FEWKES: UNIQUE PREHISTORIC POTTERY 601 



cates with the cavities of both vases through the hollow handle 

 and suggests that the object was used as a receptacle for sacred 

 water. It is not unusual for the Hopi priests to-day to make 

 long pilgrimages to distant springs to procure water to use in 

 their rites. The medicine vessels of Hopi priests are, however, 

 smaller and simpler than that here considered, although some 

 of these sacred vessels are furnished with handles. The size 

 of the two members of the prehistoric vessels are about the 

 same; both are ahnost spherical, slightly flattened on their 

 upper side where they are decorated with parallel lines dis- 

 tributed in four blocks. Both have an unusual feature in pre- 

 historic pottery — a concave basal depression. This unique form 

 of pottery belongs to the black-and-white ware which is regarded 

 as archaic and characteristic of the most ancient pueblo ruins. 



