Read Ebook: Pottery of the ancient Pueblos. (1886 N 04 / 1882-1883 (pages 257-360)) by Holmes William Henry

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Two small bowls have borders in which the meandered lines are in the natural color of the ground, the triangular spaces being filled in with black. In one case the effect of the guilloche is given in the same manner.

Few vessels exhibit a more characteristic example of the ornamentation of this ware than that given in Fig. 259. It is identical in surface finish with the last, excepting that the exterior has been painted red. An exceptional feature may be noticed in the shaping of the rim, which has been brought to a sharp edge.

The design occupies the usual space, and consists of a very elaborately meandered or fretted line, which is so involved that the eye follows it with difficulty. Four units of the combination complete the circuit of the vessel. In another specimen, which also has the design divided into four parts, the lower line of each part is made straight, by which means the space left in the bottom of the vessel is square instead of round, as in the other cases.

Another variety of decoration, quite characteristic of this region, consists of a band of fret-work dashed boldly across the inner surface of the bowl, giving a most striking result. These figures appear to be fragments of continuous borders, taken from their proper connections and made to do duty on a surface that had ordinarily been left without decoration. This observation has led to the proper interpretation of many enigmatic combinations at first thought to have especial application and significance.

The handsome shallow bowl presented in Fig. 260 has been badly broken and carefully mended while still in the hands of its aboriginal owners. It is ten and one-half inches in diameter, and only three and three-fourths inches in depth. The surface finish is identical with that of the preceding example. The design, which consists of a single segment of a chain of fret-work, is drawn in broad, steady lines. Fig. 261.

Not unlike the last in its leading features is the vessel illustrated in Fig. 262. The label indicates that it was collected at Kanab, Utah, a Mormon village ninety miles east of Saint George. The design is carried over the whole inner surface, and is somewhat difficult to analyze. There is little doubt, however, that it consists of portions of fretted or meandered patterns arbitrarily selected from basketry or other geometrically embellished articles, and applied to this use. The complete device is shown in Fig. 263.

The following examples are unique in their styles of decoration. The first, Fig. 264, resembles the preceding save in its painted device. Like a few others, it has been badly fractured and carefully mended by its Indian owners. It was obtained also at Kanab, and is nine inches in diameter by four and one-half in height. The design is cruciform in arrangement, the four parts being joined in pairs by connecting lines. It exhibits some very unusual features , and we are led to suspect that it may in some way have been significant, or at least that it is a copy of some emblematic device.

The almost total absence of life forms in the art of the primitive Pueblos has often been remarked. One example only has been discovered in this region. This occurs in a subject painted on the inner surface of a rather rude, oblong, bowl, from the Saint George tumulus, Fig. 266. A checkered belt in black extends longitudinally across the bowl. At the sides of this, near the middle, are two human figures, executed in the most primitive style, as shown in Fig. 267. Their angular forms are indicative of textile influence. The middle part of the bowl is broken out, so that the feet of one figure and the head of the other are lost.

These figures resemble those painted upon and picked in the rocks of the pueblo region, and the triangular head is sometimes seen in the ceramic decoration of modern tribes. A bowl with similar figures was brought from Tusayan by Mr. Mindeleff. It is illustrated in Fig. 268.

Among the many fine things from the mound at Saint George are a few red bowls. They were made of a slightly reddish clay, or the paste has reddened uniformly in burning, and a slip or wash of bright red color has been applied to the surface. The designs are painted in black, but differ in style from any of the preceding. This work corresponds very closely indeed with the decorations of similar vessels from the Little Colorado. The marked peculiarities of the ornamentation and color of these bowls give rise to the idea that they may have been intended for some especial service of a ceremonial character. It is not impossible, however, that these vessels reached very distant localities by means of trade. A representative example is shown in Fig. 269. The broad interior band of ornament is divided into four compartments by vertical panels of reticulated lines. The compartments are occupied by groups of disconnected rectangular fret-links on a ground of oblique stripes.

The heart-shaped bowls previously mentioned include medium sized and small vases, with slightly conical bases, distended shoulders, and much constricted, often depressed, apertures. They are of very general distribution, but like the hemispherical red bowls are rarely found in numbers. It is probable that they were devoted to ceremonial rather than to domestic uses. The shapes are generally pleasing to the eye; the finish is exceptionally fine, and the designs, though simple, are applied with more than usual care.

A very good specimen from the tumulus at Saint George is illustrated in Fig. 270.

The bottom in this case is slightly flattened, and the incurved lip but slightly sunken. The paste is a light red and the surface has received a coat of bright red color. The design is in black, is extremely simple, and rather carelessly drawn. The principal figure seems to be a very simple form of the favorite device--the meander.

A large fine bowl much like the preceding, and obtained from the same locality, is owned by the Salt Lake City Museum. The design is of the same class, but very much more elaborate. Another example from Saint George is smaller and yellowish-gray in color, with figures in red and black. At Kanab I picked up fragments of a small vessel, highly polished and of a rich, brownish-purple color, the designs being in black. Another fragment showed designs in bright red and black upon a yellowish ground.

OLLAS.--I have already called attention to the fact, that the Saint George tumulus furnished no example of ollas or large-necked vases of the painted variety, vessels of this class being plain or of the coiled ware. In the vicinity, however, I collected fragments of the white painted pottery derived from large vessels of this class, very much like the large, handsome vessels of ancient Tusayan. A number of such fragments come from the vicinity of Kanab. Plain vessels of this shape were obtained from the tumulus at Saint George. They are identical in every other respect, save the presence of designs, with the painted pottery. Some have received a wash of red, while it is not improbable that others have lost their color or decorative figures by wear or weather.

HANDLED VESSELS.--From the tumulus at Saint George we have a very excellent example of pitcher, which is shown in Fig. 271. The shape is not quite satisfactory, the neck being clumsy, but the workmanship is exceptionally good. The surface is even and well polished and the color is a strong red. The painted design in black, upon the red ground, consists of a number of meandered lines, to which are added at intervals small dentate figures, as seen in the cut.

DISTRICT OF THE RIO SAN JUAN.

In a number of ways the valley of the Rio San Juan possesses unusual interest to the antiquarian. Until within the latter half of the nineteenth century, it remained wholly unknown. The early Spanish expeditions are not known to have penetrated its secluded precincts, and its cliff-houses, its ruined pueblos and curious towers have been so long deserted that it is doubtful whether even a tradition of their occupation has been preserved, either by the nomadic tribes of the district or by the modern pueblos of the south. Certain it is that no foreign hand has influenced the art of this district, and no Spanish adventurer has left traces of his presence.

The ceramic remains are more uniform in character and apparently more archaic in decoration than those of any other district. They belong almost exclusively to two varieties, the coiled ware and the white ware with black figures. The former has already been described, the latter must now pass under review.

No tumuli or burial places were observed, but I suspect that careful search will bring them to light, and that they will yield much richer results than the scattered fragments of the surface. The district now under consideration comprises the entire drainage of the Rio San Juan. It includes the well-known valleys of the Animas, the La Plata, the Mancos, the McElmel, and the Montezuma on the north, and the Chaco and the de Chelly on the south. On the north I include also a portion of the valley of the Rio Dolores. The center of the district will not be very far distant from the corner stone of the four political divisions of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.

The collections from the valley of the Rio de Chelly, one of the richest sections of this district, are very badly scattered, and the vessels cannot be identified. Many fine things have been carried away to the south and are now in the collections from Cibola and Tusayan; while others have been brought east by the various expeditions without a proper record of the locality. This is to be regretted, as it makes it impossible to study the shades of distinction between the wares of neighboring localities.

Bowls were very numerous and greatly varied in size, finish, and ornamentation. Many have received painted designs both inside and out. This occurs with those having nearly upright rims. Handled-cups of hemispherical shape are also common, but the heart-shaped bowls are of rare occurrence. Bottle-shaped vessels and ollas have not, as in the south, formed a prominent feature. For some of the latter very neat lids have been made, the rims being shaped for their reception. Upright vessels with handles are common. Eccentric or animal forms have not been found.

BOWLS.--The arrangement of the designs upon the bowls is far from uniform. In a great majority of cases, however, they occupy belts encircling the inner and outer margin. The fragmentary condition of the remains makes it impossible to restore designs that covered the entire surface of the vessels. The decorations comprise nearly all the usual elements and motives. In Fig. 272 we have a small bowl from Montezuma Ca?on, Utah. In form it is a deep hemisphere. The design is upon the interior surface, and consists of a broad band bordered by heavy lines and filled in with vertical lines. The rim is ornamented with seven pairs of dots. Fig. 273 is restored from a fragment obtained in southwest Colorado. It shows an interior ornament consisting of a well-drawn chain of volutes.

Many of the bowls were large and handsomely finished, both surfaces being whitened and polished. A superior example is given in Fig. 274. Neat borders have been applied to both interior and exterior surfaces. They are suggestive of patterns produced through the technique of textile products, and consist of interrupted forms of the meander. I have restored from small fragments in this and other cases, for the reason that no large fragments of the finer vessels are preserved.

Fig. 275 illustrates a very pleasing vessel. It is hemispherical, and about eleven inches in diameter. A narrow zone of ornament based upon the meander encircles the exterior margin of the rim, and a broad, carefully drawn design, consisting of two parallel meanders, Fig. 276, occupies the interior. It will be seen that the meandered fillets are in white, and the bordering stripes and the upper and lower rows of triangular interspaces are in solid black, while the median band and its connecting triangles are obliquely striped. It should be noticed that the oblique portions of the meanders are indented or stepped. This is a very usual occurrence in these decorations, and may be taken as a pretty decided indication that they were copied, more or less directly, from textile ornamentation in which all oblique lines are necessarily stepped.

HANDLED CUPS.--Small cups were generally furnished with handles and probably served as ladles and spoons. An entire specimen is rarely found. Two are illustrated in Figs. 277 and 278. They were obtained by W. H. Jackson from the ruins of Montezuma Ca?on. The handles of these vessels vary a great deal; some are flat, while others are round, consisting either of a single or a looped roll of clay; some are hollow, resembling the handles of gourds, and a few are made of twisted fillets. This latter form belongs generally to upright cups.

OLLAS.--It is quite impossible to make satisfactory restorations of the vases or ollas from the small fragments recovered. The evidence is sufficient, however, to show that vessels of this class were numerous, and often large. I have made two restorations of small examples belonging to this class, of which there are fragments showing the neck and upper part of the bodies. The bottoms are so universally rounded that I have drawn full globular shapes; Figs. 279 and 280. The most striking character of Fig. 279 is the shape of the rim, which is fashioned for the reception of a lid. The same feature is noticed in a small vessel obtained at Zu?i.

Examples of lids from the San Juan Valley are shown in Figs. 281 and 282. They were evidently designed for vessels of the class just described. The specimen given in Fig. 281 is neatly finished and embellished, and the quality of the ware is very superior.

HANDLED VASES.--Many small vessels were furnished with handles, some horizontal and others vertical. Of the first variety is the example shown in Fig. 283. The fragment was obtained from the great ruin at "Aztec Springs," Colorado. It shows a small, symmetrical vessel, with black lines and devices. The handle, which probably had a companion on the opposite side, is strong and neatly made.

Figure 284 represents a very pretty little vessel, brought by Mr. W. H. Jackson from the Ca?on de Chelly. It is of the usual gray polished ware, the base being somewhat roughened by use. The design consists of encircling lines combined with a belt of disconnected triangular hooks or fret-links.

Handled mugs with round bodies and wide high necks were in great favor with the San Juan potter. There are but two entire specimens in the collection. These were obtained by Capt. Moss, of Parrott, who stated that they, with other relics, had been exhumed from a grave in the San Juan Valley. Both are comparatively rude in construction, and seem to be considerably weathered. The one shown in Fig. 285 is decorated with a classic meander which encircles the body of the vessel. The other, illustrated in Fig. 286, has the upper part covered with simple figures resembling bird tracks.

Fig. 287 is restored from a large fragment brought from the San Juan Valley. Its walls widen a little below, and the very pretty ornament is somewhat unevenly applied. The handle is made of a double rope of clay, and extends from the lip to the base. The example shown in Fig. 288 was obtained in the vicinity of Provo, Utah, by Capt. G. M. Wheeler's expedition. It is so like those from the San Juan that I place it here for comparison. It is a little wider toward the base, and is nearly symmetrical. It is four inches in height and the same in diameter. A very similar vessel, probably from the Province of Tusayan, is found in the Keam collection.

DISTRICT OF THE COLORADO CHIQUITO.

The National Museum has procured many fine pieces through the agents of the Bureau of Ethnology, and the collection of Mr. Keam is especially rich in the pottery of Tusayan. Some of the finer examples of the latter collection are selected for illustration.

It seems unaccountable that such a large number of the ancient vessels should be preserved, and that too in a country where vessels are constantly in demand. Many have been picked up by the Pueblo tribes and laid away for especial uses or possibly as heirlooms; but many of those secured by recent collectors were obtained from the sites of ancient settlements, from burial places, and from caves, and brought directly to the market so recently made for them.

There can be no doubt that many of the specimens accredited to this district have come from neighboring or distant provinces; yet within the valley of the Little Colorado there are such wide variations from predominant types that foreign pieces cannot be readily detected. Many of the finer pieces of the white ware are rather new looking and show very superior taste and skill. The indications are that the manufacture of this white ware was kept up in portions of this district down to a comparatively recent date, possibly until the coming of the Europeans. It will probably be impossible to determine just why and how the archaic types gave way to the transitional and modern. It may be found, however, that the influence of the Spaniard was a factor in the change.

Beside the archaic white ware and its closely associated red ware the province of Tusayan furnishes two or three distinct varieties, all of which, unlike that ware, are apparently confined to very limited districts. These have been briefly described on a preceding page.

Many pieces of the white ware are of large size and of elegant shape and finish. Some of the ollas and bottles are masterpieces of the art. The texture of the paste is fine and the color is often quite white. The designs are uniformly in black and are superior in execution and conception to those of the north.

BOWLS.--The bowls are very generally hemispherical. The finish, like that of the pottery of the San Juan and the Rio Virgen, is rather rough on the exterior, and whitened and polished on the inner surface. The painted figures are confined to the interior, and are highly elaborated combinations of the usual geometric motives. They are generally made up of four sections of double-zoned borders such as occur on the exterior of vases, cut out, as it were, and fitted into the bowl in a cruciform arrangement, a plain square remaining in the bottom of the vessel. See Fig. 291. There are, however, many examples which consist of two encircling zones of ornament identical in style and arrangement with examples from the Rio Virgen, Figs. 230 and 231, and from the Rio San Juan, Figs. 248, 259, and 274.

In Fig. 289 we have a representative example of the bowls of ancient Tusayan. The outer surface is rudely trowel-finished, but the inside is well polished. The painted design consists of four parts arranged about a central square. Each part comprises a number of alternate bands of straight and zigzag lines.

The superb bowl presented in Fig. 290 is nearly fifteen inches in diameter and seven inches deep. It is hemispherical but not quite symmetrical. Having been broken, it was mended by its owners after their aboriginal fashion. Two pairs of holes have been bored on opposite sides of a long fracture for the insertion of thongs. Other perforations have been commenced but do not penetrate the vessel. The walls are upwards of one-eighth of an inch in thickness near the rim, but are less than that throughout the body of the bowl. The paste is of a dark gray color, speckled with ashy-white particles, which may be pulverized potsherds. The interior surface is finished with a slip of white clay and has received a fair degree of polish. The exterior is only trowel-finished and is much scarified by use. The interior is embellished with a very elaborate design, which is given with all possible accuracy in a plain projection, in Fig. 291. The work does not exhibit a great deal of skill or neatness in execution, but the whole design is carefully made out and well adjusted to the deeply concave surface. An analysis of this figure is easily given. It is a cruciform arrangement of four portions of rather elaborate double borders. Each part consists of two parallel bands, a principal and a subordinate, separated by parallel lines and taking the relation to each other always noticed in the two belts of designs painted upon the exterior of vases. Two of the sections are alike. The others differ from these and from each other.

One figure, consisting of three linked volutes, is defined in white by painting around it a black ground. The artist in painting this vessel has probably not thought of achieving anything beyond the filling up neatly of the four spaces, and has followed the usual practice of borrowing his motives from other objects; yet it will not be wise to conclude that these figures are really meaningless combinations of lines. The persistency and individuality of certain motives makes it almost certain that they are not the result of aimless elaboration, and that the potter understood their significance. They are too purely geometric, however, to furnish any clew to us through internal evidence. We have no resource beyond the analogies of historic art. Modern tribes use the current meander to symbolize water, and a leading motive in many of these designs--the linked scroll running through a field of serrate lines--is wonderfully like some forms of the Aztec symbol for water, as may be seen by reference to the Mexican codices.

Another very excellent example of these bowls is presented in Fig. 292. It is small and shallow, measuring six and a half inches in diameter and two and a half in depth. The material is somewhat soft and chalky. The walls are thick and the surface is well finished. The painted design is cruciform, like the preceding, but is much more simple and satisfactory. It is interesting to note the changes rung upon the few simple motives employed in these designs. Again apparently each of the four parts is a fragment of a double border, cut up and fitted into the concave surface. The bands with oblique, dotted, or stepped lines, Fig. 293, are repetitions of the neck belt of a bottle-shaped vase or basket, and the other bands with their chaste fret-work repeat a section of the body zone.

Bowls and cups of the hemispherical model are very often supplied with handles. Like other bowls, they are embellished with painted designs derived from vases or from textile sources. In order of evolution, they probably follow the plain form--the handles being added to facilitate use.

The principal varieties of handles have already been described. The bowl illustrated in Fig. 294 is furnished with a single semicircular loop. In form, finish, and color it is the same as that of the other bowls, and the painted design has a similar derivation and arrangement.

In the collection we have a fine large red bowl, now in a fragmentary state. It is eleven inches in diameter and six inches deep. A small loop is attached to the outside near the margin. It has a very decided resemblance in color, finish, and ornamentation to the red bowls of the Rio Virgen. The color of both the surface and the mass is a dull red. A broad band of bright red paint encircles the exterior, leaving a plain marginal band of the ground color and a plain area of the same upon the bottom. The painted design, which covers the inner surface is shown in Fig. 295. We discover in it at first sight a type to all appearances totally distinct from the usual devices of this locality, but a closer study reveals the existence of the favorite motive--the meander--doubled up across the middle in a way to challenge detection, with the ever-present auxiliary band above and below. The curiously complex and very pleasing ornament is amplified in Fig. 296.

One small cup or bowl has two ears, not semicircular, but rectangular, which are placed horizontally and project in sharp points at the corners.

The neat little vessel given in Fig. 297 has a much elongated horizontal loop, carelessly made and rudely attached. The bowl is handsomely finished. The margin is ornamented with a series of closely placed transverse lines or dots, a character appearing more frequently in the northern ware. The interior design is made up of four independent parts as usual.

The cup presented in Fig. 298 serves to illustrate another variety of handle--a large vertical loop, extending from rim to base, like those on the upright cups given in Figs. 287 and 288. The paste is very fine grained, and breaks with a conchoidal fracture. The color is gray and the paint reddish from the firing. The bottom is flat, a rare occurrence in the more archaic, pottery. The painted design is based upon the meander, and occupies nearly the entire exterior surface of the cup. The handle has two bird-track shaped figures on its outer surface.

Vessels with long cylindrical handles are distributed over a very extended district, but in Tusayan they are of a better class of ware than elsewhere. Here the handles are long and stout and frequently terminate in a loop, probably intended for the attachment of a cord. The bowl is often graceful in form and tasteful in ornament. One of the finer examples is illustrated in Fig. 299. It is of the chalky ware, and has a very good surface finish. The handle is one inch in diameter and five inches long. It is hollow and terminates in a narrow loop. It is decorated with two groups of spirally inclined lines. The interior decoration of the bowl furnishes a most excellent example of the crucifrm designs previously described. This is well shown in Fig. 300. The exterior surface is embellished with a most primitive drawing of a bird, Fig. 301--a striking illustration of the pictorial accomplishments of these classic decorators. Subjects of this class are of rare occurrence upon the ancient white ware.

The dipper presented in Fig. 302 is somewhat inferior in workmanship to the preceding example. The handle is plain and terminates in a horizontal loop. The painted design is not arranged about a square, as in the examples given, but leaves a space in the center of the bowl resembling a four-cornered star. This shape is, however, the result of accident. The four parts are units of an elaborate border, not severed from their original connection, but contorted from crowding into the circular space. The design drawn upon a plain surface is shown in Fig. 303. Projected in a straight line, as in Fig. 304, it is readily recognized as the lower three-fourths of a zone of scroll ornamentation. A unit of the design drawn in black is shown in Fig. 305. The meander is developed in the white color of the ground, and consists of two charmingly varied threads running side by side through a field of black, bordered by heavy black lines. The involute ends of the units are connected by two minute auxiliary scrolls.

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