SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 



Among the realistic forms are a number of birds which are not 

 readily identifiable. Two examples are illustrated in figure 2, a, b. 

 There are also many representations of snakes. In some instances, 

 as figure 2, c, they are very realistic, while in others they are more 

 conventionalized and show a combination of the geometric and realistic 

 types. The horned or plumed serpent illustrated in figure 2, d, is an 

 example. The plumed serpent has long played a prominent part in 

 Southwestern cultures and representations of it are found in many 

 places. It occurs in the decorations on pottery and in pictographs and 

 petroglyphs, and is used in efiigy forms in certain ceremonies of the 

 Zufii and Hopi Indians. Its prominence in the art and ceremonies of 

 the Mexican cultures to the south is so well known that it needs no 



Fig. 2. — Bird and serpent pictographs found on cave walls. 



discussion. The example from this cave suggests similar forms on 

 pottery from Casas Grandes in the Chihuahua district of Old Mexico 

 and also some of those occurring on bowls from the Mimbres Valley 

 in southern New Mexico. 



Figure 3 shows the best example of a highly conventionalized geo- 

 metric form. It is impossible to say just what it was intended to 

 represent, but it is quite reminiscent of some of the square-shouldered 

 figures of the Pueblo country to the north and west. A closer parallel 

 to this figure is to be found, however, in some of the geometric 

 designs on pottery from Casas Grandes in northern Mexico. 



Only a few illustrations of the kind of pictographs to be seen in 

 this section have been given, but they are sufficient to indicate the 

 general character of the paintings ; an extended discussion would be 

 beyond the requirements of this paper. 



