At least three well-marked periods can be distinguished in the history of Hopi pottery symbolism. To appreciate the relationship between ceramic decoration and history, let me sketch a brief overview of what I consider to be the historical development of the Hopi living near or on the East Mesa.
FEWKES] INTRODUCTION 217
From then on, all the pottery she produced was decorated with modified Sikyatki symbols, mainly to meet the demand for this beautiful ancient vessel. These clever imitations, however, are not as fine as the productions of another epoch.
THE RUIX, SIKYATKI
The pottery industry, the woman's industry, and that of the PueWottie woman defines their clan, so sl)e defines the symbolism of the pottery. From the character of the symbols on the ancient pottery from the Mesa and Middle ancient pueblos it is likely that the clans.
FBWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 221
One hand of the girl is raised to her head, while the otlier holds an unknown object, perhaps an ear of corn. The woman with the ear of corn resembles the figure on the elaborately painted wooden plaque worn by women in the Hopi Marau dance, or the figure on the wooden plaque.
FE\\'KES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 223 Another interpretation of the central figure of the group, figure 15,
The appendages of the hejd are elongated and end in feathers that are bent back and touch the body. The body has feathers like those of a very conventional bird, while the limbs resemble those of a lizard.
FBWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 225 appendage and 'one claw of the posterior limbs recalls a sky-band,
FBWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 225 appendage and one claw of the hind limbs are reminiscent of a pneumatic tire. The meaning of the narrow line connecting the upper jaw to the tail is not known.
FEWKES] THE BTJIN, SIKYATKI 22T
Such simple pictures of birds sometimes have, in addition to the attached parallel lines referred to, an angular or a curved line or hook extending from one of the. The bird is designated by the combination of the beak, claws and body, as well as the feathers.
FBWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 229
On each side of the headgear's feathers, wings and tail hang figures of unknown moaning. I'm probably not designed like the outline of the head, but the headband turned out of perspective.
232 DESIGNS ON HOPI POTTERY [ETH. ANN
The bird design shown in profile in figure 49 is realistic, all parts being clearly distinguished. Figure 51 shows a side view of a bird, apparently in flight, bird-like head and beak.
FEWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 235
TEATHER DESIGNS
FEWKES] THE EUIN, SIKYATKI 237 other forms of feather designs will be added later. These types
The next form of feather, shown in e, differs from the last in that the shaft is spotted and the proximalendis cut obliquely in a different manner.^ The ends are slitas in the figure last described. The two feathers shown in f/ have in one case a black and in the other a white point separated from the rest of the shaft by an oblique line.
FEWKES] THE EUIN, SIKYATKI 239 feather and those previously considered is that the diagonal line
Comparison of this with that of dd shows the similarity of the two and suggests that they refer to the same species of bird. The four feather symbols shown in the bird's tail drawing differ from all the others in the shape of their distal tendrils, which are alternately black and plain, and without superficial ornamentation. Thei-e is a general similarity between the bird's tail feathers designed in e and I; the latter represents a bird's tail, hanging between two triangles under a star design.
FEWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 241
Other representations of wire feather patterns or nakcalcicoci show modifications in each of the three elements mentioned, line (string), enlargement (knot) and end projections (feathers). In one example (j) no ball or knot is given, the nal-u-aku'oci simply consisting of the cut string. A special modification of the cross-striped point is shown in the figure with the leaf-shaped connector.
FEWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 243
VERTICAL ATTACHMENT TO SKY-BAND
The design shown in Figure 73 represents a very conventional bird hanging from the sky band with head and wings on one side and tail feathers below. The designs shown in Figure 74 represent the simplest forms of birds attached longitudinally to the sky band. One of the best designs representing a bird attached to a celestial band is shown in figure 75, taken from a bowl in Wat-.
PBWKES] THE EUIN, SIKYATKI 247
If the two appendages which are supposed to represent the legs or the two knife-shaped parts of the crescent moon were brought together, the two crescents would also merge into one, and then we would have a very conventionalized bird with three tail feathers and a triangular head, body. being represented by a square design crossed diagonally with zigzag fig-. Although linear in form, one end is sometimes so crooked orbens at an angle, not curved, as to form a head, while the other has parallel lines, representations of tail feathers, terraces or triangles.
FBWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 249 In plate 80, a, we have a characteristic example of one of these
In these figures we have a continuous line that can be compared to the air tire, each point usually ending in a point to which parallel lines are attached. Here a band is enlarged at the end representing the knots with attached parallel lines or feathers. The rectangular design is always predominant, but it will be seen from the following plate that it is not ubiquitous, especially on the inside of bowls.
FHWKDS] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 251 CuKVED Figure with Attached Feathers
The symbol of the dragonfly, which appears on several bowls from the ancient Hopi ruins, is a line often enlarged at one end to form a head, and always with two transverse bars near this enlargement to indicate wings. Their wings, as a rule, lie horizontally, taking the posture of moths at rest, where there is only one of five. The moth in figure 79 has a triangular shaped body, and the ends of the wings appear on each side of a projection extending back, which is the posterior end.
FBWKES] THE EUIN, SIKYATKI 253
These six figures (fig. 90) are believed to be connected with the six cardinal points that have sex in modern Hop belief: the butterfly corresponding to the north, male; in the west, feminine; in the south, male; to the. The appendages of the head are two curved rows of dots representing antennae, and two parallel lines are the mouth. 1Rain, lightning, animals, plants, air and earth are supposed to have sex in the modern ITopi view.
FBWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 255
The characteristic geometric decorations on Sikyatki pottery are on the outside of the food bowls, making them noticeably different from those in other ceramic areas. The designs on Sikyatki pottery show little remnant jDre existing materials or development from the transfer of those to textiles of any kind. The most constant geometric forms on Pueblo pottery are those representing a rain cloud, and by analogy we would expect to find rain cloud figures prominently on ancient Hopi pottery.
FBWKBS] THE BUIN, SIKYATKI 257
The bird figure in this case is interpreted as a gambler's god, or a representation of the god of chance. The Sikyatki design (fig. 87, &) is a circle bearing on its circumference appendages believed to represent feathers, with accompanying lines, usually painted red, representing the rays of the sun. In modern Ilopi symbolism, the sun is a disk with images of eagle feathers around its circumference and radial lines in each quadrant, symbolic of the sun's rays.
FBWKES] THE EUIN, SIKYATKI 259
In Fig. 9G we find a foot apj^ended on the lower side of the ring balanced by three arms. Here we have instead of the appendage on the lower side an elongated curved projection extending to the left. The horns with the crest of feathers between them recall the crest of the Sun.
FEWKES] THE HUIN, SIKYATKI 261
Elaborate images made of differently colored sand representing gods are often incloseci of encircling lines, the whole being called a house of gods. Sikyatki bowls decorated with figures identified as supernatural often bear accompanying designs which, on comparative reasoning, can be interpreted as shrines of the supernatiiral being dejiced. They sometimes have a form not unlike cprt^un s;ind images, as in the case of the curved figure accompanying a very conventional plundered serpent.
FBWKBS] THE RTJIN, SIKYATKI 263
The designs of that early era appear uniform and barely distinguishable from those common in all parts of the Southwest. There is no published evidence in Zuiii legends that Sik.vatki received raises from that pueblo.
FEWKES] THE RUIN, SIKYATKI 265
Pottery designs from this region are simpler and resemble Mesa Verde rock houses and the ruins along the San Juan River. It is the same as in the San Juan area, whose decoration is roughly uniform with those of Mesa Verde and Chelly Canyon. In the pottery symbols of the clans that lived at Tokonabi (Kit- . siel, Betatakin, etc.) the archaic predominated.
TANOAN EPOCH
1The Tanoan people (clans) also introduced a horned serpent, but in symbolism it differed from that of the Patlsi clans. The oldest pottery in the Zuni Valley belongs to the same group as that of the oldest ruins at Little Colorado and shows clear symbolism of the Gila Valley. The arrival of the Little Colorado clans into Hopi country was too late to seriously influence the Classic period of Hopi ceramics; nor does it appear to have exerted any great influence on it.
FEWKES] TANOAN EPOCH 269
Some of the surrounding lineages from this area have more than one fault, and in one case the edges of the fault have appendages, a rare feature found in both Hopi and Little Colorado rehistoric wares. This brotherhood came directly from Awatobi, but the Tobacco clan from which it was derived once lived at Apueblo on the Little Colorado, now in ruins at Chevlon, halfway between Holbrook and Wins. 272 DESIGNS ON HOPI POTTEHY [eth.axn.33 Chipias has an important influence on the age of the ruins of Little Colorado, for Father Arvide, a Franciscan missionary, was murdered in 1632 by the Chipias, who lived west of Zuni.
FEWKES] TANOAN EPOCH 273
A major difficulty in interpreting the prehistoric images of supernatural beings depicted on ancient pots through a comparison of the religious paraphernalia of modern Hoiji is complex nomenclature. Cult heroines, such as the Marau-mana, Shalako-mana, Palahiko-mana and others depending on one of the dialects, Keres or Tewa, are used interchangeably. This diversity in nomenclature has introduced a complexity into Hopi mythology that is more apparent than real in the Hopi Pantheon, as the names of their people would imply. The great nature gods of heaven and earth, male and female, lightning and germination, undoubtedly came into being. as a simple transmission of a germinating idea applied to cosmic phenomena and organic nature.
FEWKES] TANOAN EPOCH . 275
The most prominent features of her symbolism, shown in plate 89, are the terraced bodies representing rain clouds on the head, a symbol of an ear of corn on the forehead, curved lines over the mouth, chevron on the cheek, conventionalized arms, and clothing with feathers. . It sometimes happens in Hopi dramatization that pictures of sujoei natural beings and similar idols take the place of personifications of priests.
TOP OF BUTTERFLY VASE
The objects in the hands represent feathers and resemble a type of the conventional feathers figured on the preceding pages. In this altarpiece we find not only a horn on the left side of the head, but also a rectangular design on the right. One of the hermodem Walpi ceremonies has such pronounced Awatobi symbolism that it may appear to show derivation; namely the New-fire festival.' The women in Marau and the men in.
FEWKBS] TANOAN EPOCH 279 The designs painted on the bodies and heads of several modern
Feather symbols reminiscent of those of the Sikyatki era depend on head appendages representing rain clouds. It is instructive to note that this figure has symbols on its head reminiscent of the Sikyatki era. She also appears in figure 111, where her image is painted on a spoon, the handle of which represents an ancient Tewan clown named by Hano.
FEWKES] TANOAN EPOCH 281 The War god, Piiiikon hoya, also a Tewan incorporation in the
CONCLUSION
Evidence of this stage or epoch occurs everywhere in the Southwest, and the survival of the archaic characters enumerated is evident in all subsequent periods. Its essential characteristic is the terraced communal house and the simplest form of pueblo, the "uniform type", which was first pointed out by Dr. In protection is the cause of the development of terraced architecture, such as the pueblos show, for the early people who -.
PBWKHS] TANOAN EPOCH 283
AUTHORITIES CITED
