Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Part 23

A large number of crosses are represented in plate CLXII, _d_, in which the remaining semicircle is filled with a tessellated pattern. A spiral line with round spots at intervals adorns the specimen shown in plate CLXI, _a_. Parallel lines with similar spots appear on the vessel ill.u.s.trated in plate CLXII, _e_, and a network of the same is shown in _f_ of the same plate. Plate CLXVII, _b_, represents a compound star.

While simple swasticas are not found on any of the Sikyatki pottery, modified and compound forms are well represented. There are several specimens of figures of the Maltese cross, and one closely approximating the Saint Andrew's cross. It is scarcely necessary to say that the presence of the various kinds of crosses do not necessarily indicate the influence of Semitic or Aryan races, for I have already shown[151] that even cross-shape prayer-sticks were in use among the Pueblos when Coronado first visited them.

TERRACED FIGURES

Among the most common of all geometric designs on ancient Tusayan pottery none excel in variety or number those which I place in the above group. They form the major part of all decoration, and there is hardly a score of ornamented vessels in which they can not be detected. In a typical form they appear as stepped designs, rectangular figures with diagonals continuous, or as triangular designs with steps represented along their sides.

While it is probable that in some instances these figures are simply decorative, with no attempt at symbolism, in other cases without doubt they symbolize rain-clouds, and the same figures are still used with similar intent in modern ceremonial paraphernalia--altars, mask-tablets, and the like. Decorative modifications of this figure were no doubt adopted by artistic potters, thus giving varieties where the essential meaning has been much obscured or lost.

THE CROOK

Among the forms of geometric designs on ancient Tusayan pottery there are many jars, bowls, and other objects on which a crook, variously modified, is the essential type. This figure is so constant that it must have had a symbolic as well as a decorative meaning. The crook plays an important part in the modern ritual, and is prominent on many Tusayan altars. Around the sand picture of the rain-cloud, for example, we find a row of wooden rods with curved ends, and in the public Snake dance these are carried by partic.i.p.ants called the Antelopes. A crook in the form of a staff to which an ear of corn and several feathers are attached is borne by _katcinas_ or masked partic.i.p.ants in certain rain dances. It is held in the hand by a personage who flogs the children when they are initiated into certain religious societies. Many other instances might be mentioned in which this crozier-like object is carried by important personages. While it is not entirely clear to me that in all instances this crook is a badge of authority, in some cases it undoubtedly represents the standing of the bearer. There are, likewise, prayer offerings in the form of crooks, and even common forms of prayer-sticks have miniature curved sticks attached to them.

Some of the warrior societies are said to make offerings in the form of a crook, and a stick of similar form is a.s.sociated with the G.o.ds of war. There is little doubt that some of the crook-form decorations on ancient vessels may have been used as symbols with the same intent as the sticks referred to above. The majority of the figures of this shape elude interpretation. Many of them have probably no definite meaning, but are simply an effective motive of decoration.

In some instances the figure of the crook on old pottery is a symbol of a prayer offering of a warrior society, made in the form of an ancient weapon, allied to a bow.

THE GERMINATIVE SYMBOL

The ordinary symbol of germination, a median projection with lateral extensions at the base (plate CXLIX, _e_), occurs among the figures on this ancient pottery. In its simplest form, a median line with a triangle on each side attached to one end, it is a phallic emblem.

When this median line becomes oval, and the triangles elongated and curved at the ends, it represents the ordinary squash symbol,[152]

also used as an emblem of fertility.

The triangle is also an emblem of germination and of fecundity--the female, as the previously mentioned principle represents the male. The geometric designs on the ancient Sikyatki ware abundantly ill.u.s.trate both these forms.

BROKEN LINES

In examining the simple encircling bands of many of the food bowls, jars, and other ceramic objects, it will be noticed that they are not continuous, but that there is a break at one point, and this break is usually limited to one point in all the specimens. Various explanations of the meaning of this failure to complete the band have been suggested, and it is a remarkable fact that it is one of the most widely extended characteristics of ancient pottery decoration in the whole Pueblo area, including the Salado and Gila basins. While in the specimens from Sikyatki the break is simple and confined to one point, in those from other regions we find two or three similar failures in the continuity of encircling lines, and in some instances the lines at the point of separation are modified into spirals, terraces, and other forms of geometric figures. In the more complex figures we find the most intricate variations, which depart so widely from the simple forms that their resemblances are somewhat difficult to follow. A brief consideration of these modifications may aid toward an understanding of the character of certain geometric ornamental motives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLIX

CROSS AND RELATED DESIGNS FROM SIKYATKI]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLX

CROSS AND OTHER SYMBOLS FROM SIKYATKI]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLXI

STAR, SUN, AND RELATED SYMBOLS FROM SIKYATKI]

If any of the interlocking spirals on bowls or vases are traced, it is found that they do not join at the center of the figure. The same is true when these spirals become frets. There is always a break in the network which they form. This break is comparable with the hiatus on encircling bands and probably admits of the same interpretation. In a simple form this motive appears as two crescents or two key patterns with the ends overlapping. This simple ornament, called the friendship sign, is commonly used in the decoration of the bodies of _katcinas_, and has been likened to the interlocking of fingers or hands of the partic.i.p.ants in certain dances, the fingers half retracted with inner surfaces approximated, the palms of the hands facing in opposite directions and the wrists at opposite points. If the points be extended into an elaborate key pattern or curved into extended spirals, a complicated figure is produced in which the separation is less conspicuous although always present.

The same points may be modified into terraced figures, the separation then appearing as a zigzag line drawn across the figure, or they may have interlocking dentate or serrate prolongations imparting a variety of forms to the interval between them.[153] In order to trace out these modifications it would be necessary to specify each individual case, but I think that is unnecessary. In other words, the broken line appears to be a characteristic not only of simple encircling bands, but also of all geometric figures in which highly complicated designs extend about the periphery of a utensil.

DECORATIONS ON THE EXTERIOR OF FOOD BOWLS

The decorations on the exterior of the ancient food bowls are in most instances very characteristic and sometimes artistic. Generally they reproduce patterns which are found on the outside of vases and jars and sometimes have a distant relationship to the designs in the interior of the bowl upon which they occur. Usually these external decorations are found only on one side, and in that respect they differ from the modern food bowls, in which nothing similar to them appears.

The characteristics of the external decorations of food bowls are symbolic, mostly geometric, square or rectangular, triangular or stepped figures; curved lines and spirals rarely if ever occur, and human or animal figures are unknown in this position in Sikyatki pottery; the geometric figures can be reduced to a few patterns of marked simplicity.

It is apparent that I can best discuss the variety of geometric designs by considering these external decorations of food vessels at length. From the fact that they are limited to one side, the design is less complicated by repet.i.tion and seems practically the same as the more typical forms. It is rarely that two of these designs are found to be exactly the same, and as there appears to be no duplication a cla.s.sification of them is difficult. Each potter seems to have decorated her ware without regard to the work of her contemporaries, using simple designs but combining them in original ways. Hence the great variety found even in the grave of the same woman, whose handiwork was buried with her. As, however, the art of the potter degenerated, as it has in later times, the patterns became more alike, so that modern Tusayan decorated earthenware has little variety in ornamentation and no originality in design. Every potter uses the same figures.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 277--Oblique parallel line decoration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 278--Parallel lines fused at one point]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 279--Parallel lines with zigzag arrangement]

The simplest form of decoration on the exterior of a food bowl is a band encircling it. This line may be complete or it may be broken at one point. The next more complicated geometric decoration is a double or multiple band, which, however, does not occur in any of the specimens from Sikyatki. The breaking up of this multiple band into parallel bars is shown in figure 277. These bars generally have a quadruple arrangement, and are horizontal, vertical, or, as in the ill.u.s.tration, inclined at an angle. They are often found on the lips of the bowls and in a similar position on jars, dippers, and vases.

The parallel lines shown in figure 278 are seven in number, and do not encircle the bowl. They are joined by a broad connecting band near one extremity. The number of parallel bands in this decoration is highly suggestive.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLXII

GEOMETRIC ORNAMENTATION FROM SIKYATKI]

Four parallel bands encircle the bowl shown in figure 279, but they are so modified in their course as to form a number of trapezoidal figures placed with alternating sides parallel. This interesting pattern is found only on one vessel.

The use of simple parallel bars, arranged at equal intervals on the outside of food bowls, is not confined to these vessels, for they occur on the margin of vases, cups, and dippers. They likewise occur on ladle handles, where they are arranged in alternate transverse and longitudinal cl.u.s.ters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 280--Parallel lines connected by middle bar.]

The combination of two vertical bands connected by a horizontal band, forming the letter H, is an ornamental design frequently occurring on the finest Hopi ware. Figure 280 shows such an H form, which is ordinarily repeated four times about the bowl.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 281--Parallel lines of different width; serrate margin]

The interval between the parallel bands around the vessel may be very much reduced in size, and some of the bands may be of different width, or otherwise modified. Such a deviation is seen in figure 281, which has three bands, one of which is broad with straight edges, the other with serrate margin and hook-like appendages.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 282--Parallel lines of different width; median serrate]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 283--Parallel lines of different width; marginal serrate]

In figure 282 eight bands are shown, the marginal broad with edges entire, and the median pair serrated, the long teeth fitting each other in such a way as to impart a zigzag effect to the s.p.a.ce which separates them. The remaining four lines, two on each side, appear as black bands on a white ground. It will be noticed that an attempt was made to relieve the monotony of the middle band of figure 282 by the introduction of a white line in zigzag form. A similar result was accomplished in the design shown in figure 283 by rectangles and dots.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 284--Parallel lines and triangles]