatki had been destroyed +before any considerable number of people had entered the Hopi country +from the Little Colorado,[53] the event occurring comparatively late in +history. + +[Illustration: FIG. 105.—Lateral view of bird with double eyes.] + +The pottery from the Little Colorado differs from prehistoric Hopi ware +much less with respect to geometrical designs than life forms. The break +in the encircling line, or, as it is called, the life gate, which is +almost universally found on the ancient Hopi vases, bowls, dippers, and +other objects, occurs likewise on pottery from Little Colorado ruins. +Some of the encircling lines from this region have more than one break, +and in one instance the edges of the break have appendages, a rare +feature found in both prehistoric Hopi and Little Colorado ware.[54] + +[Illustration: FIG. 106.—Bird with double eyes.] + +The influence of Keres culture on Zuñi may be shown in several ways, +thus: A specimen of red ware from a shrine on Thunder Mountain, an +old Zuñi site, is decorated with symbolic feathers recalling those +on Sikyatki ware ascribed to eastern influence. The nonappearance of +Keres and Tewa symbols on ancient pottery from the Zuñi Valley ruins, +Heshotauthla and Hálonawan, and their existence in the mountain shrine +above mentioned, implies that the latter settlement is more modern, and +that the eastern clans united with preexisting Little Colorado clans +comparatively late in its history. The first settlements in Zuñi Valley +were made by colonists from the Gila. There are several ceremonies in +the Walpi ritual which, like the New Fire, although immediately derived +from Awatobi, came originally from Little Colorado pueblos, and other +ceremonies came directly to Walpi from the same original source. Among +the former are those introduced by the Piba (Tobacco) clan, which brought +to Walpi a secret fraternity called the Tataukyamû. This brotherhood +came directly from Awatobi, but the Tobacco clan from which it was +derived once lived in a pueblo on the Little Colorado, now a ruin at +Chevlon, midway between Holbrook and Winslow.[55] The identification of +the Chevlon ruin with the historic Chipias has an important bearing on +the age of the Little Colorado ruins, for Padre Arvide, a Franciscan +missionary, was killed in 1632 by the Chipias, who lived west of Zuñi. In +other words, their pueblo was then inhabited. + +[Illustration: FIG. 107.—Two birds with rain clouds.] + +We know that the Piba joined Awatobi before 1700, or the year it was +destroyed; consequently the desertion of the Chevlon ruin (Chipiaya, +or Tcipiaiya) evidently occurred between 1632 and 1700, not so much +on account of Apache inroads as from fear of punishment by the +Spaniards.[56] As no clans from the other large pueblo on the Little +Colorado or Homolobi joined Awatobi, we can not definitely fix the date +that this group fled to the north, but it was probably not long after +the time the Chevlon clans migrated to Awatobi, from which it follows +that the Little Colorado settlements were inhabited up to the middle +of the seventeenth century. While the Little Colorado clans did not +influence the Sikyatki pottery, they did affect the potters of Awatobi to +a limited extent and introduced some symbols into Walpi in the middle of +the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Among these influences may be +mentioned those derived from Awatobi after its destruction in 1700. It is +not possible to state definitely what modifications in pottery symbols +were introduced into Walpi by the potters of the clans from Awatobi and +the Little Colorado. Possibly no considerable modification resulted from +their advent, as there was already more or less similarity in the pottery +from these geographical localities. The southern clans introduced some +novelties in ceremonies, especially in the Winter Solstice and New-fire +festivals and in the rites of the Horned Serpent at the Spring Equinox. + + +SYMBOLS INTRODUCED BY THE BADGER AND KACHINA CLANS + +As the clans which came to the Hopi country from Zuñi were comparatively +late arrivals of Tewa colonists long after the destruction of Sikyatki, +their potters exerted no influence on the Sikyatki potters. The ancient +Hopi ceramic art had become extinct when the clans from Awatobi, the +pueblos on the Little Colorado, and the late Tewa, united with the +Walpi settlement on the East Mesa. The place whence we can now obtain +information of the character of the symbolism of the Asa, Butterfly, +Badger, and other Tewan clans is in certain ceremonies at Sichomovi, +a pueblo near Walpi, settled by clans from Zuñi and often called the +Zuñi pueblo by the Hopi. One of the Sichomovi ceremonies celebrated at +Oraibi and Sichomovi on the East Mesa, in which we may find survivals +of the earliest Tewa and Zuñi symbolism, is called the Owakülti. The +Sichomovi variant of the Owakülti shows internal sociologic relation to +the Butterfly or Buli (Poli) clan resident in Awatobi before its fall. +This statement is attested by certain stone slabs excavated from Awatobi +mounds, on which are painted butterfly symbols. The Walpi Lalakoñti, +first described by the author and Mr. Owens in 1892, has also survivals +of Awatobi designs. It appears that while it is not easy to trace any of +the rich symbolism of Awatobi directly into Walpi pottery, it is possible +to discover close relations between certain Awatobi symbols and others +still employed in Walpi ceremonials. Sikyatki and Awatobi were probably +inhabited synchronously and as kindred people had a closely allied or +identical symbolism; there is such a close relation between the designs +on pottery from the two ruins that Awatobi symbols introduced into Walpi +have a close likeness to those of Sikyatki.[57] + +The natural conservatism in religious rites of all kinds has brought +it about that many of the above-mentioned designs, although abandoned +in secular life of the Hopi, still persist in paraphernalia used in +ceremonies. It is therefore pertinent to discuss some of these religious +symbols with an idea of discovering whether they are associated with +certain clans or ruins, and if so what light they shed on prehistoric +migrations. In other words, here the ethnologists can afford us much +information bearing on the significance of prehistoric symbols. + +One great difficulty in interpreting the prehistoric pictures of +supernaturals depicted on ancient pottery by a comparison of the +religious paraphernalia of the modern Hopi is a complex nomenclature of +supernatural beings that has been brought about by the perpetuation or +survival of different clan names for the same being even after union +of those clans. Thus we find the same Sky god with many others all +practically aliases of one common conception. To complicate the matter +still more, different attributal names are also sometimes used. The names +Alosaka, Muyinwû, and Talatumsi are practically different designations of +the same supernatural, while Tunwup, Ho, and Shalako appear to designate +the same Sky-god personage. Cultus heroines, as the Marau mana, Shalako +mana, Palahiko mana, and others, according as we follow one or another +of the dialects, Keres or Tewa, are used interchangeably. This diversity +in nomenclature has introduced a complexity in the Hopi mythology which +is apparent rather than real in the Hopi Pantheon, as their many names +would imply.[58] The great nature gods of sky and earth, male and +female, lightning and germination, no doubt arose as simple transfer of +a germinative idea applied to cosmic phenomena and organic nature. The +earliest creation myths were drawn largely from analogies of human and +animal birth. The innumerable lesser or clan gods are naturally regarded +as offspring of sky and earth, and man himself is born from Mother Earth. +He was not specially created by a Great Spirit, which was foreign to +Indians unmodified by white influences. + +As the number of bird designs on Sikyatki pottery far outnumber +representations of other animals it is natural to interpret them by +modern bird symbols or by modern personations of birds, many examples of +which are known to the ethnological student of the Hopi. + +In one of a series of dances at Powamû, which occurs in February, men and +boys personate the eagle, red hawk, humming bird, owl, cock, hen, mocking +bird, quail, hawk, and other birds, each appropriately dressed, imitating +cries, and wearing an appropriate mask of the birds they represent. In +a dance called Pamurti, a ceremony celebrated annually at Sichomovi, +and said to have been derived from Zuñi, personations of the same birds +appear, the men of Walpi contributing to the performance. Homovi, one of +the Hopi Indians who took part, made colored pictures representing all +these birds, which may be found reproduced in the author’s article on +Hopi katcinas.[59] + +In the Hopi cosmogony the Sky god is thought to be father of all gods +and human beings, and when personations of the subordinate supernaturals +occur they are led to the pueblo by a personator of this great father of +all life. The celebrations of the Powamû, at the East Mesa of the Hopi, +represent the return of the ancestors or kachinas of Walpi, while the +Pamurti is the dramatization of the return of the kachinas of Sichomovi +whose ancestors were Zuñi kin. + +Life figures or animal forms, as birds, serpents, and insects, depicted +on Little Colorado pottery differ considerably from those on Sikyatki +ware. Take, for instance, bird designs, the most abundant life forms on +ancient pueblo pottery on the Little Colorado, as well as at Sikyatki. +It needs but a glance at the figures of the former to show how marked +the differences are. The leader of the kachinas in the Powamû, which +celebrates the return of these ancestral gods to the pueblo, Walpi, wears +an elaborate dress and helmet with appended feathers. He is led into the +village by a masked man personating Eototo.[60] + + +SYMBOLS INTRODUCED FROM AWATOBI + +The women saved at Awatobi in the massacre of 1700, according to a +legend, brought to Walpi the paraphernalia of a ceremony still observed, +called the Mamzrauti. Naturally we should expect to find old Awatobi +symbolism on this paraphernalia, which is still in use. The cultus +heroine of the Mamzrauti is the Corn-mist maid, known by the name of +Shalako mana or Palahiko mana.[61] We have several representations of +this maid and their resemblance to the pictures of Shalako mana depicted +by Hano potters would imply a common Tanoan origin. + + +SHALAKO MANA + +The most common figure on the third epoch of Hopi pottery, commonly +called modern Tewa and manufactured up to 1895 by Nampeo, a Hano potter, +is a representation of the Corn-maid, Shalako mana, who, as shown, is +the same personage as Marau mana and Palahiko mana in the festival of the +Mamzrauti derived from Awatobi. The symbol of this goddess is instructive +and easily recognized in its many variations. Her picture on Hano pottery +is shown in figure 108. + +The most striking features of her symbolism, brought out in plate 89, are +terraced bodies representing rain clouds on the head, an ear of maize +symbol on the forehead, curved lines over the mouth, chevrons on the +cheeks, conventionalized wings, and feathered garment. It is also not +uncommon to find carved representations of squash blossoms occupying the +same positions as the whorls of hair on the heads of Hopi maidens. + +[Illustration: FIG. 108.—Head of Shalako mana, or Corn maid.] + +The Shalakotaka male is likewise a common design readily recognized +on modern pottery. Particularly abundant are figures of the mask of a +Kohonino god, allied to Shalako, which is likewise called a kachina, best +shown in paraphernalia of the Mamzrauti ceremony. + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 89 + +SHALAKO MANA, CORN MAID (FROM TABLET DANCE)] + +[Illustration: + + BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 90 + +TOP OF BUTTERFLY VASE.] + +It sometimes happens in Hopi dramatization that pictures of supernatural +beings and idols of the same take the place of personations by priests. +For instance, instead of a girl or a woman representing the Corn maid, +this supernatural is depicted on a slab of wood or represented by a +wooden idol. One of the best-known figures of the Corn maid (Shalako +mana) is here introduced (pl. 89) to illustrate the relation of old +Awatobi and existing Hopi symbolism; a modern figure (108) of this Corn +maid, painted on a wooden slab, is sometimes carried by the Walpi women +in their dance. Figures of the Awatobi germ god, Alosaka, otherwise +called Muyinwû,[62] are depicted on the slabs used by most of the women +at that time. + +The different designs on the slab under consideration (pl. 89) are +indicated by letters and explained as follows: _a_ represents a circular +fragment of the haliotis or abalone shell hanging midway from a figure +of an ear of corn, _c_. The cheeks are tattooed or painted with +characteristic figures, _cb_, the eyes rectangular of different colors. +The letter _d_ is a representation of a wooden ear pendant, a square, +flat body covered on one side with a mosaic of turquoise sometimes +arranged in figures. The letter _e_ is the end of a string by which the +ceremonial blanket is tied over the left shoulder, the right arm being +free, as shown in the illustration. Over the right shoulder, however, is +thrown a ceremonial embroidered kilt, _fb_. + +The objects in the hands represent feathers and recall one type of +the conventional feathers figured in the preceding pages. The letters +_fr_ represent falling rain embroidered on the rim of the ceremonial +blanket and _rc_ the terraced rain clouds which in _arc_ become rounded +above; _g_ represents a turquoise at the end of a string of turquoise +suspended from shell necklaces _sn_; _m_ represents the butterfly and is +practically identical with the decorations on dados of old Hopi houses; +_s_ represents a star; _sb_ represents shell bracelets, many examples of +which occur in ruins along the Little Colorado; _ss_ is supposed to have +replaced the key patterns which some authorities identify as sprouting +beans. There are commonly nine rectangular markings, _nc_, on the upper +border of the embroidered region of ceremonial blankets and kilts, each +of which represents either a month or a day, by some said to refer to +ceremonial or germ periods.[63] + +The Shalako mana figures have not yet been found in the unmodified Little +Colorado ware, but homologous figures have been found in the Rio Grande +area. + +The design (pl. 88, _d_) with a horn on the left side of the head and a +rectangle on the right, the face being occupied by a terrace figure from +which hang parallel lines, reminds one of the “coronets” worn on the head +by the _Lakone_ maids (manas) in the Walpi Basket dance of the Lalakoñti. +The horn in the coronet is without terminal appendages, although a +feather is tied to it, and the rectangle of plate 88, _d_, is replaced +by radiating slats spotted and pointed at their ends, said to represent +the sunflower. The whole design in plate 88, _d_, represents a bird,[64] +recalling that of the figure Marautiyo on one of the appended slabs of +the altar of the Walpi Marau ceremony. In this altar figure we find not +only a horn on the left side of the head, but also a rectangular design +on the right. + +On the corresponding right-hand side of this altar we have a picture +of Marau mana (Shalako mana). It will thus appear that when compared +with the Lakone coronet the figure on the Shongopovi bowl represents +a female being, whereas when compared with the figure on the Marau +altar it resembles a male being. There is, therefore, something wrong +in my comparison. But the fact remains that there survive in the two +woman’s festivals—Lakone maid’s coronet and Marau altar—resemblances to +prehistoric Hopi designs from Shongopovi. Moreover, it is known that the +Marau fetishes are stated by the chief Saliko to have been introduced +from Awatobi into Walpi by her ancestor who was saved at the massacre of +that town in 1700. + +The life figures of the Tanoan epoch, or that following the overthrow +of Sikyatki, can be made out by a study of modern Hano pottery. Perhaps +the most complex of these is that of the Corn maid, Shalako mana. +Shalako mana plays a great rôle in the Mamzrauti, a ceremony derived +from Awatobi, and figures representing her are common designs made on +Hano pottery. Designs representing this being are common on the peculiar +basket plaques made at the Middle Mesa and dolls of her are abundant. +The constant presence of her pictures on basket plaques at the Middle +Mesa would also seem to show an ancient presence in the Hopi country, and +indicate an identity of pottery designs from ancient Shumopavi with those +from the East Mesa and Awatobi.[65] + +One of her modern Walpi ceremonies has such pronounced Awatobi symbolism +that it may be instanced as showing derivation; viz., the New-fire +festival.[66] The women of the Marau and the men of the Tataukyamû regard +themselves kindred, and taunt each other, as only friends may without +offence, in this festival, and the Tataukyamû often introduce a burlesque +Shalako mana into their performances. + +The designs painted on the bodies and heads of several modern dolls +representing Corn maids are symbols whose history is very ancient in the +tribe. For instance, those of feathers date back to prehistoric times, +and terraced designs representing rain clouds are equally ancient. The +dolls of the Corn maid (Shalako mana) present a variety of forms of +feathers and the headdresses of many dolls represent kachinas, and show +feathers sometimes represented by sticks on which characteristic markings +are painted, but more often they represent symbols.[67] + + +SYMBOLS OF HANO CLANS + +Hano, as is well known, is a Tewan pueblo, situated on the East Mesa, +which was the last great body of Tewa colonists to migrate to Hopiland. +While other Tewa colonists lost their language and became Hopi, the +inhabitants of Hano still speak Tewa and still preserve some of their old +ceremonies, and consequently many of their own symbols. Here were found +purest examples of the Tanoan epoch. + +The potters of clans introduced symbols on their ware radically +different from those of Sikyatki, the type of the epoch of the finest +Hopi ceramics, and replaced it by Tewan designs which characterize Hopi +pottery from 1710 to 1895, when a return was suddenly made to the ancient +type through the influence of Nampeo. At that date she began to cleverly +imitate Sikyatki ware and abandoned _de toto_ symbols introduced by Hano +and other Tewa clans. + +Fortunately there exist good collections of the Tewa epoch of Hopi +ceramics, but the ever-increasing demand by tourists for ancient ware +induced Nampeo to abandon the Tewa clan symbols she formerly employed and +to substitute those of ancient Sikyatki.[68] + +The majority of the specimens of Hano pottery, like those of the +Tanoan epoch to which it belongs, are decorated with pictures of clan +ancients called kachinas. These have very little resemblance to designs +characteristic of the Sikyatki epoch. They practically belong to the same +type as those introduced by Kachina, Asa, and Badger peoples. One of the +most common of these is the design above discussed representing Shalako +mana, the Corn maid, shown in figure 109. In this figure we have the +face represented by a circle in the center and many lenticular figures +arranged in rows attached to the neck and shoulders corresponding to the +appendages explained in figure 108. It is said in the legends that when +the Corn maid appeared to men she was enveloped in fleecy clouds and wore +a feathered garment. These are indicated by the curved figures covered +with dots and the parallel lines on the body. Feather symbols recalling +those of the Sikyatki epoch hang from appendages to the head representing +rain clouds. + +[Illustration: FIG. 109.—Head of Kokle, or Earth woman.] + +In figure 109 we have a representation of the head with surrounding +clouds, and portions of the body of a kachina, called Kokle, who is +personated in Winter ceremonies. It is instructive to note that this +figure has symbols on the head that recall the Sikyatki epoch. The +ancient Tewan earth goddess, Hahaiwugti, is represented in figure 110. +She appears also in figure 111, where her picture is painted on a ladle, +the handle of which represents an ancient Tewan clown called by the Hano +people Paiakyamû. + +[Illustration: FIG. 110.—Head of Hahaiwugti, or Earth woman.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 111.—Ladle with clown carved on handle and Earth +woman on bowl.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 112.—Püükon hoya, little War god.] + +The War god, Püükon hoya, also a Tewan incorporation in the Hopi +pantheon, appears frequently on pottery of the Tanoan epoch, as shown in +figure 112. This figure, painted on a terra-cotta slab, is identified by +the two parallel marks on each cheek. + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to trace the +chronological sequence of pottery symbols in Hopiland by pointing out +distinct epochs in cultural history and correlating the sociology of the +tribe. This takes for granted that the pottery symbols characteristic of +this people are directly connected with certain clans. There have from +time to time been sudden changes in symbols, or previous designs have +suddenly disappeared and others have taken their places, as well as a +slow development of existing symbols into more complicated forms. There +persist everywhere survivals of old prepuebloan symbols inherited from +the past and a creation of new products of Hopi environment not found +elsewhere. + +The author will close this paper with a brief theoretical account of the +unwritten culture history of Hopi, part of which explains certain pottery +symbols. If we take that segment of southwestern history extending +from the earliest to the present, we find evidences of the existence +of a prepuebloan culture existing before terraced houses were built or +circular kivas had been used for ceremonial purposes. This epoch was +antecedent to the construction of the great walled compounds of the +Gila, illustrated by Casa Grande. At that epoch known as the prepuebloan +there extended from Utah to the Mexican boundary and from the Colorado +to the Rio Grande a culture architecturally characterized by small +fragile-walled houses not united or terraced. These houses were sometimes +like pit dwellings, either partially or wholly subterranean. When above +ground their walls were supported by upright logs in which canes or +brushes were woven and covered with mud, the roofs being made of cedar +bark or straw overlaid with adobe. + +The pottery of this early prehistoric epoch was smooth, painted mainly +with geometric patterns, corrugated, or indented. Rectilinear or +curved lines constituted the majority of the superficial decorations +and life designs were few or altogether wanting. In addition to these +architectural and ceramic characteristics, this prepuebloan cultural +stage was distinguished by many other features, to mention which would +take us too far afield and would be out of place in this article. +Evidences of this stage or epoch occur everywhere in the Southwest +and survival of the archaic characters enumerated are evident in all +subsequent epochs. + +The so-called “unit type” or pure pueblo culture grew out of this early +condition, and was at first localized in northern New Mexico and southern +Colorado, where it was autochthonous. Its essential feature is the +terraced communal house and the simplest form of the pueblo, the “unit +type,” first pointed out by Dr. T. Mitchell Prudden—a combination of +dwelling houses, with a man’s house or kiva and a cemetery. The dwellings +are made of stone or clay and are terraced, the kiva is subterranean +and circular, embedded in or surrounded by other rooms. The “unit type” +originated in Colorado and, spreading in all directions, replaced the +preexisting houses with fragile walls. Colonists from its center extended +down the San Juan to the Hopi country and made their way easterly +across the Rio Grande and southerly to the headwaters of the Gila and +Little Colorado, where they met other clans of specialized prepuebloan +culture who had locally developed an architecture of Great House style +characteristic of the Gila and Salt River Valleys. + +The essential differences between the terraced pueblo and the previously +existing fragile-walled house culture are two: The terraced architecture +results from one house being constructed above another, the kiva or +subterranean ceremonial room being separated or slightly removed from the +secular houses. + +An explanation of the origin of the terraced pueblo is evident. This form +of house implies a limited site or a congestion of houses on a limited +area. An open plain presents no limitation in lateral construction; +there is plenty of room to expand in all directions to accommodate the +enlargement which results as a settlement increases in population. In +a cave conditions are otherwise; expansion is limited. When the floor +of the cavern is once covered with rooms the only additions which can +possibly be made must be vertically. In protection lies the cause of the +development of a terraced architecture such as the pueblos show, for the +early people constructed their fragile-walled habitations in a cavern, +and as an enlargement of their numbers occurred they were obliged to +construct the terraced pueblos called cliff-dwellings, with rooms closely +approximated and constructed in terraces. In the course of time these +cliff-dwellers moved out of their caverns into the river valleys or to +the mesa summits, carrying with them the terraced architecture, which, +born in caverns, survived in their new environment. This explanation +is of course hypothetical, but not wholly without a basis in fact, for +we find survivals of the prepuebloan architecture scattered throughout +the Southwest, especially on the periphery of the terraced house area, +as well as in the area itself. The ancient terraced house architecture +is confined to a limited area, but around its ancient border are people +whose dwellings are characterized by fragile-walled architecture. These +are the survivals of the prepuebloan culture. + +The environmental conditions along the San Juan and its tributaries +in Colorado and New Mexico render it a particularly favorable culture +center from which the pure pueblo type may have originated, and although +observations have not yet gone far enough to prove that here was the +place of origin of the unit type, and therefore of pueblo culture, there +are strong indications that a fable of the Pueblos, that they came from +the caves in the north, is not without legendary foundation so far as +their origin is concerned. + +The term “cliff-dwelling,” once supposed to indicate a distinct stage +of development, refers only to the site and is a feature inadequate for +classification or chronology. All cliff-dwellings do not belong to the +same structural type. There is little similarity save in site between +Spruce-tree House on the Mesa Verde, and Montezuma Castle in the Verde +Valley; the former belongs to the “pure pueblo type,” the latter to +another class of buildings related to “compounds” of the tributaries of +the Gila and Salt River valleys. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] A report on the field work at Sikyatki will be found in the +_Seventeenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn._, part 2. + +[2] Traces of the ancient village of Walpi at this point are still to be +seen, and certain ancestral ceremonies are still performed here, in the +New-fire rites, as elsewhere described. + +[3] Pottery making is a woman’s industry, and as among the Pueblo the +woman determines the clan, so she determines the symbolism of the +pottery. Consequently symbolism of pottery is related to that of the clan. + +[4] Many of the illustrations appearing in this paper are taken from the +author’s memoir on the results of the Sikyatki excavations in the _17th +Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol._, part 2. + +[5] Hopi maidens dress their hair in two whorls, one above each ear, +which on marriage are taken down and braided in two coils. There are +differences in the style of putting up the hair, as appear in different +ceremonial personages, but the custom of wearing it in whorls was +probably general among ancient Pueblo maidens and is still followed in +certain ceremonial dances in which women are personated by men. For +the difference in the style of the whorls, see the author’s series of +pictures of Hopi kachinas in the _Twenty-first Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. +Ethn._ + +[6] The best idol of this god known to the author appears on one of the +Flute altars at Oraibi. It has a single horn (representing the serpent +horn) on the head, two wings, and two legs with lightning symbols their +whole length. The horned plumed Lightning god of the Kwakwantû at Walpi +is represented by plumed serpent effigies in the March ceremony or +dramatization elsewhere described. + +[7] In the Antelope dance at Walpi, a stalk of corn instead of a snake is +carried in the mouth on the day before the Snake dance. (Fewkes, Snake +Ceremonials at Walpi, pp. 73-74.) + +[8] For descriptions of similar objects see Fewkes, Hopi Ceremonial +Frames from Cañon de Chelly, Arizona, pp. 664-670; Fewkes, The Lesser +New-fire Ceremony at Walpi, p. 438, pl. XI; also _Twenty-first Ann. Rept. +Bur. Amer. Ethn._, pls. XXXIV, XXXV. + +[9] As a matter of history, the Snake people of Walpi may have been +hostile to the Kokop of Sikyatki on account of linguistic or tribal +differences which culminated in the destruction of the latter pueblo in +prehistoric times. + +[10] The pueblo of Sichomovi, called by the Hopi Sioki, or Zuñi pueblo, +was settled by Asa clans, who were apparently of exotic origin but who +went to Sichomovi from Zuñi, in which pueblo the Asa people are known +as Aiyahokwe. The Sichomovi people still preserve Zuñi ceremonies and +Zuñi kachinas, although they now speak the Hopi language—an example of a +pueblo in which alien ceremonies and personations have survived or been +incorporated, although its language has been superseded by another. + +[11] Thus the Heyamashikwe may be supposed to have originally come from +Jemez. The Zuñi Sumaikoli, like that of the Hopi, is practically Tewa in +origin. + +[12] See Fewkes, The Butterfly in Hopi Myth and Ritual, pp. 576-594. + +[13] The clay images representing the Tewa plumed serpent on the Winter +Solstice altar at Hano have rows of feathers inserted along their backs +(as in the case of the reptile shown in figure 22) as well as rudimentary +horns, teeth made of corn kernels, and necklaces of the same. (Fewkes, +Winter solstice altars at Hano pueblo, pp. 269-270.) A mosaic of corn +kernels on a clay base (_kaetukwi_) is known in ceremonies derived from +Sikyatki and Awatobi. + +[14] The hoot of the owl portends disaster among the Hopi, as among the +ancient Greeks. + +[15] Every priest has a box in which his feathers are preserved until +needed. + +[16] Compare with feathers, pl. 90, _d_. + +[17] Probably the serrated circle to which the headdress is attached was +not designed as the outline of the head, but the headband turned out of +perspective. + +[18] See _Seventeenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn._, pt. 2, pl. CXLI, _a_. +A circle is here drawn on each side of the bird. + +[19] It is, of course, only a coincidence that so many of the Sikyatki +bird designs have three tail feathers like Egyptian representations. + +[20] Feathers are among the most important objects employed in Pueblo +ceremonies, and among the modern Hopi feathers of different birds are +regarded as efficacious for different specific purposes. Thus the turkey +feather symbol is efficacious to bring rain, and the hawk and eagle +feathers are potent in war. The specific feather used ceremonially by +modern Hopi priests is regarded by them as of great importance, and the +same doubtless was true of the priests of ancient Sikyatki and Awatobi. +Belief in a difference in the magic power of certain feathers was deeply +rooted in the primitive mind, and was regarded as of great importance by +the ancient as well as the modern Hopi. + +[21] Compare the sand-mosaic of the sun associated with the Powalawû +altar of Oraibi, and the sun emblem shown in fig. 98. + +[22] Mallery (_Fourth Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn._, p. 47, fig. 12) illustrates +two clusters of characteristic Hopi feathers copied by Mr. G. K. Gilbert +from petroglyphs at Oakley Springs, Arizona. The first cluster belongs +to the type shown in our fig. 57 as eagle tails, the second to that +illustrated in fig. 31. They were identified by the Oraibi chief, Tuba, +and so far as known have not been subsequently figured. + +[23] Compare feathers, pl. 90, _wf_. + +[24] The only design in modern Hopi symbolism comparable with the +sky-band occurs on a wooden slab on the altar of the Owakülti, a +society priestess whose ancestors are said to have formerly lived at +the historic pueblo of Awatobi. This slab is attached to the uprights +of an altar, by means of flat slabs of wood, some arranged vertically, +others horizontally. On it is depicted, among other symbolic figures, a +representation of a bird. + +[25] The author has seen in the American Museum of Natural History, New +York, a single specimen of doubtful provenance, bearing a similar design. + +[26] For convenience this may be designated the anterior in distinction +to that on the other side of the sky-band which may be termed the +posterior semicircle. + +[27] See also _Seventeenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn._, pl. CL, _a_, and +CXLVI, _d_. + +[28] The Kokyan, or Spider, clan is not made much of in Hopi legends +gathered at Walpi, but Kokyanwügti, the Spider woman, is an important +supernatural in the earliest mythologies, especially those of the Snake +people. She was the mentor of the Snake youth in his journey to the +underworld and an offering at her shrine is made in the Oraibi Snake +dance. The picture of the spider with that of the sun suggests that the +Spider woman is a form of the earth goddess. No personation of Spider +woman has been seen by the author in the various ceremonies he has +witnessed. + +[29] Except that the head bears a jointed antenna this figure might be +identified as a bird, the long extension representing the bird’s bill. + +[30] The figures of serpents on the sand mosaic of the Antelope altar at +Walpi bear similar crosses or diagonals, crossing each other at right +angles. The Antelope priests interpret this marking as a sign of the +female. + +[31] Rain, lightning, animals, plants, sky, and earth, in the modern Hopi +conception, are supposed to have sex. + +[32] The Butterfly in Hopi Myth and Ritual, fig. 61, _f_. + +[33] Ibid., p. 586. + +[34] Introduced into the Hopi pueblos by colonists from the Rio Grande; +its most conspicuous variant can be seen on the tablets worn in a masked +dance called Humis (Jemez) Kachina. + +[35] One symbol of the Sky god has the form of a Lightning god. It has +a single curved horn on the head, lightning symbols on the legs, and +carries a wooden framework in one hand and a bull-roarer in the other. + +[36] _Twenty-second Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn._, pt. 1, fig. 74. + +[37] In modern Hopi symbolism the sun is a disk with representations of +eagle feathers around the periphery and radial lines at each quadrant, +symbolic of the sun’s rays. In disks worn on the back where real feathers +are used the radial lines, or the sun’s rays, are represented by +horsehair stained red. In ceremonials the Sky god is personated by a bird +whose figure occurs on Sikyatki pottery. + +[38] In the Hopi ceremony, Powatawu, as performed at Oraibi, a picture +representing the sun composed of a number of concentric circles of four +different colors is made of sand on the kiva floor. + +[39] If we interpret the sky-band as the path of the sun in the zenith +the solar emblem hanging to it is significant. + +[40] Some of the significant sun masks used by the Hopi have the mouth +indicated by a triangle, others by hourglass designs. + +[41] Pictures made by prehistoric man embody, first, when possible, +the power of the animal or thing represented, or its essential +characteristics; and second, the realistic form, shape, or outline. + +[42] Several Hopi clans celebrate in a slightly different way the return +of their Sun god, which is known by different names among them. The +return of the Sun god of the Kachina clan at Walpi, commonly called Ahül, +is elsewhere described. Shalako, the Sun god of the Patki clans, was +derived from the Little Colorado region, the same source from which the +Zuñi obtained their personage of the same name. His return is celebrated +on the East Mesa of the Hopi at Sichomovi, the “Zuñi pueblo among the +Hopi.” Pautiwa is a Sun god of Zuñi clans at Sichomovi and is personated +as at Zuñi pueblo. Kwataka, or the Sun god whose return is celebrated +at Walpi in the winter solstice, Soyaluna, is associated with the great +plumed serpent, a personation derived from the peoples of the Gila or +some other river who practice irrigation. Eototo is a Sikyatki Sun god, +derived from near Jemez, and is celebrated by Keres colonists. + +[43] Fewkes, Hopi Shrines Near the East Mesa, Arizona, pp. 346-375. + +[44] The sand picture made by the Antelope priest is regarded as a house +of the rain gods depicted upon it. + +[45] _Seventeenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn._, pt. 2. + +[46] The author has a drawing of the Snake altar at Mishongnovi by +an Indian, in which these crooks are not represented vertically but +horizontally, a position illustrating a common method of drawing among +primitive people who often represent vertical objects on a horizontal +plane. An illustration of this is seen in pictures of a medicine bowl +where the terraces on the rim normally vertical are drawn horizontally. + +[47] In using this term the author refers to an extreme area in one +corner of which still survive pueblos, the inhabitants of which speak +Keres. + +[48] There is no published evidence in Zuñi legends that Sikyatki +received increments from that pueblo. + +[49] Since the author’s work at Sikyatki, excavations have been made +by the Field Columbian Museum at this ruin, but nothing bearing on the +relations of symbols has been published so far as known to the writer. + +[50] The Tanoan people (clans) also introduced a horned snake, but +different in symbolism from that of the Patki clans. + +[51] The oldest pottery in the Zuñi Valley belongs to the same group as +that of the oldest Little Colorado ruins and shows marked Gila Valley +symbolism. The modern pottery of Zuñi is strongly influenced by Tanoan +characters. As these have been transmitted to Hopi they are considered +under the term “Tanoan epoch,” derived from Little Colorado settlements +to which Zuñi culturally belongs. + +[52] Pakatcomo in the plain below Walpi was their first Hopi settlement. + +[53] As has been pointed out, the designs on ancient Zuñi ware are +closely related to those of ruins farther down the Little Colorado, and +are not Hopi. Modern Zuñi as well as modern Hopi pueblos were influenced +by Keres and Tewa culture superimposed on the preexisting culture, which +largely came from the Gila. + +[54] No invariable connection was found in the relative position of +this break and figures of birds or other animals inclosed by the broken +band. The gaps in different encircling bands on the same bowl are either +diametrically opposite each other or separated by a quadrant, a variation +that would appear to indicate that they were not made use of in a +determination of the orientation of the vessel while in ceremonial use, +as is true of certain baskets of modern Navaho. + +[55] The author has the following evidence that the inhabitants of the +village at Chevlon were the historic Chipias. The Hopi have a legend +that the large ruin called Tcipiaiya by the Zuñi was also situated on a +river midway between Walpi and Zuñi. The Hopi also say that the Chevlon +pueblo was inhabited by the Piba (Tobacco) clan and that the Awatobi +chief, Tapolo, who brought the Tataukyamû fraternity to Walpi from +Awatobi, belonged to the Tobacco clan. The Tewa name of the Tataukyamû is +Tcipiaiyu, or “men from Tcipia.” + +[56] It is known from an inscription on El Morro that a punitive +expedition to avenge the death of Father Letrado was sent out under Lujan +in the spring of 1632, hence the guilty inhabitants may have abandoned +their settlement and departed for Hopi at about that time. + +[57] The Buli (Poli) clan is probably Tewa, as the word indicates, which +would show that Tewa as well as Keres clans lived at Awatobi. No legend +mentions Buli clans at Sikyatki, but several traditions locate them at +Awatobi. + +[58] A unification of names of these gods would have resulted when the +languages of the many different clans had been fused in religions, as the +language was in secular usage. The survival of component names of Hopi +gods is paralleled in the many ancient religions. + +[59] _Twenty-first Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn._ + +[60] Ibid., p. 76. Eototo, also called Masauû, was the tutelary of +Sikyatki, as Alosaka or Muyinwû was of Awatobi. + +[61] A somewhat similar personage to Shalako mana in Aztec ceremonies was +called Xalaquia (Shalakia). + +[62] An account of this dance with details of the nine days’ ceremony as +presented in the major or October variant will be found in the _American +Anthropologist_, July, 1892. The minor or Winter ceremony, in which the +Corn maids are personated by girls, is published in the same journal for +1900. The Corn maid has several aliases in this ceremony, among which are +Shalako mana, Palahiko mana, and Marau mana. + +[63] This Corn maid is one of the most common figures represented by +dolls. + +[64] The two parallel lines on the two outside tail feathers recall the +markings on the face of the War god Puükoñghoya. + +[65] A personation of Shalako mana at Oraibi, according to Mr. H. R. +Voth, came from Mishongnovi. This conforms exactly with the legends +that state the Mamzrauti may have been introduced into Mishongnovi from +Awatobi, for at the division of the captive women at Maski many of the +women went to that pueblo. + +[66] See Fewkes, The New-fire Ceremony at Walpi, pp. 80-138. The New-fire +rites at Walpi are celebrated in November, when four societies, Aaltû, +Wüwütcimtû, Tataukyamû, and Kwakwantû, take part. As in all new-fire +ceremonies, phallic or generative rites are prominent, the Wüwütcimtû and +Tataukyamû who kindle the fire being conspicuous in these rites. Their +bodies have phallic emblems painted on them and the latter bear Zuñi +symbols. + +[67] The designs on the wooden slats carried by women in the dance known +as the Marau ceremony are remarkably like some of those on Awatobi and +Sikyatki pottery. + +[68] Much of the pottery offered for sale by Harvey and other dealers +in Indian objects along the Santa Fe Railroad in Arizona and New Mexico +is imitation prehistoric Hopi ware made by Nampeo. The origin of this +transformation was due partly to the author, who in the year named was +excavating the Sikyatki ruins and graves. Nampeo and her husband, Lesou, +came to his camp, borrowed paper and pencil, and copied many of the +ancient symbols found on the pottery vessels unearthed, and these she has +reproduced on pottery of her own manufacture many times since that date. +It is therefore necessary, at the very threshold of our study, to urge +discrimination between modern and ancient pottery in the study of Hopi +ware, and careful elimination of imitations. The modern pottery referred +to is easily distinguished from the prehistoric, inasmuch as the modern +is not made with as much care or attention to detail as the ancient. +Also the surface of the modern pottery is coated with a thin slip which +crackles in firing. + + + + +AUTHORITIES CITED + + + FEWKES, JESSE WALTER. Snake ceremonials at Walpi. _Journal of American + Ethnology and Archæology_, vol. IV, pp. 1-126. Boston and New York, + 1894. + + ——. Archeological expedition to Arizona in 1895. _Seventeenth Annual + Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, pt. 2, pp. 519-742. + Washington, 1898. + + ——. Winter solstice altars at Hano pueblo. _American Anthropologist_, + n. s. vol. I, no. 2, pp. 251-276. New York, 1899. + + ——. The New-fire ceremony at Walpi. _American Anthropologist_, n. s. + vol. II, no. 1, pp. 80-138. New York, 1900. + + ——. The lesser New-fire ceremony at Walpi. _American Anthropologist_, + n. s. vol. III, no. 3, pp. 438-453. New York, 1901. + + ——. Hopi katcinas. _Twenty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of + American Ethnology_, pp. 13-126. Washington, 1903. + + ——. Two summers’ work in Pueblo ruins. _Twenty-second Annual Report of + the Bureau of American Ethnology_, pt. 1, pp. 17-195. Washington, + 1904. + + ——. Hopi ceremonial frames from Cañon de Chelly, Arizona. _American + Anthropologist_, n. s. vol. VIII, no. 4, pp. 664-670. Lancaster, + 1906. + + ——. Hopi shrines near the East Mesa, Arizona. _American Anthropologist_, + n. s. vol. VIII, no. 2, pp. 346-375. Lancaster, 1908. + + ——. The butterfly in Hopi myth and ritual. _American Anthropologist_, + n. s. vol. XII, no. 4, pp. 576-594. Lancaster, 1910. + + MALLERY, GARRICK. On the pictographs of the North American Indians. + _Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, pp. 13-256. + Washington, 1886. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79063 *** |