NO. 2280. A PIT HOUSE VILLAGE IN ^'E\V MEXICO -HOUGH. 427 



sel is in finish, it shows fundamentally a good conception of form. It 

 was designed as an offering. (Fig. 42, No. 292040, U.S.N.M.) 

 Length, 3 inches ; width, 2f inches ; height, 2| inches. 



Bird-form vase. — Gray body worked with white and decorated in 

 black. The decoration consists of horizontal lines around the neck; 

 zigzag lines on the handle; and plumage, wing, and tail conven- 

 tions forming a band around the body. The wing convention which 

 seems to express the folding of the bird's wing is nc^. , as far as tLa 

 writer knows. This little vessel, in spite of its obvious crudities in 

 form and execution, shows a considerable advance \\\ symbolic 

 decoration. It is more related to the art of Blue River tlian to other 

 examples from the locality where it was found. (Fig. 43, No. 

 292039, U.S.N.M.) From a child's burial; 2^ inches long, 2 inches 

 wide, 2^ inches high. 



Spindle whorl. — Disk of decorated pottery having a hole drilled 

 through the center. The vessel from which the disk was made bore 



Fig. 44.— Spindle whorl 

 Fig. 43.— Bird-form v.vse. worked from pottery. 



a recticulate decoration (fig. 44, No. 292062, U.S.N.M.) ; 2 inches in 

 diameter. 



Clay roofing. — Made of coarse, red brown clay, showing the im- 

 pression of a roof timber. In one instance in a mealing shed and in 

 several instances in pits such masses of baked clay were found. 

 Their preservation was due, no doubt, to the destruction of a house 

 by fire. (No. 292076, U.S.N.M.) 



Textiles. — There was not a trace of basketry or cloth found in the 

 pit village, but the presence of spindle whorls of potterj^^ would 

 indicate that cord or thread making as a preliminary to weaving was 

 practiced. 



SUMMARY. 



Our present knowledge of the Pit Dwellers of this section places 

 them on the high mountains at the head of the San Francisco Eiver, 

 in a limited area at 7,000 feet elevation. No one may say that they 

 have not a more extensive range along the mountains, as the traces 

 of their villages are very obscure. 



