NO. IO ARCHEOLOGY OF MIMBRES VALLEY FEWKES ,25 



are looking the opposite way, while the animal has turned back on his 

 path. The footprints of the deer in advance of the hunters are tor- 

 tuous, showing want of decision on the part of the animal. The 

 three hunters are dressed alike, wearing the close-fitting jacket prob- 

 ably made of strips of skin woven together like that found by Dr.~ 

 Hough in a sacrificial cave at the head of the Tulerosa, New Mexico. 

 Each carries a bow and arrow in his right hand, and in his left a stick 

 which the leader uses as a cane ; the second hunter holds it by one end 

 before him, and the third raises it aloft. These objects are supposed 

 to represent either weapons or certain problematic wooden staffs with 

 feathers attached, like divining rods, by which the hunters are in a 

 magical way directed in their search. The first hunter " feels " for 

 the lost trail by means of this rod. 



An examination of the pictures of the arrows these hunters carry 

 shows that each has a triangular appendage at the end representing 

 feathers, and small objects, also feathers, tied to its very extremity. 

 The hair of the third hunter appears to be a single coil hanging down 

 the back, but in the other two it is tied in a cue at the back of the 

 head. The eyes are drawn like the eyes on Egyptian paintings, that 

 is, the eye as it appears in a front view is shown on the side of the 

 head. The right shoulders of all are thrown out of position, in this 

 feature recalling primitive perspective. The information conveyed 

 by this prehistoric picture conforms with what is known from his- 

 torical sources that the Mimbres Valley formerly abounded in ante- 

 lopes, and we have here a representation of an aboriginal hunt. 



FIGURE OF A WOMAN 



A black and white bowl (pi. i, fig. i) is twelve and one-half inches 

 in diameter and six inches deep. Upon this bowl is drawn a figure of a 

 human being, probably a woman or a girl, seen from the front. 

 Although portions of the figure are not very legible, such details as 

 can be made out show a person wearing a blanket that extends almost 

 to the knees leaving arms and legs bare, the lower limbs being covered. 

 The head is square, as if masked, with hair tied at each lower corner. 

 Although these appendages may be meant to represent ear-pendants, 

 it is more likely that they are whorls of hair, as is still customary in 

 Pueblo ceremonies in personations of certain maidens. Across the 

 forehead are alternating black and white square figures arranged in 

 two series, recalling corn or rain-cloud symbols. The neck is adorned 

 by several strands of necklaces, the outermost of which, almost 

 effaced, suggests rectangular ornaments. The garment worn by the 



