Pottery

Fig. 8.—Frog fetish. Black Mountain Ruin. (Swope collection.) Length 3½″.

animal fetishFig. 9.—Fetish. Byron Ranch. (Swope collection.) Length 5¾″.

Fig. 9.—Fetish. Byron Ranch. (Swope collection.) Length 5¾″.

animal fetishFig. 10.—Fetish. Byron Ranch. (Swope collection.) Length 6¾″.

Fig. 10.—Fetish. Byron Ranch. (Swope collection.) Length 6¾″.

Two or three shell bracelets were excavated from Mimbres ruins, and there were also found carved shells and tinklers not unlike those of northern New Mexico ruins. Some of these when excavated were found near the head and are supposed to have been earrings. Five shell rings were still on the bones of the forearm of a child when found. One of the shell bracelets owned by Mr. Osborn was cracked but was pierced on each side of the break, indicating where it had been mended; another had figures incised on its surface, and a third had the edges notched, imparting to it a zigzag shape, like that of a serpent. Many shell beads, spires of shells used for tinklers, and other shell objects, all made of genera peculiar to the Pacific Ocean, were found during the excavations.

The comparatively large number of vases, food bowls, and other forms of decorated smooth ware in collections from the Mimbres is largely due to their use in mortuary customs, and the fact that almost without exception they were found placed over the skulls of the dead. Although the largest number of vessels are food bowls, there are also cups with twisted handles (fig. 11), bowls (fig. 12), vases, dippers, and other ceramic forms found in pueblo ruins.26

Fig. 11.—Braided handle. ½ nat. size.

Fig. 12.—Small bowl. Diam. 3½″.

Coarse, undecorated vessels showing coils, indentations, superficial protuberances, and other rude decorations like those so well known in Southwestern ruins, are well represented. Some of these wereused as cooking vessels, as shown by the soot still adhering to their outer surface. While the majority of bowls were broken in fragments when found, a few were simply pierced through the bottom; one or two were unbroken or simply notched at the edge.

The colors of Mimbres ware are uniform and often striking. There are good specimens of black and white ware; also red, black, and yellow with brown decorations are numerous. Some of the best pieces are colored a light orange. Many of the fragments are made of the finest paste identical in color and finish with ware from Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, which furnishes the best prehistoric pottery from the Southwest. No effigy jar, or animal formed vase, however, exists in any collections from the Mimbres examined by the author.

Ruins in the Lower Mimbres have thus far yielded a larger variety and a finer type of pottery than ruins on the banks of the river among the hills, which is in part due to the extent of excavations. The Oldtown potters developed a kind of pottery with characteristic ornamentation found both in ruins in the plain to the south and along the narrow valley of the Mimbres to the north.

The Mimbres pottery, like all other ancient ware from the Southwest, frequently shows evidences of having been mended. Holes were drilled near the breaks and fibers formerly united the parts thus holding the bowl together even though broken. As one goes south, following the course of the river, the character of the pottery changes very slightly, but if anything is a little better.

The food bowls generally have a rounded base, but one specimen is flat on the bottom. The edges of the bowls from the ruin at Black Mountain are curved outward, an exceptional feature in ancient Pueblo vessels but common in modern forms.

The great value of the ceramic collection obtained from the Mimbres is the large number of figures representing men, animals, and characteristic geometrical designs, often highly conventionalized, depicted on their interiors. These figures sometimes cover a greater part of the inner surface, are often duplicated, and are commonly surrounded by geometrical designs or simple lines parallel with the outer rim of the vessel. It is important to notice the graceful way in which geometrical figures with which the ancient potters decorated their bowls are made to grade into the bodies of animals, as when animal figures become highly conventionalized into geometrical designs. Although these decorations are, as a rule, inferior tothose of the Hopi ruin, Sikyatki, the figures of animals are more numerous, varied, and realistic.

The ancients represented on their food bowls men engaged in various occupations, such as hunting or ceremonial dances, and in that way have bequeathed to us a knowledge of their dress, their way of arranging their hair, weapons, and other objects adopted on such occasions. They have figured many animals accompanied by conventional figures which have an intimate relation to their cults and their social organization. Although limited in amount and imperfect in its teaching this material is most instructive.

pictographFig. 13.—Hunters. Oldtown Ruin. (Osborn collection.)

Fig. 13.—Hunters. Oldtown Ruin. (Osborn collection.)

An instructive group of human figures is drawn on a deep red and white food bowl (fig. 13), which measures ten inches in diameter. It is evident that this design represents three hunters following the trail of a horned animal, probably a deer. This trail is represented on the surface of the bowl by a row of triangles, while the footprints of the hunters extend along its side. It may be noted that although there are three hunters, the trails of two only are represented, and that the hunters are barefoot. They have perhaps lost the trail andare looking the opposite way, while the animal has turned back on his path. The footprints of the deer in advance of the hunters are tortuous, showing want of decision on the part of the animal. The three hunters are dressed alike, wearing the close-fitting jacket probably made of strips of skin woven together like that found by Dr. Hough in a sacrificial cave at the head of the Tulerosa, New Mexico. Each carries a bow and arrow in his right hand, and in his left a stick which the leader uses as a cane; the second hunter holds it by one end before him, and the third raises it aloft. These objects are supposed to represent either weapons or certain problematic wooden staffs with feathers attached, like divining rods, by which the hunters are in a magical way directed in their search. The first hunter "feels" for the lost trail by means of this rod.

An examination of the pictures of the arrows these hunters carry shows that each has a triangular appendage at the end representing feathers, and small objects, also feathers, tied to its very extremity. The hair of the third hunter appears to be a single coil hanging down the back, but in the other two it is tied in a cue at the back of the head. The eyes are drawn like the eyes on Egyptian paintings, that is, the eye as it appears in a front view is shown on the side of the head. The right shoulders of all are thrown out of position, in this feature recalling primitive perspective. The information conveyed by this prehistoric picture conforms with what is known from historical sources that the Mimbres Valley formerly abounded in antelopes, and we have here a representation of an aboriginal hunt.

A black and white bowl (pl. 1, fig. 1) is twelve and one-half inches in diameter and six inches deep. Upon this bowl is drawn a figure of a human being, probably a woman or a girl, seen from the front. Although portions of the figure are not very legible, such details as can be made out show a person wearing a blanket that extends almost to the knees leaving arms and legs bare, the lower limbs being covered. The head is square, as if masked, with hair tied at each lower corner. Although these appendages may be meant to represent ear-pendants, it is more likely that they are whorls of hair, as is still customary in Pueblo ceremonies in personations of certain maidens. Across the forehead are alternating black and white square figures arranged in two series, recalling corn or rain-cloud symbols. The neck is adorned by several strands of necklaces, the outermost of which, almost effaced, suggests rectangular ornaments. The garment worn by thefigure is evidently the ceremonial27blanket of a Pueblo woman, for no man wears this kind of garment. It has a white border and from its middle there hangs a number of parallel lines representing cords or a fringe, evidently the ends of a sash by which the blanket was formerly tied about the waist. It is instructive to notice that we find similar parallel lines represented in a picture of a girl from Sikyatki28where the blanket has the same rectangular form as in the prehistoric Mimbres picture. There can be no question that in this case it represents a garment bound with a girdle, or that the picture was intended for that of a girl or a woman. We have in this picture evidence that the same method of arranging the hair was used in the Mimbres Valley as in northern New Mexico. The leg wrappings suggest those used by Pueblo women, especially the Hopi, whose leggings are made of long strips of buckskin attached to the moccasins and wound around the lower limbs.

The third human figure, found on a black and white bowl from a Mimbres ruin, is duplicated by another of the same general character depicted on the opposite side of the bowl. These figures (fig. 14) are evidently naked men with bands of white across the faces. The eyes are represented in the Egyptian fashion. In one hand each figure holds a tube, evidently a cloud-blower or a pipe, with feathers attached to one extremity, and in the other hand each carries a triangular object resembling a Hopi rattle or tinkler. The posture of these figures suggest sitting or squatting, but the objects in the extended left hand would indicate dancing. The figure is identified as a man performing a ceremonial smoke which accompanies ceremonial rites.

One of the most instructive food bowls found at Oldtown, now owned by Mr. Osborn, has on it a picture of two hunters, one on each side of an animal (fig. 15). One of these hunters carries in his hand a stick crooked at the end, its form suggesting a throwing stick.29Both hunters have laid aside their quivers, bows, and arrows, which are shown behind them. The picture of an animal between them has been so mutilated by "killing" or breaking the bowl that it is impossibleto identify it. From the end of this crook to the body of the animal there extend two parallel lines of dots indicating the pathway of a discharged weapon. Near the body of the animal these rows of dots take a new direction, as if the weapon had bounded away or changed its course. The rows of dots are supposed to represent lines of meal by which Pueblos are accustomed to symbolically indicate trails or "roads."

Fig. 14.—Priest smoking. Osborn Ruin.

Fig. 15.—Man with curved stick. Oldtown Ruin. (Osborn collection.) Diam. 5½″.

There is, of course, some doubt as to the correct identification of the crooked staff as a throwing stick, for as yet no throwing stick has been found in the Mimbres ruins. The resemblance of the crooked stick to those on certain Hopi altars and its resemblance to emblems of weapons carried by warrior societies is noteworthy. Crooked sticks of this character have been found in caves in the region north of the Mimbres.30

We find a survival of a similar crook used as sacred paraphernalia in several of the Hopi ceremonies, where they play an important rôle. As the author has pointed out, crooked sticks or gnelas (fig. 16) identified as ancient weapons surround the sand picture of the Antelope altar in the Snake Dance at Walpi, and in Snake altars of other Hopi pueblos, but it is in the Winter Solstice Ceremony, or the Soyaluña, at the East Mesa of the Hopi, that we find special prominence given to this warrior emblem. During this elaborate festival every Walpi and Sitcomovi kiva regards one of these gnelas as especially efficacious for the warriors, and it is installed in a prominent place on the kiva floor, as indicated in the author's account of that ceremony.31

The following explanation of these crooks was given him by the priests:

These crooks or gnelas have been called warrior prayer sticks, and are symbols of ancient weapons. In many folk tales it is stated that warriors overcame their foes by the use of gnelas which would indicate that they had something to do with ancient war implements. Their association with arrows on the Antelope altars adds weight to this conclusion.

The picture from Oldtown ruin of the hunter who has laid aside the quiver, bow, and arrow, and is using a similar gnela,32corroborates this interpretation.

Not all crooked sticks used by the Hopi are prayer sticks, or weapons, for sometimes in Hopi ceremonials a number of small shells aretied to the extremity of a crooked stick forming a kind of rattle. In the Flute Ceremony a crooked stick is said to be used to draw down the clouds when the rain they contain is much desired.

Figure 16is a representation of one of the crooks which was specially made for use in the Soyaluña at Walpi, in 1900. Similar crooks were set upright in a low mound of sand on the floors of all the kivas. Extending from the base of the crook to the ladder there was sprinkled a line of meal called the road (of blessings), over which was stretched a feathered string attached to the end of the crook. Midway in the length of the crook was attached a packet of prayer meal wrapped in cornhusk and a feather of the hawk, a bird dear to warriors, and other objects, which indicated a prayer offering. At the termination of ceremonies in which these crooks are made and blessed as prayer emblems by the Hopi they are deposited in shrines as recorded.

Fig. 16.—Hopi curved stick. Length 8″.

The crook (gnela) is used as a prayer emblem of warriors because it has the form of an ancient weapon, and while it assumes modifications in different Hopi ceremonies it apparently has one and the same intent, as in Soyaluña. This crook is sometimes interpreted as symbolically representing an old man with head bent over by age, but this interpretation is probably secondary to that suggested above, as so often happens in the interpretations given by primitive priests.

The true interpretation of the crooked prayer stick was pointed out by the author in his article on "Minor Hopi Festivals,"33as follows:

This crook is believed by the author to be a diminutive representation of an implement akin to a throwing stick, the object of which is to increase the velocity of a shaft thrown in the air. Its prototype is repeatedly used in Hopi rites, and it occurs among Hopi paraphernalia always apparently with the same or nearly the same meaning.

Fig. 17.—Human figure running. Oldtown Ruin. (Osborn collection.) Diam. 7½″.

Infigure 17is represented a person running with outstretched banded arms, holding in the left hand a bow, and in the other a straight stick. The head is circular with cross lines, a round, dotted eye, and two triangular ears. Another representation shows a human figure with a bow and arrow before the hands, accompanied by three animals, the middle one being a bird and the two lateral, quadrupeds.

By far the most unusual group of human forms consists of two figures, one male, the other female, depicted on another bowl. The action in which these two are engaged is evident. The female figure has dependent breasts and wears a girdle. One hand is raised and brought to the face and the other carries a triangular object. The female figure has three parallel marks on the cheek, like the Hopi war-god. Behind the woman are several curved lines depicting unidentified objects.

The figure shown on one bowl (fig. 18) has several marked features, but the author is unable to suggest any theory of identification. It seems to be a seated figure with a human head, arms, and legs, the toes and fingers being like hands and feet. The forearm is drawn on the shoulder in the same way as in the one of the hunters (fig. 13). The eye, nose, and mouth are also human, but the body is more like that of an animal. The appendages back of the head are similar to those interpreted as feathers on the heads of certain animal designs.

Fig. 18.—Unidentified animal and bowl of unusual form. Oldtown Ruin. (Osborn collection.)

On the theory that this is a seated human figure it is interesting to speculate on the meaning of the curved object represented on the surface of the bowl, extending from one hand to the foot. This object has the general form of a rabbit stick or boomerang, still used by the Hopi in rabbit hunting.34

The well-drawn figure painted on a bowl (pl. 1, fig. 2) from Oldtown ruin represents a man with knees extended and arms raised as if dancing. This picture has characteristic markings on the face, but otherwise is not distinctive.

Wolf.—Although there are not sufficiently characteristic features represented in the next figure (pl. 2, fig. 1)35to identify it satisfactorily, the form of the head, tail, mouth, and ears suggests a wolf.36The square design37covering one side of the body seems to the author not to belong to the animal itself, for an Indian who could represent an animal as faithfully as those here pictured would not place on it such markings unless for a purpose. It resembles the small blankets sometimes worn by pet dogs or horses among white people, which is a lame explanation, as dog and horse blankets wereunknown among Indians. The only theory the author has formed regarding this geometrical figure is that it is a variant of the Sikyatki habit of accompanying a figure of an animal with a representation of his shrine. This bowl is of black and white ware and is eleven inches in diameter by five and one-half inches deep.

Fig. 19.—Antelope. (Osborn collection.) Diam. 10″.

Antelope.—There are two38figures of an animal with branching horns,39supposed to be an antelope, an animal formerly common in Mimbres Valley. In one of these (fig. 19) the head is held downward as if the animal were feeding; in the other (fig. 20) the neck is extended. A pair of markings on the neck are identical with those on pictures of the antelope still painted on modern pottery made by the Zuñi. A band, resembling a checkerboard, is drawn across the body of one; on the other are parallel lines.

Fig. 20.—Antelope. Osborn Ruin. Diam. 10″.

Another figure referred to as an antelope appears to represent a young fawn, since, while it has all the characteristics of this animal,the horns are wanting. This specimen (fig. 21) was found at Oldtown. The rectangular shape so often given to the bodies of animals drawn on Mimbres pottery is well shown in this specimen.

Fig. 21.—Fawn. Oldtown Ruin.

Fig. 22.—Rabbit. Oldtown Ruin. Diam. 7½″.

Mountain Sheep.—It is evident from the form of the unbranched horns, the slender legs, and the head, that either a mountain sheep or mountain goat was intended to be represented inplate 2, figure 2.The markings on the body are symbolic, suggesting lightning, and it may be added that the Hopi depict the lightning on the artificial horns mounted on caps and worn by them in presentations of dances in which they personate mountain sheep.

Rabbit or Hare.—The pictured representation (fig. 31) of a quadruped whose hindlegs are larger than the forelegs and whose long backward extending ears are prominent features, probably represents a rabbit or a hare. The eyes recall figures of birds depicted on bowls from the Little Colorado ruins in Arizona, where eyes are depicted on one side of the head in violation of a law of perspective in which only one eye can appear on a lateral view. The figure appears to have a tuft of grass in the mouth. The geometric markings on the body are different from those of any known species of rabbit and belong to the category of symbolic designs.

Fig. 23.—Mountain lion or wild cat.(Osborn collection.)Fig. 25.—Bird E. Osborn Ruin.(Osborn collection.)

Fig. 23.—Mountain lion or wild cat.(Osborn collection.)

Fig. 25.—Bird E. Osborn Ruin.(Osborn collection.)

The author excavated at Oldtown a food bowl, the figure on which was undoubtedly intended for a rabbit (fig. 22). The head, ears, body, legs, and tail are well made, leaving no question of the intention of the artist; but if there were any doubt of the identification it is dispelled by the representation of the mouth, on which the sensitive hairs or bristles are represented.

Mountain Lion.—One of the Oldtown bowls is decorated with a representation of the wild cat or mountain lion, and is a fair example of archaic design (fig. 23). The feature that distinguished this quadruped is the position of the tail which, like those of Pueblo pictures of mountain lions or cats, is bent forward over the back.

Both head and body are rectangular and the legs are short and stumpy with sharp curved claws. The ears, mouth, and teeth have characteristic features of carnivora and the tail is banded, especially near the end.

The geometric design on the side of the body consists of an angular, S-shaped design with two equal armed stars, the latter associated with the mountain lion in Pueblo symbolism. The single figure drawn on this bowl occupied the middle of the interior, but in the next bowl this figure is duplicated.

The two figures on another bowl also represent some cat, or mountain lion, but the geometric figure on its body differs so much from the first specimen that it may belong to a different genus. The geometrical designs occur on both the anterior and posterior extremities of the rectangular body and consist of triangular figures with parallel lines and terraces recalling rain-clouds. This bowl is owned by Mr. E. D. Osborn, and was found at Oldtown. The decorations on the two quadrants alternating with the animal figures are bands from which other markings radiate to the side of the bowl.

Badger.—The quadruped drawn on the inside of a bowl found at Oldtown, and now owned by Mr. E. D. Osborn, has some resemblances to a badger, especially in the head, ears, teeth, and tail. The geometrical design on the body of this animal consists of an unequal sided rectangle enclosing four triangles with angles so approximated as to form an enclosed rectangle. The head has two bands extending longitudinally, apparently conventionalized markings characteristic of this animal, as they do not occur on deer, wildcats, or mountain sheep.

Birds.—As has been pointed out in the author's identifications40of designs on Sikyatki pottery, those representing birds are among the most abundant. The same holds also in the pottery from the Mimbres, where several figures identified as birds occur on food bowls. Two of these are duplicated on the same vessel, practically the same figure being repeated on opposite sides. In the latter case each member of the pair faces in an opposite direction or is represented as if moving with the middle of the bowl on the left.41

The various birds differ considerably in their forms, organs, attitudes, and appendages. Two of the pictures seem to represent the same bird, but the others belong to different genera. There are one or two figures in which feathers can be distinguished, but as a rule they are fewer in number and the feathers less conventionalized than in Sikyatki pottery.

Pending the difficulty in identifying the various designs representing birds, they are designated by letters A, B, C, D, etc.

Bird A.—The figure shown inplate 3, figure 1, is represented by two designs, practically the same, repeated so far as appendages go, but quite different in the ornamentation of their bodies. One of these has the same geometrical figure on its body as on one of the quadruped pictures, the second has a different design. Both birds have wings outspread as if in flight, in which the feathers are well drawn in detail, especially the wing on the side turned toward the observer. That on the opposite side is simply uniformly black. The feathers of its companion on the other side of the bowl are indicated by parallel lines. The tail is long and forked at the extremity, suggesting a hawk, and is decorated for two-thirds of its length with cross-hatched and parallel lines. A triangular appendage arises from the under side of the tail at the point where the line decoration ends, forming an appendage which is likewise represented in the companion picture.

Bird B.—Bird B (pl. 3, fig. 2) is painted on the interior of a food bowl of black and white ware, ten inches in diameter by five inches deep. Its body is oval, the head erect and undecorated, and the tail twisted from a horizontal into a vertical plane as is customary in representation of lateral views of birds from Pueblo ruins. The geometric figure on the body is unfortunately somewhat obscured by the plaster used in mending, but several parallel bars that may represent feathers of the wings show through it, and a number of other designs or parallel lines are apparent. An appendage of triangular form hangs from the lower margin of the body and indicates the position of one leg; the other leg is missing.

Bird C.—Bird C, shown inplate 4, figure 1, occurs on a black and white bowl that measures ten inches in diameter, five and one-half inches in depth. The figure occupies the circular zone in the middle of the bowl and is enclosed by parallel lines which surround the bowl near the rim. The top of the head, which is globular, is white in color, the beak projecting and the eyes comparatively large. The body is likewise globular and is covered by a square geometrical design the details of which are considerably obscured by the hole in the middle ofthe jar. A number of parallel lines of unequal length, turned downward, hang from the rear of the body and form the tail. The long legs suggest a wading bird, and the widely extended claws point to the same identification.

Bird D.—One of the most instructive figures of birds occurs on a bowl from Oldtown ruin. This bowl (fig. 24) is now owned by Mr. E. D. Osborn, by whom it was found. The bird depicted on it is seen from the back; its wings are drooping, and parallel lines indicate feathers. The legs, drawn backward, terminate in three toes, and the tail, slightly bent to one side, is composed of several feathers.

Fig. 24.—Bird D.(Osborn collection.)Fig. 29.—Unidentified animal. Oldtown Ruin.(Osborn collection.)

Fig. 24.—Bird D.(Osborn collection.)

Fig. 29.—Unidentified animal. Oldtown Ruin.(Osborn collection.)

The head is globular with two eyes on the back and a short pointed beak. As in all other zoic figures the geometric figures on the back of the body are the most characteristic. The middle of the body is occupied by an oval design through which may be seen the perforation with which the bowl was killed. At one end there is a triangular design with cross lines which extend partly over the oval figure where, except at one point, they are obscure.

Four quadrilateral designs are distributed at intervals around the oval figure. Each of these has sides of about equal length and a dot medially placed in a smaller figure contained in a larger.

Bird E.—The bird shown infigure 25(p. 35) from the Osborn ruin has a body form not unlike that ofplate 4, figure 1, but the geometricdesign on the body, although rectangular, has incurved sides and is covered with cross lines suggesting a net. Its neck is girt by four rings, head small, without feathers, eye minute, bill comparatively long and pointed recalling that of a snipe which is also suggested by long legs and in a measure by the form of the tail.

This bird is undoubtedly aquatic, as indicated by the figure of a fish which it appears to be on the point of capturing or devouring.

Bird F.—The bird shown inplate 4, figure 2, is different from any of the above and is distinguished readily by the four curved lines on the head suggesting the quail. The pointed tail is marked above and below with dentations, formed by a series of rectangular figures which diminish in size from body attachment to tip. The body itself is marked posteriorly with parallel lines, rectangular and curved figures suggesting wings.

Fig. 26.—Bird G. Oldtown Ruin. (Osborn collection.) Diam. 10″.

The bowl (fig. 26) has three animals figured upon it forming a graceful combination. The most striking represents a long-billed bird with one wing notched on the inner margin. The tail of this bird is differently drawn from any of the other birds in the collection and has representations of six feathers. In front of this bird, with the point of the snout at the tip of the bill of the bird, is a lizard-shaped head covered with scales and two round eyes. The other remarkable figure also has extended forelegs, but the body is so broken that identification is quite impossible. Like the figure of the lizard, it also has a lozenge head and two eyes. The geometrical designs on the body are characteristic.

Unidentified Animal.—It is difficult to tell exactly what animal was intended to be represented by that shown inplate 5, figure 2. Its head and mouth are not those of any of the horned animals already considered, although it has some anatomical features recalling a mountain sheep. The extension back of the body has a remote likeness to a fish, but may be a bird or simply a conventional design. The geometrical figure covering the side of the body bears some likeness to one depicted on a bird, as shown inplate 3, figure 1. The same geometrical figure sometimes also occurs separated from any animal form in Sikyatki pottery.42

The bowl is ten inches in diameter, five inches in depth, and the figures are painted red on a white ground.

Unidentified Animal.—One of the most remarkable of many figures on bowls from Oldtown in the collection of Mr. E. D. Osborn is shown in figures27,29(p. 38). Three colors enter into the decoration of this bowl, black, white, and brown, and there are two types of ornamentation, one zoic, the other geometric. The bowl itself was much broken when found, but not so mutilated as to hide the main designs.

The zoic figures represent animals with square bodies, four legs, ears, head, and tail like a young antelope. There is no design on the side of the body, but in its place four broad parallel bands extend from the belly across the bowl. Each group of parallel lines changes its direction, widening in their course or near the ends where they enlarge for the accompanying figure. The markings on the necks of these figures suggest those on fawns.

The elaborate geometric figure composed of a scroll and comma-like dot and eye is a highly conventionalized symbol, possibly of some animal, as a bird's head, common on Casas Grandes pottery.

There is a bowl on exhibition in the Chamber of Commerce at Deming with a picture of a quadruped resembling a deer, but the base is so fractured in killing that it is difficult to determine the shape of the body or its decoration.

Unidentified Animal.—One of the most instructive figures of the collection appears in duplicate on a large food bowl (pl. 5, fig. 1). This vessel is black and white in color and measures fifteen inches indiameter by six inches deep. The two designs occur on the two sides of the interior of the bowl, the middle of which is left without decoration.

The body of this creature is elongated and tapers backward, being continued into a tail like that of the lizard. The head is long and the snout pointed. Only two legs are represented, and these are situated far back on the body near the point of the origin of the tail from the body. A lozenge-shaped symbol forms the geometrical design on the side.

Fig. 27.—Unidentified animal. Oldtown Ruin. (Osborn collection.)

The presence of only two legs in this figure would seem to indicate that a bird was intended, but no bird has a tail like this figure; and the prehistoric potters of the Mimbres certainly knew how to draw a bird much better than this would imply. The exceptional features of this drawing, doubtless intentional, belong neither to flesh, fish, nor fowl, rendering its identification doubtful.

A figure on a bowl here represented (pl. 6, fig. 1) is painted in "black or brown on a background of bluish wash over a yellow color."This bowl is eleven inches in diameter, five inches in depth. The figure is a remarkable one, having features of several animals, but none of these are more pronounced than its insectiform characters, among which may be mentioned the antennæ, three legs on one side (evidently three pairs of legs, for that in the back is simply introduced in violation of perspective), and an extended segmented abdomen attached to the thorax and terminating in a recurved tip. The character of the appendages to the thorax, or the wings, leaves no doubt that a flying animal was intended, and the legs and head being like an orthopterous insect, it may be provisionally identified as a "grasshopper."44

While the general form of head, thorax, and body appear from an inspection of the figure, it may be well to call attention to certain special features that illustrate primitive methods of drawing. The most striking of these is seen in the abnormal position of the leg which arises from the thorax on the back in the rear of the so-called wings. This abnormal position was introduced by the artist to show the existence and form of the legs on the right side; the appendage corresponds with one of the three on the left side, which have the proper position but are much smaller. A similar delineation of organs out of place not seen or turned away from the observer was common among the prehistoric artists of the Pueblo region and is paralleled by the representation of two eyes on one side of the head already mentioned. The two "wings," each ending in white circles with dots or crosses, are supposed, on the theory that this is a grasshopper, to represent wing covers or elytra, which of course the prehistoric people of the Mimbres did not differentiate from folded wings. It is possible that wing cover and wing may be represented on one side and that corresponding organs on the right side of the body are omitted. The thorax is covered with regularly arranged rows of dots formed by parallel lines crossing at an angle, forming purely arbitrary decoration representing the geometric designs on the bodies of other animals.

One of the few bowls obtained on which animals of two species were depicted on the same vessel was excavated by the author at Oldtown. This remarkably fine specimen (pl. 7, fig. 1) has figures oftwo birds and two frogs45drawn in opposite quadrants, being unique in this particular. The two birds and frogs are not very unlike those already described but have certain characteristic features, especially in the geometric designs on their bodies.

The bowl is warped into an irregular shape and made of thin ware, probably distorted in firing. It was found under the floor of one of the central rooms in the Oldtown ruin, almost completely covering the skeleton of a baby.

On another bowl (pl. 6, fig. 2) there is depicted a frog very like that last mentioned. The frog being an amphibian was undoubtedly greatly reverenced by the ancient people of the Mimbres Valley.

The serpent with a horn on the head is pretty generally regarded as a supernatural being, and its pictures and effigies occur on modern Hopi, Zuñi, and other Pueblo paraphernalia. It is an ancient conception, for it is figured on prehistoric pottery from all parts of the Pueblo area, having been found as far south as Casas Grandes in Chihuahua. It is to be expected that a people like the ancient Mimbreños who adorned their pottery with so many well drawn zoic figures would have included the horned serpent, provided this reptile was a member of their pantheon. The nearest approach to a figure of such a monster is found on a large pottery fragment found by Mr. Osborn twelve miles south of Deming. This fragment covered the cranium of a skeleton and was perforated or "killed" like a whole bowl.

A very large number of pictures of the horned snake from localities all over the Southwest might be mentioned, but a few examples are adequate to show how widespread the conception was in ancient times. They occur among the Tewa, Keres, Zuñi, Hopi and other Pueblos and vary greatly in details, but in all instances preserve the essential symbolic feature—a horn on the head and a serpentine body.

The horned serpent is known to the Hopi as the plumed serpent, and when represented by them has a bundle of hawk feathers as well as a horn attached to the head. Effigies of this being, also with hornand feathers, are used in several ceremonies, as the Winter Solstice,46and a dramatic festival47which occurs yearly in March. Wooden representations of the same horned snake are carried as insignia by a warrior society called the Kwakwantu,48in the New Fire Ceremony. The priests of the Tewan pueblo, Hano, among the Hopi also have effigies of the horned snake, the worship of which their ancestors brought to Arizona from New Mexico. These effigies are yearly made of clay and form conspicuous objects on the December altars of that pueblo.

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