HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT FEWKES 477 



The remarkable triangular vase shown in Plate 8, Figure 7, has 

 two extensions, one on each side of the terminal opening. The sur- 

 face of this strange form, whose use is unknown, is decorated with 

 parallel lines arranged symmetrically. 



Among the modern Hopi the feather plays such an important 

 part in their ceremonial system that it is customary for every priest 

 to have a box for feathers, which in old times was made of a root 

 of the cottonwood. The object (pi. 8, figs. 2 and 4) indicates that the 

 ancients of the Montezuma Valley also had a feather box of similar 

 shape but made of clay. Although this receptacle is much smaller 

 than the feather box of the modern Hopi, it served an identical 

 purpose. 



Food basins (pi. 8, figs. 5 and 6) in the Williamson collection from 

 the area in which Hovenweep Monument is situated are very rudely 

 decorated with geometrical figures and mainly belong to the black 

 and white ware. They resemble those of the Mesa Verde National 

 Park. Plate 8, Figure 6, has the rim decorated. 



Thus far very few fetishes have been found in the Mesa Verde 

 region, but two good specimens from the valley are shown in Plate 

 8, Figures 1 and 3, side and front views. These objects are made 

 of marble and are perforated, suggesting that they were worn on 

 the person as pendants of necklaces or other ornaments. It is 

 possible that they were used as fetishes for aid in hunting, much as 

 the Pueblos employ similar figurines at the present day. 



The most exceptional form of pottery is shown in Plate 9, Fig- 

 ures 1 and 2. This is a double vase consisting of two almost globu- 

 lar vessels united by a rude effigy of an unknown animal. This 

 twin vessel is made of white ware with a simple geometrical decora- 

 tion in black. It was evidently a ceremonial object in which pos- 

 sibly sacred water was carried. 



CONCLUSIONS 



It is almost impossible to traverse the country surrounding the 

 Hovenweep Monument without observing mounds and other rem- 

 nants of the former housebuilders. The remarkable similarity of 

 these remains is everywhere apparent. It is unnecessary to exca- 

 vate any considerable number of these mounds to prove the identity 

 of the builders. Neither is it desirable or necessary to reserve the 

 extensive tracts of land upon which they stand to preserve the type 

 of buildings characteristic of the extensive culture area to which 

 they belong. The Hovenweep National Monument contains build- 

 ings typical of an extended area in southwestern Colorado, south- 

 eastern Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Similar buildings of the 

 same type are found as far north as the Dinosaur beds of Utah and 



1454—25 32 



