Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Part 12

Rudely made imitations in miniature of all kinds of pottery, especially of ladles, were common. These are regarded as votive offerings, from the fact that they were found usually in the graves of children, and were apparently used as playthings before they were buried.

A common decoration on the handles of ladles is a series of short parallel lines arranged in alternating longitudinal and transverse zones. This form of decoration of ladle handles I have observed on similar vessels from the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, and it reappears on pottery in all the ruins I have studied between Mexico and Tusayan.

In the exhibit of the Mexican Government at Madrid in 1892-93 a fine collection of ancient pottery from Oaxaca was shown, and I have drawings of one of these ladles with the same parallel marks on the handle that are found on Pueblo ware from the Gila-Salado, the Cibola, and the Tusayan regions.

The only fragment of pottery from Awatobi or Sikyatki with designs which could be identified with any modern picture of a _katcina_ was found, as might be expected, in the former ruin. This small fragment is instructive, in that it indicates the existence of the _katcina_ cult in Tusayan before 1700; but the rarity of the figures of these supernatural beings is very suggestive. The fragment in question is of ancient ware, resembling the so-called orange type of pottery, and is apparently a part of the neck of a vase. The figure represents Wupamo, the Great-cloud _katcina_, and is marked like the doll of the same as it appears in the _Powamu_ or February celebration at Walpi.[88]

The a.s.sociates of the _katcinas_ are the so-called "mud-heads" or clowns, an order of priests as widely distributed as the Pueblo area.

In Tusayan villages they are called the Tcukuwympkia, and are variously personated. As they belong especially to the _katcina_ cult, which is naturally supposed to have been in vogue at Awatobi, I was greatly interested in the finding of a fragment representing a grotesque head which reminded me of a glutton of the division of the Tcukuwympkia called Tcuckutu. While there may be some doubt of the validity of my identification, yet, taken in connection with the fragment of a vase with the face of Wupamo, I think there is no doubt that the _katcina_ cult was practiced at Awatobi.

STONE IMPLEMENTS

Comparatively few stone implements, such as mauls, hammers, axes, and spearpoints, were found; but some of those unearthed from the mounds are finely finished, being regular in form and highly polished. There were many spherical stones, resembling those still sometimes used in Tusayan on important occasions as badges of authority. These stones were tied in a buckskin bag, which was attached to a stick and used as a warclub. Many of the axes were grooved for hafting; one of the specimens was doubly grooved and had two cutting edges. By far the largest number were blunt at one pole and sharpened at the opposite end. A single highly polished specimen (plate CLXXI, _f_) resembles a type very common in the Gila Salado ruins.

Arrowheads, some of finely chipped obsidian, were common, being frequently found in numbers in certain mortuary bowls. Three or four specimens of other kinds of implements fas.h.i.+oned from this volcanic gla.s.s were picked up on the surface of the mounds.

Metates, or flat stones for grinding corn, were dug up in several houses; they were in some instances much worn, and were eagerly sought by the Indian women who visited our camp. These specimens differ in no respect from similar mealing stones still used at Walpi and other modern Tusayan pueblos. Many were made of very coa.r.s.e stone[89] for use in hulling corn preparatory to grinding; others were of finer texture, and both kinds were accompanied by the corresponding mano or muller held in the hand in grinding meal.

The modern Hopi often use as seats in their kivas cubical blocks of stone with depressions in two opposite sides which serve as handholds by which they are carried from place to place. Two of these stones, about a cubic foot in size, were taken out of the chamber which I have supposed to be the Awatobi kiva. In modern Tusayan these seats are commonly made of soft sandstone, and are so few in number that we can hardly regard them as common. They are often used to support the uprights of altars when they are erected, and I have seen priests grind pigments in the depressions. Incidentally, it may be said that I have never seen priests use chairs in any kiva celebration; nor do they have boxes to sit upon. During the droning of the tedious songs they have nothing under them except a folded blanket or sheepskin.

Excavations in the Awatobi rooms revealed several interesting shallow mortars used for grinding pigments, but no one of these is comparable in finish with that shown in the accompanying ill.u.s.tration (plate CLXXII, _a_). This object is made of a hard stone in the form of a perfect parallelopipedon with slightly rounded faces. The depression is shallow, and when found there was a discoloration of pigment upon its surface.

In almost every house that bore evidence of former occupancy, beautifully made mullers and metates were exhumed. These were ordinarily in place in the corner of the chamber, and were much worn, as if by constant use. In one grave there was found a metate reversed over a skeleton, probably that of a woman--although the bones were so disintegrated that the determination of the s.e.x of the individual was impossible. Several of these metates were taken by Indian women, who prized them so highly that they loaded the stones on burros and carried them ten miles to Walpi, where they are now applied to the same purpose for which they were used over two centuries ago.

On the surface of the mesa, beyond the extension of the ground plan of the ruin, there are many depressions worn in the rocks where the Awatobi women formerly whetted their grinding stones, doubtless in the manner practiced by the modern villagers of Tusayan. These depressions are especially numerous near the edge of the cliff, between the eastern and western sections of the ruin.[90]

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

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXIV

BONE IMPLEMENTS FROM AWATOBI AND SIKYATKI]

BONE OBJECTS

A large and varied collection of bone implements was gathered at Awatobi, and a few additional specimens were exhumed from Sikyatki. It is worthy of note that, as a rule, bone implements are more common in houses than in graves; and since the Awatobi excavations were conducted mostly in living rooms, while those at Sikyatki were largely in the cemeteries, the bone implements from the former pueblo far outnumber those from the latter.

The collection consists of awls, bodkins, needles, whistles, and tubes made of the bones of birds and quadrupeds. The two animals which contributed more than others to these objects were the turkey and the rabbit, although there were fragments of the horns and s.h.i.+n-bones of the antelope or deer. Several of these specimens were blackened by fire, and one was stained with green pigment. There was also evidence of an attempt at ornamenting the implements by incised lines, while one was bound with string. Bones of animals which had served for food were very common in all the excavations at Awatobi, especially near the floors of the houses. With the exception of a number of large bones of a bear, found in one of the houses in the northern range of the eastern section, these bones were not carefully collected.

Plate CXIV gives a general idea of some of the forms of worked bone which were obtained. Figure _a_ shows an awl, for the handle of which one of the trochanters was used, the point at the opposite end being very sharp; _b_ and _c_ are similar objects, but slighter, and more carefully worked; _d_ is a flattened bone implement perforated with two holes, and may have been used as a needle. There are similar implements in the collection, but with a single terminal perforation.

Other forms of bone awls are shown in _e_, _f_, _g_, and _j_.

There are a number of bone objects the use of which is problematical.

One of the best of these is a section of the tibia of a bird, cut longitudinally, convex on the side represented in plate CXIV, _h_, and concave on the opposite side. When found this bone fragment was tied to a second similar section by a string (remnants of which can be seen in the figure), thus forming a short tube. The use of this object is not known to me, nor were any satisfactory suggestions made by the Indians whom I consulted in relation to it. This does not apply, however, to the object ill.u.s.trated in plate CXIV, _i_, which was declared by several Hopi to be a bird whistle, similar to that used in ceremonials connected with medicine making.

The manner in which a bone whistle is used in imitation of a bird's call has been noticed by me in the accounts of several ceremonials, and I will therefore quote the description of its use in the _Nimankatcina_ at Walpi.[91]

Then followed an interval of song and accompanying rattle, at the termination of which Intiwa's a.s.sociate took the bird whistle (_tatukpi_) and blew three times into the liquid, making a noise not unlike that produced by a toy bird whistle. This was repeated four times, accompanied by song and rattle. He first inserted the bone whistle on the north side, then on the other cardinal points in turn. The monotonous song and rattle then ceased, and Intiwa sprinkled corn pollen on the ears of corn in the water, and upon the line of pahos.

The object of the whistle is to call the summer birds which are a.s.sociated with planting and harvesting. The whistle figures in many rites, especially in those connected with the making of medicine or charm liquid.

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS

ORNAMENTS IN THE FORM OF BIRDS AND Sh.e.l.lS

In the excavations, as well as on the surface of the mounds at Awatobi, were found many imitations of marine sh.e.l.ls made of clay, often painted red and ranging from the size of half a dollar to that of the thumb nail (plate CLXXIII, _j-m_). On the convex surface of these objects parallel lines are etched, and they are pierced at the valves for suspension. I have never found them suspended from the neck of a skeleton, although their general appearance indicates that they were used as ornaments. Similarly made clay images of birds (plate CLXXIII, _g_, _h_, _i_) with extended wings were also found, and of these there are several different forms in the collection. A small perforated k.n.o.b at the breast served for attachment. In the absence of any better explanation of these objects, I have regarded them as gorgets, or pendants, for personal decoration.

In the Awatobi collections there are several small disks made apparently of pipe clay, which also were probably used as ornaments.

These are very smooth and wonderfully regular in shape--in one case with a perforation near the rim. Turquois and sh.e.l.l beads were found in considerable numbers in the excavations at Awatobi, but, as they are similar to those from Sikyatki, I have reserved a discussion of them for following pages. A few fragments of sh.e.l.l armlets and wristlets were also exhumed. These were made generally of the Pacific coast _Pectunculus_, so common in the ruins of the Little Colorado.[92]

CLAY BELL

Copper bells are said to be used in the secret ceremonials of the modern Tusayan villages, and in certain of the ceremonial foot races metal bells of great age and antique pattern are sometimes tied about the waists of the runners. Small copper hawk bells,[93] found in southern Arizonian ruins, are identical in form and make with those used by the ancient Nahuatl people. So far as the study of the antiquities of the ruins of Tusayan immediately about the inhabited towns has gone, we have no record of the finding of copper bells of any great age. It was, therefore, with considerable interest that I exhumed from one of the rooms of the westernmost or oldest section of Awatobi a clay bell (figure 261) made in exact imitation of one of the copper bells that have been reported from several southern ruins (plate CLXXIII, _a_). While it may be said that it would be more decisive evidence of the prehistoric character of this object if Awatobi had not been under Spanish influence for over a century, still, from the position where it was dug up and its resemblance to metal bells which are undoubtedly prehistoric, there seems to be little reason to question its age. As with the imitation of marine sh.e.l.ls in clay, it is probable that in this bell we have a facsimile of a metal bell with which the ancient Tusayan people were undoubtedly familiar.[94]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 261--Clay Bell from Awatobi (natural size)]

TEXTILE FABRICS

In the very earliest accounts which we have of Tusayan the Hopi are said to raise cotton and to weave it into mantles. These mantles, or "towels" as they were styled by Espejo, were, according to Castaneda, ornamented with embroidery, and had ta.s.sels at the corners. In early times garments were made of the fiber of the maguey, and of feathers and rabbit skins. Fabrics made of animal fiber are mentioned by Friar Marcos de Niza, and he was told that the inhabitants of Totonteac obtained the material from which they were made from animals as large as the greyhounds which the father had with him. The historical references which can be mentioned to prove that the Tusayan people, when they were first visited, knew how to spin and weave are numerous, and need not be quoted here. That the people of Awatobi made cotton fabrics there is no doubt, for it is distinctly stated by early visitors that they were acquainted with the art of weaving, and some of the presents made to the first Spanish explorers were of native cotton.

The archeological evidence supports the historical in this particular, and several fragments of cloth were found in our excavations in the western mounds of the village. These fragments were of cotton and agave fiber, of cotton alone, and in one instance of the hair of some unknown animal. No signs of the famous rabbit-skin blankets were seen, and from the perishable nature of the material of which they were made it would be strange if any traces had been discovered. At Sikyatki a small textile fragment made of feathers was found in one of the burial vases, but no feather garments or even fragments of the same were unearthed at Awatobi.

A woven rope of agave fiber and many charred strings of the same material were found in a niche in the wall of a house in the eastern section, and from the same room there was taken a string, over a yard long, made of human hair. It was suggested to me by one of the Hopi that this string was part of the coiffure of an Awatobi maid, and that it was probably used to tie up her hair in whorls above the ears, as is still the Hopi custom.

The whole number of specimens of textile fabrics found at Awatobi was small, and their character disappointing for study, for the conditions of burial in the soil are not so good for their preservation as in the dry caves or cliff houses, from which beautifully preserved cloth, made at a contemporary period, has been taken.

PRAYER-STICKS--PIGMENTS

Among the most significant mortuary objects used by the ancient Tusayan people may be mentioned the so-called prayer-sticks or pahos.

These were found in several graves, placed on the breast, in the hand, or at the side of the person interred, and have a variety of form, as shown in the accompanying ill.u.s.trations (plates CLXXIV, CLXXV). As I shall discuss the forms and meaning of prayer-sticks in my account of Sikyatki, where a much larger number were found, I will simply mention a few of the more striking varieties from Awatobi.

One of the most instructive of these objects is flat in shape, painted green, and decorated with figures of a dragon-fly. As this insect is a symbol of rain, its occurrence on mortuary objects is in harmony with the Hopi conception of the dead which will later be explained.

Pahos, in the form of flat slats with a notched extension at one end were common, but generally were poorly preserved. The prayer-sticks from the shrine in the middle of the rooms in the plaza of the eastern section crumbled into fragments when exposed to the air, but they were apparently small, painted green, and decorated with black spots. On several of the prayer-sticks the impressions of the string and feathers that were formerly attached are still readily seen. It is probable that the solution of a carbonate of copper, with which the green pahos were so colored, contributed to the preservation of the wood of which they had been manufactured.

The only pigments detected on the prayer-sticks are black, red, and green, and traces of red are found also on the inner surface of a stone implement from a grave at the base of the mesa. All the pigments used by the modern Tusayan Indians were found in the intramural burial already described. My Hopi workmen urged me to give them small fragments of these paints, regarding them efficacious in their ceremonials.

OBJECTS SHOWING SPANISH INFLUENCE

We would naturally expect to find many objects of Caucasian origin in the ruins of a pueblo which had been under Spanish influence for a century. I have already spoken of certain architectural features in the eastern part of Awatobi which may be traced to the influence of the Spanish missionaries, and of small objects there were several different kinds which show the same thing. The old iron knife-blade already mentioned as having been found among the corn in a storage chamber in the northern row of houses was not the only metallic object found. Not far from the mission there were unearthed many corroded iron nails, a small hook of the same metal, a piece of cast copper, and a fragment of what appeared to be a portion of a bell. There were several pieces of gla.s.s, the surfaces of which had become ground by the sand which had beaten upon them during the years in which they had been exposed. There was found also a fragment of a green glazed cup, which was undoubtedly of Spanish or Mexican make, and sherds of white china similar to that sold today by the traders. These latter specimens were, as a rule, found on the surface of the ground.

It will therefore appear that the archeology of Awatobi supports the doc.u.mentary evidence that the pueblo was under Spanish influence for some time, and the fact that all the above-mentioned objects were taken on or in the eastern mounds emphasizes the conclusion that this section of the town was the part directly under Spanish influences.

Nothing of Spanish manufacture was found in the rooms of the western mounds, but from this negative evidence there is no reason to suspect that this section of Awatobi was not inhabited contemporaneously with that in the vicinity of the mission.