Chapter I: Part 1

DESIGNS ON PREHISTORIC
HOPI POTTERY

BY
JESSE WALTER FEWKES

REPRINTED FROM THE THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1919

CONTENTS

Page
Introduction 215
Chronology of Hopi pottery symbols 215
The ruin, Sikyatki 218
Sikyatki epoch 219
Human figures 220
Quadruped figures 223
Reptilian figures 225
Winged figures 227
Dorsal views of birds 228
Lateral views of birds 233
Feather designs 236
Feathers suspended from strings 241
Sky-band 242
Vertical attachment to sky-band 243
Birds attached longitudinally to sky-band 246
Decorations on exteriors of food bowls 248
Curved figure with attached feathers 251
Spider and insects 252
Butterfly and moth 252
Geometrical designs 255
Rain clouds 256
Stars 257
Sun emblems 258
Rectangular figures representing shrines 262
Symbols introduced from San Juan River settlements 264
Symbols introduced by the Snake people 265
Tanoan epoch 266
Symbols introduced from the Little Colorado 267
Symbols introduced by the Badger and Kachina clans 273
Symbols introduced from Awatobi 275
Shalako mana 275
Symbols of Hano clans 279
Conclusion 281
Authorities cited 284

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

PLATES

76. Various forms of conventionalized feathers 238
77. Conventionalized tail feathers 240
78. Conventionalized feathers attached to strings (nakwakwoci) 240
79. Sky-bands 242
80. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250
81. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250
82. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250
83. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250
84. Geometrical figures on outside of bowls 250
85. Conventionalized bird designs 250
86. Conventionalized bird designs 250
87. Bird, sun, and spider and sun symbols 258
88. Conventionalized bird figures 258
89. Shalakomana, Corn Maid (from tablet dance) 276
90. Top of butterfly vase 276

TEXT FIGURES

12. Human head with hair-in characteristic whorls 221
13. Woman with serpent-like animal 221
14. Kneeling woman, showing hair in characteristic whorls 222
15. Three human figures 223
16. _a_, Deer; _b_, rabbit 224
17. Quadruped 224
18. Antelope or mountain sheep 224
19. Mountain lion 225
20. Problematical reptile 225
21. Reptile 225
22. Reptile 225
23. Reptile 226
24. Reptile 227
25. Turtle 227
26. Clouds and tadpoles 228
27. Tadpoles 228
28. Dorsal view of a bird 229
29. Bird figure, two halves restored to natural position 229
30. Dorsal view of bird 230
31. Bird figure 230
32. Bird figure 231
33. Bird figure 231
34. Bird figure 231
35. Bird figure (Thunderbird) 231
36. Bird figure 232
37. Highly conventionalized figure of bird from dorsal side 232
38. Conventional figure of a bird 233
39. Conventional figure of a bird 233
40. Conventional figure of a bird 233
41. Conventional figure of a bird 233
42. Conventional figure of a bird 234
43. Triangular form of bird 234
44. Triangular form of bird 234
45. Simple form of bird with terraced body 234
46. Lateral view of triangular bird with two tail feathers 234
47. Lateral view of bird with three tail feathers 234
48. Problematical bird figure 234
49. Bird with two tail feathers 234
50. Highly conventionalized bird figure 234
51. Lateral view of bird 234
52. Profile of bird 235
53. Lateral view of bird with outspread wing 235
54. Lateral view of bird with twisted tail and wing feathers 235
55. Lateral view of conventionalized bird 236
56. Lateral view of conventionalized bird 236
57. Feather symbol with black notch 237
58. Feather symbol with black notch 237
59. Feathers 241
60. Curved feathers 241
61. Conventional feathers 241
62. Parallel lines representing feathers 241
63. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244
64. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244
65. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244
66. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 244
67. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 245
68. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 245
69. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 245
70. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 246
71. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 246
72. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 247
73. Conventionalized bird form hanging from sky-band, top view 247
74. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 247
75. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 248
76. Lateral view of bird with extended wing 248
77. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 249
78. Lateral view of bird hanging from sky-band 249
79. Butterfly and flower 252
80. Butterfly with extended proboscis 253
81. Highly conventionalized butterfly 253
82. Moth 254
83. Moth 254
84. Moth of geometrical form 255
85. Geometrical form of moth 255
86. Highly conventionalized butterfly 255
87. Geometrical form of moth 255
88. Circle with triangles 255
89. Rain cloud 257
90. Rain cloud 257
91. Ring with appended feathers 258
92. Two circles with figure 259
93. Sun with feathers 259
94. Sun symbol 259
95. Ring with appended feathers 260
96. Ring figure with legs and appended feathers 260
97. Sun emblem with appended feathers 260
98. Sun symbol 261
99. Sun symbol 261
100. Horned snake with conventionalized shrine 263
101. Shrine 263
102. Shrine 264
103. Conventionalized winged bird with shrine 264
104. Lateral view of bird with double eyes 269
105. Lateral view of bird with double eyes 270
106. Bird with double eyes 271
107. Two birds with rain clouds 272
108. Head of Shalako mana, or Corn maid 276
109. Head of Kokle, or Earth woman 280
110. Head of Hahaiwugti, or Earth woman 280
111. Ladle with clown carved on handle and Earth woman on bowl 281
112. Püükon hoya, little War god 281

DESIGNS ON PREHISTORIC HOPI POTTERY

By JESSE WALTER FEWKES

INTRODUCTION

In the following pages the author has endeavored to draw attention to some of the most important symbols on Hopi pottery, especially those of prehistoric times.

Consideration of this subject has led to a discussion of the character of pottery designs at different epochs and the interpretation, by study of survivals, of ancient designs in modern times. This chronological treatment has necessitated an examination of ceramic material from ruins of different ages and an ethnological study of ancient symbols still surviving in ceremonials now practiced. It has also led to sociological researches on the composition of the tribe, the sequence in the arrival of clans at Walpi, and their culture in distant homes from which they migrated. It will thus appear that the subject is a very complicated one, and that the data upon which conclusions are based are sociological as well as archeological. There are many ruins from which material might have been obtained, but only a few have been adequately investigated. The small number of ruins in the Hopi country which have thus far been excavated necessarily makes our knowledge not only provisional but also imperfect. It is hoped, however, that this article may serve to stimulate others to renewed field work and so add desired data to the little we have bearing on the subject.

CHRONOLOGY OF HOPI POTTERY SYMBOLS

At least three well-marked epochs can be distinguished in the history of Hopi ceramic symbolism. Each of these is intimately associated with certain clans that have from time to time joined the Hopi and whose descendants compose the present population. Although these epochs follow each other in direct sequence, each was not evolved from its predecessor or modified by it, except to a very limited extent. Each epoch has left to the succeeding one a heritage of symbols, survivals which are somewhat difficult to differentiate from exotic symbols introduced by incoming clans. So that while each epoch grades almost imperceptibly into the one directly following it, an abrupt change is sometimes evident in the passage.

In order to appreciate the relations between ceramic decoration and history let me sketch in brief outline what I regard as the historical development of the Hopi living near or on the East Mesa. We know little of the group of people who first settled here except that they belonged to the Bear clan, which is traditionally referred to the eastern pueblo region. At about the time they entered Hopiland there was a settlement called Sikyatki composed of Jemez colonists, situated about 3 miles from the southern point of East Mesa, and other towns or pueblos on Awatobi Mesa and in Antelope Valley, 10 miles away.

The first great additions to this original population were Snake clans, who came from the San Juan, followed by Flute clans from the same direction but originally of southern origin. Having become well established at the point of the East Mesa, the combined settlement overthrew Sikyatki and appropriated its clans.

Then came the strenuous days of Spanish invasion and the destruction of Awatobi in 1700. The Little Colorado clans had already begun to seek refuge in the Hopi mountains and their number was greatly augmented by those from Zuñi, a Rio Grande settlement called Tewadi, and elsewhere, each addition bringing new forms of culture and settling new pueblos on or near the East Mesa, as has been shown in previous publications. Traditions point out their former settlements and it remains for the archeologist to excavate those settlements, now in ruins, and verify these traditions. This can be done by a study of artifacts found in them.

As a rule archeologists have relied on technique, form, and especially color, in the classification of Pueblo pottery, leading, on the technical side, to the groups known as (a) rough, coiled ware, and (b) smooth, polished ware; and on that of form, to bowls, vases, jars, dippers, etc. When color is used as the basis of classification the divisions black and white, red, yellow, orange, and polychrome are readily differentiated. Classifications based on these data are useful, as they indicate cultural as well as geographical differences in Pueblo ceramics; but these divisions can be used only with limitations in a study of stages of culture growth. The fact that they are not emphasized in the present article is not because their importance is overlooked, but rather for the purpose of supplementing them with a classification that is independent of and in some particulars more reliable for indicating chronology and culture distinctions.

The life-forms on ancient Sikyatki and other Hopi pottery are painted on what is known as yellow ware, which is regarded by some authors as characteristic of the Hopi area; but pottery of the same color, yet with radically different symbolic life-forms, occurs also in other areas. It thus appears that while a classification of Pueblo pottery by color is convenient, differences of color are not so much indications of diversity in culture as of geologic environment. Designs on pottery are more comprehensive and more definite in culture studies than color, and are so regarded in these pages.

As there exists a general similarity in the form of prehistoric pottery throughout the Southwest, shape alone is also inadequate for a determination of Pueblo culture centers. The great multiplicity and localization of symbols on Pueblo pottery furnishes adequate material for classification by means of the designs depicted on vases, bowls, and other pottery objects. Sikyatki pottery is especially suited to a classification on such a basis, for it is recognized as the most beautiful and the most elaborately decorated prehistoric pottery found in the Southwest. Life-forms are abundant and their symbolism is sufficiently characteristic to be regarded as typical of a well-defined ceramic area. There can, of course, be no question regarding the ancient character of the designs on Sikyatki pottery, nor were they introduced or modified by white men, but are purely aboriginal and prehistoric.

Pottery from the Sikyatki ruin is chosen as a type of the most highly developed or golden epoch in Hopi ceramics. Several other ruins were inhabited when Sikyatki was in its prime and pottery from these belongs to the same epoch, and would probably be equally good to illustrate its character. Fortunately, specimens are available from many of these, as Awatobi, and the ruins in Antelope Valley, old Shumopavi, and other Middle Mesa ruins. The date of the origin of this epoch, or the highest development of Hopi ceramics, is not known, but there is evidence that it lasted until the fall of Awatobi, in 1700. The destruction of Sikyatki occurred before 1540, but Sikyatki has given the name to the epoch and is taken as the type, not only because of the abundance of ceramic material available from that ruin, but also because there can be no doubt of the prehistoric nature of material from it.

There is abundant evidence that the culture of Sikyatki was never influenced by white man. After the overthrow of Awatobi there developed on the East Mesa of the Hopi country a third ceramic epoch which was largely influenced by the influx of Tanoan (Tewa) clans. They came either directly from the Rio Grande or by way of Zuñi and other pueblos. Among other arrivals about 1710 were those clans which settled Hano, a Tewa pueblo on the East Mesa. The Hano and other symbols introduced in this epoch are best known in the present generation by the earlier productions of Nampeo, an expert modern potter.

The pottery of this epoch differs from that of the second in form, color, and technique, but mainly in its symbolism, which is radically different from that of the epochs that preceded it. The symbolism of this phase is easily determined from large collections now in museums. This epoch was succeeded in 1895 by a fourth, in which there was a renaissance of old Sikyatki patterns, under the lead of Nampeo. In that year Nampeo visited the excavations at Sikyatki and made pencil copies of the designs on mortuary bowls. From that time all pottery manufactured by her was decorated with modified Sikyatki symbols, largely to meet the demand for this beautiful ancient ware. The extent of her work, for which there was a large demand, may be judged by the great numbers of Hopi bowls displayed in every Harvey store from New Mexico to California. This modified Sikyatki ware, often sold by unscrupulous traders as ancient, is the fourth, or present, epoch of Hopi ceramics. These clever imitations, however, are not as fine as the productions of the second epoch. There is danger that in a few years some of Nampeo’s imitations will be regarded as ancient Hopi ware of the second epoch, and more or less confusion introduced by the difficulty in distinguishing her work from that obtained in the ruins.

THE RUIN, SIKYATKI

The ruins of the ancient pueblo of Sikyatki, consisting of mounds and a few outcropping walls, are situated on rocky elevations rising from the sand hills at the eastern or sunny base of the East Mesa, about 3 miles from the modern Hopi pueblo of Walpi in northeastern Arizona. The founders of Sikyatki are said, in very circumstantial migration legends, to have belonged to a [Keres?] clan called the Kokop, or Firewood, which previously lived in a pueblo near Jemez, New Mexico. Preliminary excavations were made at Sikyatki, under the author’s direction, by the Smithsonian Institution in 1895, when there was obtained, chiefly from its cemeteries, a valuable collection of pottery, most of which is now installed in the National Museum.[1]

Little is known of the history of Sikyatki save through tradition, but enough has been discovered to show that it was abandoned before 1540, the year of the visit to Tusayan of Pedro Tovar, an officer of the Coronado expedition. It was probably settled much earlier, perhaps about the time the Bear clans, also said to have come from the Jemez region, built the first houses of Walpi near the point of the terrace at the west or cold side of the East Mesa, below the present settlement.[2] Both of these prehistoric pueblos occupied sites exposed to attack by enemies and were not built on mesa tops, hence it may be assumed that there were no enemies to fear in Tusayan at the time of their establishment. But later, when the Snake clans from the north joined the Bear settlement at Walpi, trouble seems to have commenced. As above mentioned, the Bear clans came from the same region as the Kokop and were presumably friendly, probably kin of the Sikyatkians; but the Snake clans came from Tokonabi, in the north, and were no doubt of foreign stock, implying a hostility that may have been the indirect cause of the overthrow of Sikyatki and Awatobi by the other Hopi.

The two epochs in Hopi ceramic development that can be distinguished with certainty are (1) the Sikyatki epoch and (2) the Tanoan or historic epoch. The third, or renaissance, of the Sikyatki dates back to 1895, and may be called the modern epoch. The Sikyatki epoch gave way to the Tanoan about the beginning of the eighteenth century. It did not develop from any group preexisting in the neighborhood of the present Hopi pueblos but was derived from the east and it ceased suddenly, being replaced by a totally different group introduced by radically different clans.[3]

SIKYATKI EPOCH

The most characteristic Hopi pottery bearing symbols of the Sikyatki epoch occurs in a few ruins near the Hopi mesas, but from lack of exploration it is impossible to determine the boundaries of the area in which it is found.

Several museums contain collections of Hopi ware of this epoch, among which may be mentioned the National Museum at Washington, the Field Columbian Museum of Natural History at Chicago, the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, and the Museum für Volkerkünde at Berlin, Germany. Many bowls of this epoch are likewise found in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and in the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute. Several private collections in Europe and the United States likewise contain specimens of Sikyatki ware, among them being that gathered by the late Dr. Miller, now at Phoenix, Arizona. The collection of prehistoric Hopi pottery in the National Museum is particularly rich, containing many specimens gathered by the Stevenson expeditions, by the author, and by Dr. Hough, of the U. S. National Museum.

The symbols on the ancient pottery from the Middle Mesa of the Hopi are almost identical with those of Sikyatki, indicating a similarity of culture, a common geographical origin, and a synchronous culture. From the character of the symbols on the ancient pottery from the ancient Middle Mesa pueblos it is probable that the clans who founded them came, like the colonists who settled Sikyatki, from the Jemez plateau in New Mexico. Although the Field collection is very rich in old Walpi ware, nothing of importance has been published on the symbols of this collection; it contains some of the most instructive examples of the Sikyatki epoch. A large and probably the most valuable portion of this collection was gathered by Dr. George A. Dorsey and Mr. Charles L. Owen, while many pieces were purchased from Mr. Frank Wattron, of Holbrook, and from the late Mr. T. V. Keam, of Keams Canyon, Arizona. The source of many of the Wattron specimens is unknown, but it is evident from their decoration that some of them are ancient Hopi and probably belong to the Sikyatki epoch and came from Shongopovi, Awatobi, or Sikyatki.

Shortly before his death Mr. T. V. Keam sold to the Museum für Volkerkünde at Berlin, Germany, a rich collection of pottery obtained mainly from Awatobi and Sikyatki, containing several specimens of the Sikyatki epoch which are highly instructive. Some of the designs on the pottery of this collection are unique, and their publication would be a great aid to a study of the most important epoch of Hopi ceramics.

A large proportion of life-forms used in the decoration of Sikyatki pottery are mythological subjects, showing the predominance of supernatural beings and their magic power in the minds of the makers. Like a child, the primitive artist is fond of complexity of detail, and figures in which motion is indicated appealed more to his fancy than those objects that do not move. It needs but a glance at the ancient Sikyatki life-figures to show a tendency to represent detail and to convince one of the superiority of the Sikyatki potters in this respect over those of modern times. There has been a gradual deterioration, not only less care being now devoted to the technique of the pottery but also to the drawing of the figures. This lack in itself is significant, for while modern ware reflects in its hasty crudeness the domination of commercialism, the ancient pottery shows no indication of such influence. Pottery is now made to please the purchaser; in ancient times another motive influenced the maker, for then it was a product worthy of the highest use to which it could be put, since it often formed a part of sacred paraphernalia in religious ceremonies.

HUMAN FIGURES

Sikyatki pictures of human beings depict men and women, singly or in company, and are few in number and crude in execution. Organs of the body—hands, feet, arms, and legs—are often represented separately. The hand is portrayed on two vessels, and the foot, elaborately drawn, appears on another; as a general thing when parts of the body are represented they are greatly conventionalized. The few human figures on Sikyatki pottery are crude representations as compared with those of animals, and especially of birds. Several of the figures are represented wearing ancient costumes and ornaments, and one or two have their hair done up in unusual styles; others have the body or face tattooed or painted; but as a whole these decorations are rare and shed little light on prehistoric customs. There is nothing that can be identified as a time count, calendric, hieroglyphic, or phonetic signs, or any record of historical events.

None of the human figures are represented with masks or headdresses to indicate the impersonation of kachinas, nor are there double figures or animal heads depicted on human bodies. The absence of animal or kachina heads shows one of the marked differences between Sikyatki pictures and the designs so common on some other pottery, where a relatively large number of the heads of the latter occur. The best representation of a human head is shown in figure 12,[4] in which a characteristic coiffure is shown. Fig. 13 is identified as a figure of a maiden whose hair is dressed in two whorls, one above each ear, like a modern Hopi maid.[5] Opposite this maid is a reptile or similar animal with head decorated with two eyes on one side and a single foreleg. These two figures probably refer to some episode or Indian legend connecting a Sikyatki maiden with some monster.

The maiden depicted in figure 14 is evidently kneeling, her knees being brought together below, and separated by four median parallel lines that are supposed to indicate feathers; the curved objects at the lower corners of the rectangular blanket probably are also feathers. One hand of the maiden is raised to her head, while the other holds an unknown object, possibly an ear of corn. The woman with an ear of corn recalls a figure on the elaborately painted wooden slab carried by women in the Hopi Marau dance or that on the wooden slab, or _monkohu_, carried by the priests representing Alosaka, Eototo, and other ceremonial personages. These painted slabs do not always bear pictures of corn ears, for those of the priests known as the Aaltû have, instead of pictures of corn, the corn itself tied to them; in the New-fire ceremony at Walpi members of the Tataukyamû priesthood, at Walpi, also hold ears of corn with or without wooden slabs, while those borne by the warrior Kwakwantû are carved in the form of the sacred plumed serpent, which is their patron.[6]

Different styles of hairdressing are exhibited in figures 13 and 14, that of figure 14 being similar to the modern Hopi. The group of three figures (fig. 15) possibly illustrates some ancient ceremony. The middle figure of this group is represented as carrying a branched stick, or cornstalk, in his mouth.[7] The accompanying figure, or that to the right, has in his hand one of the strange frames used as rattles[8] in historic times by clans (Asa or Honani) of Jemez or of Tewa descent who had settled at the East Mesa. The author is inclined to identify the object held by this figure as one of these ceremonial frames and the man as a Yaya priest.

Another interpretation of the central figure of the group, figure 15, is that he is performing the celebrated stick-swallowing act which was practiced at Walpi until a few years ago. The last explanation suggested implies that the human figures represent Snake and Antelope priests, a doubtful interpretation, since, according to legends, these priests were never represented at Sikyatki.[9]

The character shown in another figure, not copied, may represent the supernatural being, called the God of the Dead (Masauû) whose body, according to legend, is spotted and girt by bands. The Little Fire god (Shulewitse), when personated in modern ceremonies of the Tewa at Hano, is represented by a man daubed with pigments of several colors. He is personated likewise in the Hopi (Tewa) village of Sichomovi.[10]

Several Zuñi ceremonies show evidence of derivation from eastern New Mexican pueblos,[11] but a critical examination of the origin and migration of Zuñi clan relations of societies still awaits the student of this interesting pueblo. It is probable that Zuñi sociology is in some respects like that of Walpi and that the present population is composite, having descended from clans which have drifted together from different directions, each bringing characteristic ceremonies and mythological conceptions, while certain rites have been incorporated from time to time from other Pueblo people.

QUADRUPED FIGURES

Representations of quadrupeds are almost as rare as human figures in Sikyatki pottery decorations. The deer (fig. 16, _a_), antelope, mountain sheep, mountain lion, rabbit, and one or two other animals are recognizable, but pictures of these are neither so common nor so highly conventionalized as those of birds.

Figure 17 shows one of two mammalian figures on a bowl, the surrounding surface consisting of spatterwork, an uncommon but effective mode of treatment.

The outline of the animal shown in figure 18 is intensified by spattering, as in the case of the animal last mentioned. The black spots along the back and tail are absent in other figures. The design below the figure suggests, in some particulars, that of a highly conventionalized shrine, but its true meaning is unknown.

The design in figure 19 has been regarded as representing a mountain lion, but there is some doubt of the validity of this identification. Although the feet are like those of a carnivorous animal, the head is not. The two projections from the head, which may represent horns, are not unlike those associated with the two figures next described, which have been regarded as feathers.

The creature shown in figure 20 is also problematical. The appendages to the head are prolonged, terminating in feathers that bend backward and touch the body. The anterior body appendage has two crescentic prolongations between which are parallel lines of unequal length. The posterior limb is jointed, the lower half extending backward and terminating in two claws, one long, the other short. Between these extensions are two groups of slightly radiating lines that may be regarded as feathers. The body has feathers like those of a highly conventionalized bird, while the limbs resemble those of a lizard. The body is serpentine, and tail feathers are wanting; both legs have talons like those of birds, and the appendage to the head suggests a feather headdress; the line connecting the head appendage and one claw of the posterior limbs recalls a sky-band, commonly found in representations of sky gods.

The animal depicted in figure 21, which resembles figure 19 in the form of the appendages to the head and mouth, is suspended inside of a circle in the one case and is half within a circle in the other.

REPTILIAN FIGURES

Several figures of reptiles and serpents occur in the Sikyatki collection. Figure 22 represents an animal like a reptile; only two legs are shown in the design and the form of the tail recalls that of a bird. The head of this figure bears two horns resembling feathers in some respects; the legs terminate in four claws. From a projection at the posterior end of the body there arises a curved line dotted at intervals and terminating in feathers. The dorsal appendage resembles the carapace of a turtle, from beneath which feathers project.

Figure 22 depicts a reptile from the head of which project horns and two long feathers. Its back bears a row of feathers, but it has only two legs.

The legless creature, figure 23, has two triangular earlike feathers rising from the head, and two eyes; a wide-open mouth, in which are six long, curved teeth, three in each jaw. The tongue terminates in an arrow-shaped figure, recalling a conventional symbol of lightning, or the death-dealing power of the serpent. The meaning of the narrow line connecting the upper jaw with the tail is not known. The curved shape of the body of the reptile is necessitated by the shape of the bowl on which it is drawn. This figure may represent the monster feathered serpent of Sikyatki, or a flying reptile, one of the most mysterious of the elemental gods. It is interesting to note that while the effigies of the feathered serpent used in Hopi (Walpi) and Zuñi religious practices has a single horn on the head, the one here described is different from both, for it is provided with two appendages resembling conventionalized feathers. The Hopi feathered serpent was derived from the same source as the Zuñi, namely, clans which originally came to the Little Colorado from Gila Valley.[12]

The Hopi (Walpi) figure is in a measure comparable with that shown in figure 23—each has two hornlike feathers on the head, and the bodies are curved in the same direction—that is, with the center (?) on the right (dextral circuit), the reverse of modern Hopi pictures, which are placed as if the figures were moving in a sinistral circuit.[13]

The form shown in figure 24 reminds one of a frog or a turtle. The body and feet are turtlelike. As in several pictures of reptiles, it is provided with an anterior appendage, evidently the front leg, which has characteristic claws. The row of white dots extending from the mouth through the neck represents the esophagus or windpipe. The author is unable to offer any interpretation of the appendages to the tail, but suggests that they may have been intended for feathers. Figure 25 _a_, _b_, is identified as a turtle.

Figure 26 was evidently designed to represent several tadpoles swimming across a bowl between rows of rain clouds, the whole inclosed in a circle to which are attached five stars at approximately equal intervals. The form of the rain clouds reminds one of conventional tail feathers. There are six of these rain-cloud figures on one side of the field of decoration and five on the other. The tadpoles shown in figure 27 occur on the inside of the ladle.

WINGED FIGURES

The term “winged figures” is here employed to designate all flying creatures, as birds, insects, and bats, even though they belong zoologically to different groups of animals. Among the prehistoric Hopi, insects and birds were designated by similar symbols and when highly conventionalized sometimes merge into one another. It was the custom of Sikyatki potters to give more attention to specific than generic characters of flying creatures, distinguishing different kinds of birds by the form of their feathers. The symbol of a turkey, an eagle, or a hawk feather was distinct from that of an owl, and each kind of a bird had its own special symbolic marking, especially indicated in the different kinds of feathers. Thus it occurs that Sikyatki bird designs, instead of being realistically represented, are often so highly conventionalized that the genus can not be identified.

The flight of birds, like the movement of serpents, is regarded as mysterious, and anything mysterious or uncanny has always profoundly affected the mind of primitive man. The chief visible characteristics connected with the flight of a bird are wings and feathers, and the kind of feathers of a particular bird led to their association with the supposed magic power of the bird itself among both the ancient and modern Hopi. Different kinds of feathers have different powers; thus the feathers of the turkey, for example, among the modern Hopi, are potent in inducing rain; those of the eagle or the hawk pertain especially to the power of the sun; a breast feather of an eagle is chosen as an individual prayer bearer. The feathers of an owl, like the owl itself,[14] are generally regarded as having a sinister influence; but sometimes the feather of this bird is beneficial, it is believed, in making peach trees yield abundantly. From the variety of feather designs and the frequency with which they occur in modern Hopi ceremonies[15] it is evident that the Sikyatki people, like their descendants, attributed special magic power to different kinds of these objects.

In their simplest forms bird symbols are little more than triangles, the tail feathers being represented by appended parallel lines, which are mere suggestions of birds and may be designated as cursive forms. Such simple pictures of birds sometimes have, in addition to the appended parallel lines referred to, an angular or a curved line or hook extending from one of the angles of the triangle to represent a beak. Such triangular bird figures may be free or attached; in the latter case they are suspended from other figures or rise from the corners of a rectangular design when one of the triangles may be without tail or beak appendages, another may have parallel lines, while a third may take a form readily recognizable as that of a bird. The form of the beak and the claws of bird figures also varies, the claws often appearing as simple crosses or crescents. The beak is sometimes toothed, often hooked like that of a raptorial bird. The bird is designated by the combination of the beak, claws, and body, as well as the feathers.

DORSAL VIEWS OF BIRDS

Among the conventional pictures of birds on Sikyatki pottery some are shown as seen from above, or dorsally, others from below, or ventrally, and still others laterally. These pictures sometimes become so conventionalized that it is difficult to identify the parts represented, as will appear from illustrations to follow.

Figure 28 represents a bird design in which three parallel bands representing tail feathers of a well-marked type hang between two curved extensions that occupy the relative position of wings. In the angles near the attachment of these tail feathers there are two globular enlargements which occur also in other pictures. The extremity of each winglike crescent is spirally curved inward. Two semicircular figures representing rain clouds are surmounted by two parallel lines and a heavy, solid band, appearing at the proximal end of the tail in the position where the body should end, as in other figures where the rain-cloud symbols are much more complex.

The two drawings shown in figure 29 are the two halves of a single figure cut along its medial line. One of these halves is reversed in such a way that corresponding parts are found on the same side. Viewing these two parts in this position, we can readily identify various organs of a highly conventionalized bird whose wings are represented by a curved body terminating in a spiral, the body decorated with rain-cloud figures and the bowl with conventionalized figures. This is the only figure showing the distortions and reversions of the two halves of the bird’s body and appendages.

Homologous parts are recognizable also in the bird design shown in figure 30, but in this picture the size of the wings is greatly reduced, each consisting merely of two feathers. The rectangular body bears a single large terraced or rectangular rain-cloud symbol, three semicircular figures, and two triangles. Two tail feathers and two posterior extensions of the body, one on each side, are shown. There are three parallel lines on each side of these posterior extensions. In a bird design, figure 31, the body is decorated with four triangular rain clouds and the wings are extended. The tail has six feathers with a lateral extension on each side. The two detached figures associated with this bird design possibly were intended to represent the shrines of these birds.

The curved appendages are spreading in figure 32, and at their point of junction with the body arises a typical feather symbol. The body has four solid semicircular figures, possibly representing rain clouds, and a single feather on the top of the head. Organs corresponding to wings, body, and tail are traceable, but they are somewhat modified in comparison with the forms already considered. This design is partly surrounded by a band to which two star designs are attached.

We find all the parts or organs associated with the bird designs already described represented in figure 33, but the details of the symbolism are more elaborated than in any of the preceding. Here the wings are bent inward, while the feathers have taken more angular forms. The head is rectangular, bearing representations of two rain clouds just above the wings, while two others appear below. These have the same form as the cloud symbols shown in figure 20. Although this drawing is far from being a realistic representation of a bird, the presence of symbols characteristic of certain avian features leaves no doubt that a bird was intended.

In figure 34 is shown a Sikyatki bird figure still further conventionalized, but the parts are depicted in such manner as to make the identification as a bird practically certain. Head, body, wings, and tail are elaborately represented. The head is semicircular and surmounted by a headdress with three vertical feathers. The wings are large, each terminating in two symbols representing the feathers,[16] with pointed distal extremities. The tail feathers have rounded extremities and are three in number. On each side of the feathers of the headdress, wings, and tail hang figures of unknown meaning. This is one of the most instructive bird figures in the collection from Sikyatki.

Figure 35 represents a very elaborate figure of a bird, readily comparable with the last mentioned, from which it differs in certain particulars. This bird design is replete with symbolism and may be regarded as one of the most instructive pictures that has come to us from the ancient Hopi. The view is from the back, the legs being much reduced in size, the claws alone being represented at each upper corner of the body directly under the attachment of the wings. The beak is invisible, but an elaborate headdress,[17] in which tail feathers are conspicuous, is a prominent feature. The form of the tail and wing feathers of this bird is practically the same as the last, except that they are more elaborately drawn. Each wing has two feathers, and three others form the tail. The arrow points projecting from beneath the extremities of the wing feathers are possibly lightning symbols. Each is crossed by two bars in the same manner as the tongue projecting from the mouth of the serpent shown in figure 23, which is also a lightning symbol.

The design illustrated in figure 36 represents a bird, as seen from the back, with outstretched wings, recalling the lateral view of a bird shown in figure 54 in having smaller bird figures attached to the tips of the wings. The place of attachment of the wings to the body is embellished with crosshatched lines and stepped figures, recalling the rain-cloud symbols. The head is rectangular, destitute of a beak, inclosing two square figures with short parallel lines, representing falling rain, projecting from the upper side. On one side of the head is a semicircular design. The tail has three feathers, the two on the sides being broader than the one in the middle. These feathers are without markings, but the end of the body from which they depend is ornamented with stepped figures surmounted by two horizontal parallel lines and two triangles. In the background, at each side of the body, there are dotted circles, suggesting flowers, a feature often accompanying designs representing butterflies or moths.

In figure 37 is shown a highly conventionalized dorsal view of a bird, with sickle-formed wings slightly extended, seven pointed tail feathers with lateral appendages, and a rectangular head with three semicircular rain-cloud figures. The globular enlargement at the base of the wings in one instance is accompanied by a fan-shaped figure.

The design shown in figure 38 is regarded as a highly conventionalized bird symbol, each wing being represented by a curved pendant, to the extremities of which feathers are attached. The body is rectangular and decorated with a median horizontal white band continued above and below into black lateral triangles which possibly may represent feathers, and flanked triangular white areas on each side.

In figure 39 the design has been so greatly conventionalized that almost all resemblance to a bird has been lost. The wings are represented by simple terraces, the body by a rectangular figure, and the head terminates in three points. It is possible that the limit of bird conventionalization has been reached in this variant, and the difficulty of identification of organs is correspondingly great.

The design shown in figure 40 would perhaps more logically fall within the series of circular figures, identified as sun emblems, elsewhere considered, except for the extensions representing wings and tail. This is mentioned as one of the instances where organs of birds are combined with a circle to represent the Sun god.

Figure 41 resembles figure 40 in some essential points and may also be considered in connection with sun emblems. On account of the presence of feathers it is here included among the bird designs.

Figure 42 exhibits an exceptional bird form as viewed from the rear.[18] Wings, body, tail, and possibly the head, are recognized after some study.

LATERAL VIEWS OF BIRDS

Drawings representing side views of birds are usually highly conventionalized, often taking the forms of simple geometric figures, as shown in figures 43-45. The simplest representation of a bird viewed from the side is a triangle, but another, slightly elaborated and a little more complicated (fig. 43), consists of a triangular body with curved lines representing a head and beak, extending from one of the angles, and with two short lines indicating a feathered head crest. The head of the bird shown in figure 44 resembles a section of a Greek fret, which in figure 45 has become still further simplified. Figure 46 represents a bird with triangular body and key-shaped head. Figure 47 shows a similar design, except that the body is partly rectangular, with breast slightly concave. The body in figure 48 is simply an outline of a terrace and the tail is indicated by five parallel lines.

The bird design shown in profile in figure 49 is realistic, all the parts being clearly recognizable. This figure is one of four, each attached to a corner of a rectangle.

Another figure which may be a lateral view of a bird is represented in figure 50, in which the part, representing the head is curved, the body square, and two obliquely twisted feathers represent the tail. This figure exhibits avian features more obscurely than those already considered, but the head and the tail feathers are quite birdlike.

In figure 51 is shown a lateral view of a bird, seemingly in flight, the head and beak of which are birdlike. The wings, feet, head, and body are not difficult to recognize. Two legs and one wing are shown, and the well-drawn tail, terminating in white-tipped feathers, suggests the turkey, which bird is regarded by the modern Hopi as so efficacious in bringing rain that its feathers are employed in almost all rain ceremonies. The author has seen a similar drawing on altar and other ceremonial paraphernalia among the Hopi priests of the present day. The white tips which characterize the tail feathers of the turkey originated, according to a Hopi legend, at the time when this bird dragged the end of its tail in the mud after a flood had subsided.

The bird shown in figure 52 has a curved, elongated beak, a more or less angular body, two legs, and two small wings. The tail consists of three feathers[19] with characteristic projections.

One of the best bird pictures on Sikyatki pottery is shown in figure 53. The body is somewhat triangular in shape and the wing is spread out, here shown above the back; the tail is provided with three feathers placed vertically instead of horizontally, and bent over at their ends into triangles, evidently owing to the lack of available space. The beak is characteristically curved; the single eye is provided with a pupil. The long claws, single on each foot, suggest an eagle, hawk, or other raptorial bird. The spiral appendage to the under rim of the tail is of unknown meaning.

The design shown in figure 54 is one of the most complex bird drawings found on Sikyatki pottery. The head is triangular, with an eye situated in the center, and the beak continued into a very large, elaborate fret. The body is rhomboidal in shape, the upper portion being occupied by a patterned square. Rising above the body is a conventionalized wing, while depending from its lowermost angle is a diminutive figure resembling feathers. The tail consists of two elongate feathers, rounded at their outer ends and fused at the point of union with the body.

Having seen how prone the ancient Hopi were to represent birds on their pottery and the extent to which conventionalization of these figures prevailed, one finds many designs so closely related to known bird figures that the tendency is to include with them many the identification of which is doubtful. Certain simple geometrical forms originally derived from bird designs were copied by these early potters, presumably without intending to represent birds, but rather merely as decorative motives. Two of these problematic designs are shown in figures 55 and 56.

FEATHER DESIGNS

A large number of conventional figures representing feathers have been identified, but there are many others which yet remain to be interpreted, and the particular genus of birds to which each should be referred is likewise problematical. There is no doubt, from a study of the uses of different kinds of feathers in modern Hopi ceremonials, that each form depicted on pottery represents a feather which played an important rôle in ancient Hopi rituals.

Many unquestionable feather designs pictured on Sikyatki pottery are found depicted on serpents, or are attached to inanimate objects, such as rainbows, clouds, and lightning.

It is probable that the majority of feather designs on ancient Hopi earthenware are included in the following types, to which no doubt other forms of feather designs will be added later. These types are abundant in vessels of the Sikyatki epoch.

From the above pictures of birds and many others it may be seen that feather symbols assume a variety of forms in sikyatki pottery decoration. There are probably more than 50 different designs, each representing a different kind of feather, and implying for each a distinct use or ceremonial efficacy, as among the modern Hopi. Our knowledge of ancient Hopi symbolism is not yet sufficient to enable us to identify all the different birds to which these various forms of feathers belong, nor do we know the uses to which all these feathers were put.[20]

Several wooden slabs and idols on Hopi altars have features drawn upon them, and many ceremonial sand-pictures contain designs representing feathers. In rare instances, as in the altar of the Powamû,[21] typical Sikyatki symbols of feathers are still used, but feather symbols of a form not found on Sikyatki pottery far outnumber those from that ruin. The existence of one type of Sikyatki feathers on the figure of Pokema in kachina altars may point to the derivation of this feather symbol from Sikyatki, but some of these types are widespread.[22]

The forms assumed by feathers on Sikyatki pottery may best be presented by considering a few examples of the more common types. Figure 57 represents an unusual type of feather symbol, readily distinguished from others by the notch at the end, the edge of which is commonly rounded. There are two subdivisions of this type, one with a dotted shaft (fig. 58), the other plain. This form of feather design is found in most unexpected associations, occurring on the heads of serpents or attached to various parts of the body and under the wings of birds. It also hangs from diametrical bands drawn across the inside of food bowls and from other objects constituting the decoration of vessels. In a few instances this type of feather is enlarged and constitutes the essential part of the design, with other symbols attached.

This type of feather sometimes forms a part of a bird’s tail, but it does not occur in the wings, although, as above stated, it occurs under a wing or on the body or the head of a bird, a localization that leads to the belief that the device was designed to represent a breast feather, such as the Hopi now use in their prayers. In ancient Hopi symbolism it is often attached to circles representing the sun and represents a tail feather.

In plate 76, _a_, three feathers are represented with pointed tips and without interior markings. It is one of the simplest drawings of the type mentioned.

This figure illustrates a well-known type of feather symbol. It has many variations, all clearly differentiated from the form last described, from which it differs in its elongate form and pointed tip. What may be regarded as a subtype of this is marked with diagonal bands drawn either at right angles at one edge or extending across the figure and terminating at right angles to the opposite edge. Feather symbols of this type, which have not been identified with any particular bird, are constantly found in birds’ tails and wings.

The next design (pl. 76, _b_) is similar in outline, but the three feathers are painted solid black and are separated by spaces. This conventional form of feather is common on wings and tails of birds.

The group of symbols shown in plate 76, _c_, has pointed tips, like the others described, but part of the shaft is painted, while the other is plain, the line of demarcation between which is drawn diagonally. This form occurs on the tails rather than on the wings of birds.

The tips of the feathers in plate 76, _d_, are connected by a black band and are divided by short vertical lines. A distinguishing feature of this symbol is the oblique marking of each feather on the right side, by which the feathers are narrowed at the base. A solid semicircular figure with a double notch ornaments the upper edge. The few known examples of this type of feather symbol are from the tails of unknown birds.

The next form of feather, shown in _e_, differs from the last in that the shaft is spotted and the proximal end is cut diagonally in a somewhat different way.[23] The tips are slit as in the figure last described.

The width of the feathers shown in _f_ is uniform throughout. The distal ends are tipped with black; the proximal ends are each ornamented with a black triangle. Midway of the length of the feathers are four continuous parallel horizontal lines.

The two feathers shown in _g_ have in one instance a black and in the other a white tip separated from the rest of the shaft by an oblique line. The essential difference between this form of pointed feather and those previously considered is that the diagonal line marking the tip is drawn at a greater angle.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 76

VARIOUS FORMS OF CONVENTIONALIZED FEATHERS]

The six feathers shown in _h_ resemble the last, but the terminal portions of three are spotted instead of solid black. Like some of the others described, this form tapers slightly from its distal end to its base.

In _i_ the feathers are likewise pointed at their tips, but are of almost uniform breadth. Each is intersected by a series of triangles and parallel lines, and suspended from the latter, one in each feather, are several vertical lines, each with terminal dots.

The symbol shown in _j_ is not unlike that already illustrated, but it has in addition to the structure enumerated a lateral hornlike appendage common in the tails of birds (see pl. 90, _i_, _tf_).

The form of feather design shown in _k_ is somewhat different from those already considered. The distal end is broad and pointed; the proximal narrows almost to a point. The left half of the body of the feather is black; the remainder, including the point, is plain. The design _l_ has the same general form as _k_, but its tip is marked in a different manner.