NO. 10 ARCHEOLOGY OF MIMBRES VALLEY FEWKES 43 



two birds and two frogs 1 drawn in opposite quadrants, being unique 

 in this particular. The two birds and frogs are not very unlike those 

 already described but have certain characteristic features, especially 

 in the geometric designs on their bodies. 



The bowl is warped into an irregular shape and made of thin ware, 

 probably distorted in firing. It was found under the floor of one of 

 the central rooms in the Oldtown ruin, almost completely covering the 

 skeleton of a baby. 



On another bowl (pi. 6, fig. 2) there is depicted a frog very like 

 that last mentioned. The frog being an amphibian was undoubtedly 

 greatly reverenced by the ancient people of the Mimbres Valley. 



HORNED SNAKE 



The serpent with a horn on the head is pretty generally regarded 

 as a supernatural being, and its pictures and effigies occur on modern 

 Hopi, Zufii, and other Pueblo paraphernalia. It is an ancient con 

 ception, for it is figured on prehistoric pottery from all parts of the 

 Pueblo area, having been found as far south as Casas Grandes in 

 Chihuahua. It is to be expected that a people like the ancient Mim- 

 brenos who adorned their pottery with so many well drawn zoic 

 figures would have included the horned serpent, provided this reptile 

 was a member of their pantheon. The nearest approach to a figure of 

 such a monster is found on a large pottery fragment found by Mr. 

 Osborn twelve miles south of Deming. This fragment covered the 

 cranium of a skeleton and was perforated or &quot; killed &quot; like a whole 

 bowl. 



A very large number of pictures of the horned snake from localities 

 all over the Southwest might be mentioned, but a few examples are 

 adequate to show how widespread the conception was in ancient 

 times. They occur among the Tewa, Keres, Zuni, Hopi and other 

 Pueblos and vary greatly in details, but in all instances preserve the 

 essential symbolic feature a horn on the head and a serpentine 

 body. 



The horned serpent is known to the Hopi as the plumed serpent, 

 and when represented by them has a bundle of hawk feathers as well 

 as a horn attached to the head. Effigies of this being, also with horn 



1 A picture of a horned toad on a food bowl was recorded from Cook s 

 Peak by Professor Webster, and there is a picture of what appears to be the 

 same reptile in Mr. Osborn s collection. It is of course sometimes difficult to 

 positively distinguish representations of frogs, toads, lizards, and Gila mon 

 sters, but the anatomical features are often well indicated. 



