24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 76 



The geometrical designs as well as naturalistic representations of 

 men or animals from Casas Grandes and the Mimbres have much in 

 common but several dififerences. One of the most common of the 

 geometrical decorations is the step figure divided into two halves 

 separated by a zigzag band. This is almost universal throughout the 

 pueblo area.^ In the Casas Grandes ware one of these oppositely 

 placed series of step figures is generally (not always) black and the 

 other tan colored or red. The same design on the Mimbres ware 

 has one series painted a solid black color and the other has hachure 

 lines, a design which occurs all over the Southwest and which the 

 Mimbres area shares with the Pueblo and the ruins in the valley of 

 the Gila. This likeness suggests that the Mimbres ware is allied both 

 to the puebloan and to that from Casas Grandes. 



One important geometrical decoration of the Mimbres pottery con- 

 sists of parallel lines. In their desire to decorate all portions of the 

 object they have almost invariably filled in dififerent geometrical out- 

 lines with hachure or cross hatching, checkerboard or other rectangu- 

 lar figures as suited the wish of the designer. Another favorite 

 geometrical design is the cross of various kinds, among which the 

 elaborate swastika may be mentioned. A rectangular design of fre- 

 quent use throughout the Southwest is the compound triangle made 

 up of two or more united triangles. This is a favorite decoration on 

 the bodies of animals and has been variously interpreted. The triangle 

 is the symbol of life, and the arrangement of several triangles may 

 have some similar meaning. Similar triangles, double or single, 

 appear on the walls of kivas or sacred rooms of clifif dwellings, in the 

 houses and on the wedding blankets of the Hopi girls. Among the 

 living Hopi a triangle is commonly said to represent the butterfly, a 

 .symbol of life or fertility. 



Another favorite rectangular ornament is the checkerboard pattern, 

 alternate clusters of black and white triangles or squares forming a 

 very efifective rectangular pattern. The checkerboard is very com- 

 monly associated with the sun but is also frequently found in the 

 paintings of animal bodies. 



The majority of geometrical figures are rectangular or triangular: 

 Spirals, circles, and curved lines are very rare. 



There is one geometric design which occurs almost universally in 

 the pueblo area and while it suflfers several modifications is essen- 

 tially identical in widely separated geographical localities. This dec- 



^ One of the strongest reasons advocated to include these areas among the 

 pueblos. 



