NO. 8 DESIGNS ON MIMBRES POTTERY — FEWKES 5 



by a white band; body and limbs are black. The author believes 

 that here we have a composition of human figure and the tail of a 

 bird, quite different from any figure on any other piece of pottery 

 known to him. 



One of the most instructive pictures in the Eisele collection is the 

 bowl shown in figure 2, upon which are represented three butter^ies 

 with outspread wings, two with extended and one with retracted 

 probosces. Each butterfly has two wings around the edge of which 

 are the customary dots which are almost universally found on butterfly 

 figures from the Hopi to the Gila Valley. In the middle of this group 

 stands a man who carries on his head a small vase which he holds in 

 position. One of the butterflies, clinging to the elbow of the man 

 by its feet, extends its proboscis as if to take the contents of the 

 vase. The color of this vase is light cream and the figures are painted 

 in brown merging into black. The ordinary symbol of the butterfly 

 is, of course, triangular ; but in this case we have this insect shown 

 from one side, which is a very rare position in pueblo pictography. 



The design on figure 3 ^ is very intricate, consisting of two units, 

 each twice represented at opposite ends of diameter of the bowl. 

 These units may be called central and peripheral. The former repre- 

 sent two human beings facing in opp-^site directions and separated by 

 geometrical figures. The arms in each case are raised above the head 

 as if holding a burden. The face of one is white ; the color of the 

 body is black. The appendages are slim. The other or peripheral unit 

 is thought to represent a bird. Each of the two representations of 

 this unit has extended tail. The last joint of the legs and the attach- 

 ment of the legs to the back suggests a grasshopper. This is one 

 of the most complex of all the Mimbres figures, and probably illus- 

 trates some ancient myth of which there is no survival, as the aboriginal 

 inhabitants of the Mimbres have either completely disappeared or, 

 what is more likely, have been absorbed into other stocks. 



Figure 4 represents a native drawing of a naked " human figure 

 with a feather tied in his hair. He holds at arm's length, in both hands, 

 an animal which resembles a snake. On first sight the impression 

 would naturally be that this figure indicates that the prehistoric 

 ■Nlimbrenos had some form of a snake dance, like that of the Hopi, 

 or that this figure represents a shaman or snake charmer conjuring 

 with a reptile. It calls to mind a figure holding a curved object which 



^ When not otherwise stated specimens here described are now in the col- 

 lection of the U. S. National Museum, and were purchased from Mr. Osborn 

 in 1923. 



" Naked men's bodies and limbs are painted black. 



