Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Part 28

PIPES, BELL, AND CLAY BIRDS AND Sh.e.l.lS FROM AWATOBI AND SIKYATKI]

One of the most striking instances of resemblance between the old and the new is the likeness of some of these ancient pahos to those now made by the Flute society, and if this resemblance is more than a coincidence, the conclusion that the present flute paho is a survival of the ancient form may be accepted. As adding weight to this theory it may be mentioned that traditionally the Flute people claim to be the ancient people of Tusayan, and possibly contemporaries, in that province, with the ancient inhabitants of Sikyatki. There is likewise a most suggestive resemblance between these pahos and certain similar sticks from cliff dwellings, and it is a belief, which I can not yet demonstrate as true, that kindred people, or the same sacerdotal societies represented in cliff houses and in Sikyatki, manufactured ceremonial prayer offerings which are identical in design. Plate CLXXIV, _a_, represents a double stick paho, which closely resembles the prayer offering of the modern Flute society. The two rods were found together and originally had been attached, as indicated by the arrangement of the impression of the string midway of their length.

The stick of the left has a facet cut on one side, upon which originally three dots were depicted to represent the eyes and the mouth. This member of the paho was the female; the remaining stick was the male. There are two deep grooves, or ferules, cut midway of their length, a distinctive characteristic of the modern flute paho. Both components are painted green, as is still customary in prayer-sticks of this fraternity. The pahos shown in _b_, _c_, and _d_, are likewise ascribed to the same society, and differ from the first only in length. They represent female sticks of double flute pahos. The length of these prayer-sticks varies on different ceremonial days, and is determined by the distance of the shrines for which they are intended.

The unit of measurement is the length of certain joints of the finger, and the s.p.a.ce between the tip of longest digit to certain creases in the palm of the hand. The length of the ancient Sikyatki pahos, ascribed to the Flute society, follows the same rule.

Plate CLXXIV, _e_, _f_, have the same ferules referred to in the description above, but are of greater diameter. They are unlike any modern paho except in this particular. In _g_ is depicted a still larger prayer-stick, with two serrate incisions on each side of the continuation of the flattened facet.

Specimens _h_ to _m_ are forms of pahos which I can not identify. They are painted green, generally with black tips, round, flattened, and of small size. Figure _n_ is a part of a paho which closely resembles prayer-sticks found in the cliff houses of Mesa Verde and San Juan valley of northern New Mexico.

Numerous specimens of a peculiar razor-shape paho were found, two of which are shown in plate CLXXV, _o_, _s_. The paho shown in figure _d_ is flat on one side and rounded on the other, narrowing at one end, where it was probably continued in a shaft, and a hole is punctured at the opposite extremity, as if for suspension. It is barely possible that this may have been a whizzer or bull-roarer, such as are used at the present day to imitate the wind, and commonly carried by the performer in a public dance who personifies the warrior. Figure _t_ differs from the ordinary flute paho in having five constrictions in the upper part, and in being continued into a very long shank.

The best preserved of all the pahos from the Sikyatki graves are represented in _u_ and _v_, both of which were found in the same mortuary bowl. They are painted with a thick layer of green pigment, and have shafts, which are blackened and placed in opposite directions in the two figures. Their general form may be seen at a glance. The lower surface of the object shown in _u_ is perfectly flat, and the part represented at the upper end is evidently broken off. This is likewise true of both extremities of the object shown in _v_; it is also probable that it had originally a serrated end, comparable with that shown in _c_. A similar terraced extremity survives in the corn paho carried by the so-called Flute girls in the biennial celebrations of the Flute ceremonies in the modern Tusayan pueblos.

I refer the paho to the second group of sacrifices mentioned by Tylor,[163] that of homage, "a doctrine that the gist of sacrifice is rather in the worshiper giving something precious to himself than in the deity receiving benefit. This may be called the abnegation theory, and its origin may be fairly explained by considering it as derived from the original gift theory."

While it is probably true that the Hopi barters his paho with the idea of receiving in return some desired gift, the main element is probably homage, but there is involved in it the third and highest element of sacrifice, abnegation. It is a sacrifice by symbolism, a part for the whole.

On this theory the query naturally is, what does a paho represent?

While it is difficult to answer this question, I think a plausible suggestion can be made. It is a sacrifice by symbolic methods of that which the Hopi most prize, corn or its meal.

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

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLXXIV

PAHOS OR PRAYER-STICKS FROM SIKYATKI]

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

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CLXXV

PAHOS OR PRAYER-STICKS FROM SIKYATKI]

In a simple prayer the sacrifice is a pinch of meal thrown on the fetish or toward it. This is an individual method of prayer, and the pinch of meal, his prayer bearer, the sacrifice.

When a society made its prayers this meal, symbolic of a gift of corn, is tied in a packet and attached to two sticks, one male, the other female, with prescribed herbs and feathers. Here we have the ordinary prayer-stick, varying in details but essentially the same, a sacrifice to the G.o.ds appropriately designated by prescribed accessories.

Frequently this packet of meal may be replaced by a picture of an ear of corn drawn on a flat slat, the so-called "corn paho" of the Flute maidens,[164] or we may have an ear of corn tied to the wooden slat.

In the _Mamzrau_ ceremony the women carry these painted slats in their hands, as I have elsewhere described.[165] It appears as if, in all these instances, there exists a sacrificial object, a symbolic offering of corn or meal.

The constant appearance of the feather on the paho has suggested an interpretation of the prayer-plumes as symbolic sacrifices of birds on the theory of a part for the whole; we know that among the Nahua sacrifices of birds were common in many ceremonials. The idea of animal sacrifice, and, if we judge from legends, of human sacrifice, was not an unknown conception among the Pueblos. While it is possible that the omnipresence of the feather on the prayer-sticks may admit of that interpretation, to which it must be confessed the male and the female components in double pahos lend some evidence,[166] I believe the main object was, as above stated, an offering of meal, which const.i.tuted the special wealth of an agricultural people.

MARINE Sh.e.l.lS AND OTHER OBJECTS

The excavations at Sikyatki did not reveal a large number of marine sh.e.l.ls, although some of the more common genera used in the ancient pueblos were found.

There were several fragments of _Pectunculus_ cut into the form of wristlets, like those from the ruins on the Little Colorado which I have described. Two beautiful specimens of _Oliva angulata_, truncated at each pole, which occurred in one of the mortuary bowls, and a few conical rattles, made of the spires of _Conus_, were taken from the graves; there were also a few fragments of an unknown _Haliotis_. All of the above genera are common to the Pacific, and no doubt were obtained by barter or brought by migratory clans to Tusayan from the far south. One of the most interesting objects in Sikyatki food basins from the necropolis was a comparatively well preserved rattle of a rattlesnake. The Walpi Snake chief, who was employed by me when this was found and was present at the time it was removed from the earth, declared that, according to the legends, there were no Snake people living at Sikyatki when it was destroyed, but the discovery of the snake rattle shows that the rattler was not without reverence there, even if not in the house of his friends, and some other explanation may be suggested to account for this discovery. There are evidences that the ancient Hopi, like certain Yuman tribes, wore a snake's rattle as an ornament for the neck, in which case the rattle found in the Sikyatki food basin may have been simply a votive offering, and in no way connected with ceremonial symbolism.

Among many other mortuary offerings was one which was particularly suggestive. This specimen represented in plate CLXIX, _e_, is made of unbaked clay, and has a reticulated surface, as if once incrusted with foreign objects. The Hopi who were at work for me declared that this incrustation had been composed of seeds, and that the pits over the surface of the clay cone were evidence of their former existence. They identified this object as a "corn mound," and reminded me that a similar object is now used in the _Powamu_, _Lalakonti_, and certain other ceremonies. I have elsewhere mentioned the clay corn mound incrusted with seeds of various kinds in a description of the altar of the last-mentioned ceremony. These corn mountains (_ka-u-tu'-kwi_) are made in the November ceremony called the _N[=a]-ac-nai-ya_, as described in my account of those rites from which I quote[167]--

"The _Ta-tau-kya-mu_ were very busy in their kib-va. Every member was sh.e.l.ling corn of the different colors as if on a wager. Each man made a figure of moist clay, about four or five inches across the base. Some of these were in the form of two mammae, and there were also many wedge and cone forms, in all of which were embedded corn kernels, forming the cloud and other of the simpler conventional figures in different colors, but the whole surface was studded as full as possible with the kernels. Each man brought down his own _po-o-tas_ (tray), on which he sprinkled prayer-meal, and set his _ka-u-tu'-kwi_ (corn mountain) upon it. He also placed ears of corn on the tray."

These corn mountains were carried by the _Ta-tau-kya-mu_ priesthood during an interesting ceremony which I have thus described:[168]

"The whole line then pa.s.sed slowly along the front of the village sideways, facing the north, and singing, and all the women came out and helped themselves to the clay molds and the ears of corn borne by the _Ta-tau-kya-mu_, bestowing many thanks upon the priests."

The fragment of polished stone shown in plate CLXIX, _d_, is perforated near the edge for suspension, and was found near the aural orifice of a skull, apparently indicating that it had been used as a pendant. With this object, many rude arrowpoints, concretions of stone, and the kaolin disk mentioned above were also found. Small round disks of pottery, with a median perforation, were not common, although sometimes present. They are identified as parts of primitive drills.

No object made of metal was found at Sikyatki, nor is there any evidence that the ancient people of that pueblo ever saw the Spaniards or used any implement of their manufacture. While negative evidence can hardly be regarded as a safe guide to follow, so far as knowledge of copper is concerned, it is possible that the people of ancient Tusayan pueblos, in their trading expeditions to southern Arizona, may have met races who owned small copper bells and trinkets of metal. I can hardly believe, however, that the Tusayan Indians were familiar with the art of tempering copper, and even if objects showing this treatment shall be found hereafter in the ruins of this province it will have to be proved that they were made in that region, and not brought from the far south.

No glazed pottery showing Spanish influence was found at Sikyatki, but there can hardly be a doubt that the art of glazing pottery was practiced by the ancestors of the Tusayan people. The modern potters of the East Mesa never glaze their pottery, and no fragment of glazed ware was obtained from the necropolis of Sikyatki.

PERISHABLE CONTENTS OF MORTUARY FOOD BOWLS

It is the habit of the modern Tusayan Indians to deposit food of various kinds on the graves of their dead. The basins used for that purpose are heaped up with paper-bread, stews, and various delicacies for the breath-body of the deceased. Naturally from its exposed position much of this food is devoured by animals or disappears in other ways. There appears excellent evidence, however, that the mortuary food offerings of the ancient Sikyatkians were deposited with the body and covered with soil and sometimes stones.

The lapse of time since these burials took place has of course caused the destruction of the perishable food substances, which are found to be simple where any sign of their former presence remains. Thin films of interlacing rootlets often formed a delicate network over the whole inner surface of the bowl. Certain of the contents of these basins in the shape of seeds still remain; but these seeds have not germinated, possibly on account of previous high temperatures to which they have been submitted. A considerable quant.i.ty of these contents of mortuary bowls were collected and submitted to an expert, the result of whose examination is set forth in the accompanying letter:

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, DIVISION OF BOTONY, _Washington, D. C., March 25, 1896._

DEAR DR FEWKES: Having made a cursory examination of the samples of supposed vegetable material sent by you day before yesterday, collected at Sikyatki, Arizona, in supposed prehistoric burial places, I have the following preliminary report to make:

No. 156247. A green resinous substance. I am unable to say whether or not this is of vegetable origin.

No. 156248. A ma.s.s of fibrous material intermixed with sand, the fibers consisting in part of slender roots, in part of the hair of some animal.

No. 156249. This consists of a mixture of seed with a small amount of sand present. The seeds are, in about the relative order of their abundance, (_a_) a leguminous shiny seed of a dirty olive color, possibly of the genus _Parosela_ (usually known as _Dalea_); (_b_) the black seed sh.e.l.ls, flat on one side and almost invariably broken, of a plant apparently belonging to the family _Malvaceae_; (_c_) large, flat, nearly black achenia, possibly of a _Coreopsis_, bordered with a narrow-toothed wing; (_d_) the thin lenticular utricles of a _Carex_; (_e_) the minute black, bluntly trihedral seeds of some plant of the family _Polygonaceae_, probably an _Eriogonum_. The majority of these seeds have a coating of fine sand, as if their surface had originally been viscous; (_f_) a dried chrysalis bearing a slight resemblance to a seed.

No. 156250. This bottle contains the same material as No.

156249, except that no larvae are found, but a large, plump, brownish, lenticular seed 4 mm. in diameter, doubtless the seed of a _Croton_.

No. 156251. A thin fragment of matter consisting of minute roots of plants partially intermixed on one surface with sand.

No. 156252. This consists almost wholly of plant rootlets and contains a very slight amount of sand.

No. 156254. This consists of pieces of rotten wood through which had grown the rootlets of plants. The wood, upon a microscopical examination, is shown to be that of some dicotyledonous tree of a very loose and light texture. The plant rootlets in most cases followed the large ducts that run lengthwise through the pieces of wood and take up the greater part of the s.p.a.ce.

No. 156255. The ma.s.s contained in this bottle is made up of (_a_) grains, contained in their glumes or husks, of some gra.s.s, probably _Oryzopsis membranacea_; (_b_) what appears to be the minute spherical spore cases of some microscopical fungus. The spore cases have a wall with a shiny brown covering, or apparently with this covering worn off and exhibiting an interior white sh.e.l.l. Within this is a very large number of spherical spore-like bodies of a uniform size; (_c_) a few plant rootlets.

No. 156256. The material in this bottle is similar to that in 156255 except that the amount of rootlets is greater, the gra.s.s seeds are of a darker color, seemingly somewhat more disorganized, and somewhat more slender in form, and that the spore cases seem to be entirely wanting.

No. 156257. The material in this bottle is similar to that in No. 156249, containing the seeds numbered _a_, _b_, _c_, and _d_ mentioned under that number, besides a greater amount of plant rootlets and some fragments of corncob.

No. 156258. This consists almost entirely of plant rootlets and sand.

No. 156259. This consists chiefly of the leaves of some coniferous tree, either an _Abies_ or a _Pseudotsuga_.

All the seeds with the exception of those of the leguminous plant are dead and their seed-coats rotten. The leguminous seeds are still hard and will be subjected to a germination test.[169]