Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Part 20

Plate Cx.x.xVIII, _d_, represents a figure of a bird showing great relative modification of organs when compared with those previously discussed. The head is very much broadened, but the semicircular markings, which occur also on the heads of previously described bird figures, are well drawn. The wings are mere curved appendages, dest.i.tute of feather symbols, but are provided with lateral spurs and have k.n.o.bs at their bases. The body is rectangular; the tail-feathers are numerous, with well-marked symbolism. Perhaps the most striking appendages to the body are the two well-defined extensions of parts of the body itself, which, although represented in other pictures of birds, nowhere reach such relatively large size.

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SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. Cx.x.xIX

FOOD BOWLS WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

The figure of a bird shown in plate Cx.x.xVIII, _c_, is similar in many respects to that last described. The semicircular markings on the head of the former are here replaced by triangles, but both are symbolic of rain-clouds. The wings are curved projections, without any suggestion of feathers or basal spurs and k.n.o.bs. The tail-feathers show nothing exceptional, and the body is bounded posteriorly by triangular extensions, as in figures of birds already described.

The representation of the bird in plate Cx.x.xVIII, _e_, has a triangular body continued into two points on the posterior end, between which the tail-feathers are situated. The body is covered with terraced and triangular designs, and the head is rectangular in form.

On each side of the bird figure there is a symbol of a flower, possibly the sunflower or an aster.

In the figures of birds already considered the relative sizes of the heads and bodies are not overdrawn, but in the picture of a bird on the food bowl shown in plate Cx.x.xVIII, _f_, the head is very much enlarged. It bears a well-marked terraced rain-cloud symbol above triangles of the same meaning. The wings are represented as diminutive appendages, each consisting of two feathers. The body has a triangular extension on each side, and the tail is composed of two comparatively short rectangular feathers. The figure itself could hardly be identified as a representation of a bird were it not for the correspondence, part for part, with figures which are undoubtedly those of birds or flying animals.

A more highly conventionalized figure of a bird than any thus far described is painted on the food bowl reproduced in plate CXL, _b_.

The head is represented by a terraced figure similar to those which appear as decorations on some of the other vessels; the wings are simply extended crescents, the tips of which are connected by a band which encircles the body and tail; the body is continued at the posterior end into two triangular appendages, between which is a tail, the feathers of which are not differentiated. On each side of the body, in the s.p.a.ce inclosed by the band connecting the tips of the wings, a figure of a dragon-fly appears.

The figure on the food bowl ill.u.s.trated in plate Cx.x.xIX, _c_, may also be reduced to a conventionalized bird symbol. The two pointed objects on the lower rim represent tail-feathers, and the triangular appendages, one on each side above them, the body, as in the designs which have already been described. Above the triangles is a rectangular figure with terraced rain-cloud emblems, a constant feature on the body and head of the bird, and on each side, near the rim of the bowl, occur the primary feathers of the wings. The cross, so frequently a.s.sociated with designs representing birds, is replaced by the triple intersecting lines in the remaining area. The resemblance of this figure to those already considered is clearly evident after a little study.

The decoration on the food basin presented in plate Cx.x.xIX, _a_, is interesting in the study of the evolution of bird designs into conventional forms. In this figure those parts which are identified as h.o.m.ologues of the wings extend wholly across the interior of the food bowl, and have the forms of triangles with smaller triangular spurs at their bases. The wings are extended at right angles to the axis of the body, and taper uniformly to the rim of the bowl. The smaller spurs near the union of the wings and body represent the posterior part of the latter, and between them are the tail-feathers, their number being indicated by three triangles.

There is no representation of a head, although the terraced rain-cloud figure is drawn on the anterior of the body between the wings.

The reduction of the triangular wings of the last figure to a simple band drawn diametrically across the inner surface of the bowl is accomplished in the design shown in plate Cx.x.xIX, _b_. At intervals along this line there are arranged groups of blocks, three in each group, representing stars, as will later be shown. The semicircular head has lost all appendages and is reduced to a rain-cloud symbol.

The posterior angles of the body are much prolonged, and the tail still bears the markings representing three tail-feathers.

The a.s.sociation of a cross with the bird figure is both appropriate and common; its modified form in this decoration is not exceptional, but why it is appended to the wings is not wholly clear. We shall see its reappearance on other bowls decorated with more highly conventionalized bird figures.

In the peculiar decoration used in the treatment of the food bowl shown in plate Cx.x.xIX, _c_, we have almost a return to geometric figures in a conventional representation of a bird. In this case the semblance to wings is wholly lost in the line drawn diametrically across the interior of the bowl. On one side of it there are many crosses representing stars, and on the other the body and tail of a bird. The posterior triangular extensions of the former are continued to a bounding line of the bowl, and no attempt is made to represent feathers in the tail. The rectangular figure, with serrated lower edge and inclosed terraced figures, finds, however, a h.o.m.ologue in the heads and bodies of most of the representations of birds which have been described.

This gradual reduction in semblance to a bird has gone still further in the figure represented in plate Cx.x.xIX, _d_, where the posterior end of the body is represented by two spurs, and the tail by three feathers, the triangular rain-clouds still persisting in the rectangular body. In fact, it can hardly be seen how a more conventionalized figure of a bird were possible did we not find in _e_ of the same plate this reduction still greater. Here the tail is represented by three parallel lines, the posterior of the body by two dentate appendages, and the body itself by a square.

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SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXL

FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

In plate CXL, _c_, we have a similar conventional bird symbol where two birds, instead of one, are represented. In both these instances it would appear that the diametric band, originally h.o.m.ologous to wings, had lost its former significance.

It must also be pointed out that there is a close likeness between some of these so-called conventionalized figures of birds and those of moths or b.u.t.terflies. If, for instance, they are compared with the figures of the six designs of the upper surface of the vase shown in plate Cx.x.xV, _b_, we note especially this resemblance. While, therefore, it can hardly be said there is absolute proof that these highly conventionalized figures always represent birds, we may, I think, be sure that either the bird or the moth or b.u.t.terfly is generally intended.

There are several modifications of these highly conventionalized figures of birds which may be mentioned, one of the most interesting of which is figured in plate Cx.x.xIX, _f_. In this representation the two posterior triangular extensions of the body are modified into graceful curves, and the tail-feathers are simply parallel lines. The figure in this instance is little more than a trifid appendage to a broad band across the inner surface of the food bowl. In addition to this highly conventionalized bird figure, however, there are two crosses which represent stars. In this decoration all resemblance to a bird is lost, and it is only by following the reduction of parts that one is able to identify this geometric design with the more elaborate pictures of mythic birds. When questioned in regard to the meaning of this symbol, the best informed Hopi priests had no suggestion to offer.

In all the figures of birds thus far considered, the head, with one or two exceptions, is represented or indicated by symbolic markings. In that which decorates the vessel shown in plate CXL, _a_, we find a new modification; the wings, instead of being attenuated into a diametric line or band, are in this case curved to form a loose spiral. Between them is the figure of a body and the three tail-feathers, while the triangular extensions which generally indicate the posterior of the body are simply two rounded k.n.o.bs at the point of union of the wings and tail. There is no indication of a head.

The modifications in the figure of the bird shown in the last mentioned pictograph, and the highly conventionalized forms which the wings and other parts a.s.sume, give me confidence to venture an interpretation of a strange figure shown in plate CXLI, _a_. This picture I regard as a representation of a bird, and I do so for the following resemblances to figures already studied. The head of the bird, as has been shown, is often replaced by a terraced rain-cloud symbol. Such a figure occurs in the pictograph under consideration, where it occupies the position of the head. On either side of what might be regarded as a body we find, at the anterior end, two curved appendages which so closely resemble similarly placed bodies in the pictograph last discussed that they are regarded as representations of wings. These extensions at the posterior end of the body are readily comparable with prolongations in that part on which we have already commented. The tail, although different from that in figures of birds thus far discussed, has many points of resemblance to them. The two circles, one on each side of the bird figure, are important additions which are treated in following pages.[145]

From the study of the conventionalized forms of birds which I have outlined above it is possible to venture the suggestion that the star-shape figure shown in plate CLXVII, _b_, may be referred to the same group, but in this specimen we appear to have duplication, or a representation of the bird symbol repeated in both semicircles of the interior of the bowl. Examining one of these we readily detect the two tail-feathers in the middle, with the triangular end of the body on each side. The lateral appendages duplicated on each side correspond with the band across the middle of the bowl in other specimens, and represent highly conventionalized wings. The middle of this compound figure is decorated with a cross, and in each quadrant there is a row of the same emblems, equidistant from one another.

It would be but a short step from this figure to the ancient sun symbol with which the eagle and other raptorial birds are intimately a.s.sociated. The figure represented in plate Cx.x.xIII, _c_, is a symbolic bird in which the different parts are directly comparable with the other bird pictographs already described. One may easily detect in it the two wings, the semicircular rain-cloud figures, and the three tail-feathers. As in the picture last considered, we see the two circles, each with a concentric smaller circle, one on each side of the mythic bird represented. Similar circular figures are likewise found in the zone surrounding the centrally placed bird picture.

In the food bowl ill.u.s.trated in plate CXLI, _b_, we find the two circles shown, and between them a rectangular pictograph the meaning of which is not clear. The only suggestion which I have in regard to the significance of this object is that it is an example of subst.i.tution--the subst.i.tution of a prayer offering to the mythic bird represented in the other bowls for a figure of the bird itself. This interpretation, however, is highly speculative, and should be accepted only with limitations. I have sometimes thought that the prayer-stick or paho may originally have represented a bird, and the use of it is an instance of the subst.i.tution[146] of a symbolic effigy of a bird, a direct survival of the time when a bird was sacrificed to the deity addressed.

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SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLI

FOOD BOWLS WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS AND FEATHERS FROM SIKYATKI]

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SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLII

VASES, BOWLS, AND LADLE, WITH FIGURES OF FEATHERS, FROM SIKYATKI]

The studies of the conventional bird figures which are developed in the preceding pages make it possible to interpret one of the two pictures on the food bowl represented in plate CLII, while the realistic character of the smaller figure leaves no question that we can rightly identify this also as a bird. In the larger figure the wings are of unequal size and are tipped with appendages of a more or less decorative nature. The posterior part of the body is formed of two triangular extensions, to which feathers are suspended, and the tail is composed of three large pointed feathers. The head bears the terraced rain-cloud designs almost universal in pictographs of birds.

It is hardly necessary for me to indicate the head, body, wings, and legs of the smaller figure, for they are evidently avian, while the character of the beak would indicate that a parrot or raptorial genus was intended. The same beak is found in the decoration of a vase with a bird design, which will later be considered.

From an examination of the various figures of birds on the Sikyatki pottery, and an a.n.a.lysis of the appendages to the wings, body, and legs, it is possible to determine the symbolic markings characteristic of two different kinds of feathers, the large wing or tail feathers and the so-called breath or body feathers. There is therefore no hesitation, when we find an object of pottery ornamented with these symbols, in interpreting them as feathers. Such a bowl is that shown in plate CXLI, _c_, in which we find a curved line to which are appended three breast feathers. This curved band from which they hang may take the form of a circle with two pendent feathers as in plate CXLI, _d_.

In the design on the bowl figured in plate CXLI, _e_, tail-feathers hang from a curved band, at each extremity of which is a square design in which the cross is represented. It has been suggested that this represents the feathered rainbow, a peculiar conception of both the Pueblo and the Navaho Indians. The design appearing on the small food bowl represented in plate CXLI, _f_, is no doubt connected in some way with that last mentioned, although the likeness between the appendages to the ring and feathers is remote. It is one of those conventionalized pictures, the interpretation of which, with the scanty data at hand, must be largely theoretical.

Figures of feathers are most important features in the decoration of ancient Sikyatki pottery, and their many modifications may readily be seen by an examination of the plates. In modern Tusayan ceremonials the feather is appended to almost all the different objects used in wors.h.i.+p; it is essential in the structure of the _tiponi_ or badge of the chief, without which no elaborate ceremony can be performed or altar erected; it adorns the images on the altars, decorates the heads of partic.i.p.ants, is prescribed for the prayer-sticks, and is always appended to aspergills, rattles, and whistles.

In the performance of certain ceremonials water from sacred springs is used, and this water, sometimes brought from great distances, is kept in small gourd or clay vases, around the necks of which a string with attached feathers is tied. Such a vase is the so-called _patne_ which has been described in a memoir on the Snake ceremonies at Walpi.[147]

The artistic tendency of the ancient people of Sikyatki apparently exhibited itself in painting these feathers on the outside of similar small vases. Plate CXLII, _a_, shows one of these vessels, decorated with an elaborate design with four breath-feathers suspended from the equator. (See also figure 273.) On the vases shown in plate CXLII, _b_, _c_, are found figures of tail-feathers arranged in two groups on opposite sides of the rim or orifice. One of these groups has eight, the other seven, figures of these feathers, and on the two remaining quadrants are the star emblems so constantly seen in pottery decorated with bird figures. The upper surface of the vase (figure 274) shows a similar arrangement, although the feathers here are conventionalized into triangular dentations, seven on one side and three on the other, individual dentations alternating with rectangular designs which suggest rain-clouds. This vase (plate CXLIII, _a_, _b_) is also striking in having a well-drawn figure of a bird in profile, the head, wings, tail, and legs suggesting a parrot. The zone of decoration of this vessel, which surrounds the rows of feathers, is strikingly complicated, and comprises rain-cloud, feather, and other designs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 273--Pendent feather ornaments on a vase.]

In a discussion of the significance of the design on the food bowl represented in plate Cx.x.xIX, _a_, _b_, I have shown ample reason for regarding it a figure of a highly conventionalized bird. On the upper surface of the vase (plate CXLIV, _a_, _b_) are four similar designs, representing birds of the four cardinal points, one on each quadrant.

The wings are represented by triangular extensions, dest.i.tute of appendages but with a rounded body at their point of juncture with the trunk. Each bird has four tail-feathers and rain-cloud symbols on the anterior end of the body. As is the case with the figures on the food basins, there are crosses representing stars near the extended wings.

A broad band connects all these birds, and terraced rain-cloud symbols, six in number and arranged in pairs, fill the peripheral sections between them. This vase, although broken, is one of the most beautiful and instructive in the rich collection of Sikyatki ceramics.

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SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLIII

VASE WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

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

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXLIV

VASE WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]

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