LXH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 



types .uid that the latter produced the forms and ornamentation 

 of earthenware. That the forms and ornaments were reproduced 

 strictly through the effect of custom and association is shown 

 by an amount and kind of concurrent evidence never before 

 so well presented. It is equally remarkable and well estab- 

 lished that the most aesthetically beautiful of the tonus have 

 been produced merely from the absolute requirements of man- 

 ufacture, and also that many designs, apparently purely orna- 

 mental and symbolic, owe their origin to necessity and servile 

 imitation. 



Mr. Cushing agrees with the other authors of the papers in 

 this volume in his warning against the attribution of symbolism 

 without special evidence. While it is shown by him that sym- 

 bolism exists among the modern Zuni, it is also clear that 

 they have applied symbolic as well as emblematic ideas to 

 designs which at first had no significance. That ascertained 

 fact alone should prevent an attempt at symbolic interpreta- 

 tion when not indicated in any other manner than by the fig- 

 ures themselves. 



Since no subjective principle has had an important influence 

 upon form and ornament, their development being thoroughly 

 objective, its history can be traced with far more certainty than 

 was once supposed. The archaeologist can be guided by the 

 indications which form and ornament afford with as much ac- 

 curacy as by any particulars of material, construction, and 

 function, with which they are closely connected and which they 

 explain. 



From th e studies so far made in the ceramic art of the North 

 American Indians, it seems possible to deduce general laws 

 applicable to the study of pottery wherever found, and to dis- 

 cover what were the types of the pre-ceramic vessels, thereby 

 deriving information as to the environment of their makers be- 

 fore the latter had acquired the potter's art, and therefore an- 

 terior to the period of any relics. Thus their lost history may, 

 to a certain extent, be recovered. Such laws will assist the 

 archaeologists of the Old World, where the relics yet found of 

 a corresponding culture period have been less numerous and 

 certainly afford a less continuous history and explanation. 



