NO. lO ARCHEOLOGY OF MIMBRES VALLEY — FEWKES 47 



decorated in Sikyatki pottery. Encircling lines on Mimbres pottery 

 are continuous, whereas at Sikyatki they are broken at one or more 

 points by intervals known as the " life gateways " or " lines of life." ' 

 The geometrical figures on the inside of every bowl sometimes sur- 

 round a central region on which no figures of animals or human 

 beings are drawn, but which is perforated. 



The more strikingly characteristic forms of geometrical figures are 

 shown in designs on plate 8. Certain of the geometrical figures 

 drawn on the sides of animals as on the wolf (pi. 2, fig. i), the 

 antelope (figs. 19 and 20), the mountain sheep (pi. 2, fig. 2), the 

 unidentified animal and bird (figs. 18 and 25), the reptile (fig. 28), 



Fig. 31. — Rabbit and geometrical designs. 



also appear without the animals and probably have the same signifi- 

 cance ^ in both instances. 



No geometrical figures were identified as representing sun, moon, 

 earth, or rain-clouds. A few crosses,- circles, triangles, and irregular 

 quadrilateral designs combined with zigzag stepped figures and inter- 

 locked spirals and highly interesting swastikas (fig. 31) form the 



^ Ceremonially, every piece of pottery is supposed by the Hopi to be a living 

 being, and when placed in the grave of the owner, it was broken or killed 

 to let the spirit escape to join the spirit of the dead in its future home. There 

 is no evidence that the Sikyatki mortuary pottery was purposely broken when 

 deposited in the grave, and probably no need of perforating it to allow free 

 exit of the spirit, for the broken encircling line, " life gateway," absent in 

 Mimbres pottery, but almost universally present in ancient Hopi pottery, 

 answered the same purpose, in their conception. 



^ Following Hopi analogies, where these geometrical figures frequently occur 

 with animals they may have the same symbolic meaning as when alone, and 

 represent shrines or prayer-offering houses. 

 4 



