NO. 8 DESIGNS ON MIMBRES POTTERY FEWKES 23 



from the IMimbres may be called the black and white, although mam 

 of the bowls are gray rather than white, and even pass into a red. 

 The decorations of both Casas Grandes and Mimbres ' food bowls are 

 drawn in black and brown ranging into tan color, but it would appear 

 at times as if this difference in coloration was due to unequal firing of 

 the paint which is apparently some iron oxide. There are one or two 

 polychrome bowls and one in which the figures are decidedly red. 

 The change in color by exposure to the air in some specimens which 

 were collected in 191 4 is perceptible. But while the Mimbres pottery 

 may be classified as black and white ware it differs from that found 

 in cliff dwellings and other archaic ruins. The main differences are 

 not so much in colors as in designs, which afford a clear idea of 

 cultural differences. In other words, it is. of course, in the decora- 

 tions that the main difference between the pottery from the two 

 regions lies. 



The animals represented on the Chihuahua (Casas Grandes) pot- 

 tery are very few compared with those on Mimbres ware. Birds, 

 snakes, a quadruped or two, the frog, and one or two others, embrace 

 the main animal designs on the southern pottery, while in the Mimbres 

 the number of animals depicted in very much larger. A complete list 

 of these would make a catalogue of some size, but a few of those 

 animals not found on Casas Grandes ware might be mentioned. 

 Among quadrupeds are the lion, deer, antelope, mountain sheep ; sev- 

 eral species of fishes ; a large number of birds ; many insects, as 

 butterflies, dragon flies ; scorpions, turtles, lizards, and various other 

 animals. None of these are represented in relief, however, as is the 

 case with animal forms on pottery from Casas Grandes, but are 

 painted on a flat surface mainly on the inside of bowls. There is no 

 area in the Southwest where the animals represented on pottery out- 

 number those of the Mimbres, nor any area where the aboriginal 

 potters have left us such truthful realistic pictures of animals by 

 which they were surrounded. 



The representations of human beings in the Chihuahua ware are 

 painted effigies ; there are few representations, so far as known, of 

 an effigy human being or one in relief on the pottery of the Mim- 

 bres. The author has seen no picture on Casas Grandes pottery in 

 which men are represented as hunting, gaming, or engaged in any 

 occupation. 



^The character of the design rather than the technique of the pottery dis- 

 tinguishes the two regions. 



