34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 41 



angle having tAvo parallel marks on an extension at one angle, is not 

 as common as on Little Colorado pottery and that from the Gila 

 valley. 



As in all ceramics from the San Juan area, the stepped figures are 

 most abundant. There are two types of stepped figures, the sinistral 

 and the dextral, according as the steps pass from left to right or vice 

 versa. The color of the two stepped figures may be black, or one or 

 both may have secondary ornamentation in forms of hachure or net- 

 work. One may be solid black, the other filled in with lines. 



In addition to the above-mentioned geometrical figures, the S- 

 shaped design is common; wdien doubled, this forms the cross called 

 SAvastika. The S figure is of course generally curved but may be 

 angular, in which case the cross is more evident. One bowl has the 

 S figure on the outside. All of the above-mentioned designs admit of 

 variations and two or more are often combined in Spruce-tree House 

 ])ottery, which is practically the same in type as that of the whole 

 Mesa Verde region. 



Ceramic Areas 



While it is yet too early in our study of prehistoric pueblo culture 

 to make or define subcultural areas, it is possible to recognize pro- 

 visionally certain areas having features in common, which differ 

 from other areas." It has already been shown that the form of the 

 subterranean ceremonial room can be used as a basis of classification. 

 If pottery symbols are taken as the basis, it will be found that there 

 are at least two great subsections in the pueblo country coinciding 

 with the two divisions recognized as the result of study of the form 

 of sacred rooms — the northeastern and the southwestern region or, 

 for brevity, the northern and the southern area. In the former region 

 lie, besides the Mesa Verde and the San Juan valley, Chaco and 

 Chelly canyons; in the latter, the ruins of " great houses " along the 

 Gila and Salt rivers. 



From these two centers radiated in ancient times tw^o types of pot- 

 tery symbols expressive of two distinct cultures, each ceremonially 

 distinct and, architecturallj^ speaking, characteristic. The line of 

 junction of the influences of these two subcultural areas practicalh^ 

 follows the Little Colorado river, the valley of which is the site of 

 a third ceramic subculture area; this is mixed, being related on one 

 side to the northern, on the other to the southern, region. The course 

 of this river and its tributaries has determined a trail of migration, 

 which in turn has spread this intermingled ceramic art far and wide. 

 The geographical features of the Little Colorado basin have pre- 

 vented the evolution of characteristic ceramic culture in any part 

 of the region. 



" The classification into eavate houses, cliflf-dwellings, and pueblos is based on form. 



