ARCHEOLOGICAL FIELD WORK IN ARIZONA. 353 



Museum-Gates expedition of 1901. In discussing the paper Presi- 

 dent W. H. Holmes characterized the Pueblo culture by saying that 

 it was a great unit with much diversity in detail, fading off into but 

 not connecting with the areas to the w^est, north, and east, save per- 

 haps in case of a limited class of ancient earthenware decorated with 

 color found in the States of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana; but 

 on the south there is strong evidence that it connects with the art of 

 northern Mexico and to some degree with the great culture centers 

 of the southern plateau of Mexico. President Holmes said that the 

 various ceramic groups were largely the result of local environment, 

 and to some extent to the culture of peoples arriving in that environ- 

 ment, but the culture over the whole Pueblo area has been to some 

 extent unified. 



A" few years ago the writer made a study of the art of pottery mak- 

 ing carried on at the pueblo of Hano, on the first or east Hopi mesa. 

 It was strikingly brought out in the course of this study that the 

 environment for potter's materials is quite extended. For instance, 

 one desirable clay was brought from the ancient quarry of Sikyatki, 

 about 5 miles away, another from 10 miles or so, common clay from 

 the partings in the mesa just below the pueblo, another clay of dif- 

 ferent character from some other place, and besides these four varie- 

 ties, kaolin was brought from a long distance. Experiments were 

 also made with claj^s encountered during journeys, and by mixtures 

 clays were improved or regulated for certain classes of ware, as for 

 the large water ollas which come from the primitive kiln a reddish- 

 brown color. A similar discriminative selection was also observed in 

 regard to the pottery pigments. 



It will be seen that the potter's art at Hano is surprisingly complex 

 in the matter of materials, not to speak of the other processes involved 

 before the ware is finished. 



So far as has been observed by the writer, the clays of this region 

 as a rule burn to light yellow, or, in other words, it is an environment 

 that would determine yellow pottery. Without doubt the three great 

 types of pottery of the Pueblo region as to color have their origin in 

 the geological environment in localities where the respective conditions 

 obtain, but the decorated ware such as is taken from the ruins and 

 exhibited in our museums stands very far from the beginning. These 

 types have been more or less widely spread over the whole Southwest 

 through the migration of clans. Thus we find gray ware almost exclu- 

 sively, for instance, at the Scorse Ranch, where the country cla^^s burn 

 from yellow brown to light yellow. Hence kaolinic clays were sought 

 out for use here because gray pottery was the kind sanctioned b}^ custom 

 and must be made even though the end be attained by passing a wash 

 of kaolin over a body of dark color. It seems, therefore, that there 

 is evidence of strong conservatism in the potter's art of the pueblos, 



NAT MUS 1901 23 



