holmes] COIL-MADE POTTERY. 273 



terial is called for. Three grand divisions of the ceramic work of tliis 

 province may be made, on a time basis, namely: prehistoric, transitional, 

 and modern. At present I have to deal chiefly with the prehistoric, but 

 must also pay some attention to the transitional, as it embraces many 

 features common both to the archaic and to the modern art. In dis 

 cussing the prehistoric pottery I find it convenient to consider it under 

 the three heads, coiled ware, plain ware, and painted ware. This classi- 

 fication is unsatisfactory, as it is based upon somewhat imperfectly 

 differentiated characters. The smooth vessel is in many cases a coil- 

 built one with obliterated coils, and a painted vessel a smooth one with 

 the addition of designs in color. Very little of the pottery was left 

 plain, but the coiled and painted varieties are fully represented in every 

 locality. 



I place the coiled ware first because to all appearances it is the most 

 archaic variety and one which is rarely made at the present day. I 

 suspect that the pieces made by modern potters serve to supply the wants 

 of the collectors rather than to meet the requirements of traditional 

 art. Among the collections in the National Museum are found many 

 crude attempts to manufacture this ware by potters who did not com- 

 prehend the secrets of its construction, or who thought to produce the 

 coiled effect by the cheap device of scarifying and indenting the surface 

 of a plain vessel. 



Close relations are established between the coiled and the painted 

 pottery, not only by the identity of materials, form, color, and time, but 

 by the union of the two methods of finishing, the coiling and painting, 

 in one and the same vessel, as may be seen in the examples given in 

 in the following pages. 



COIL-MADE WARE. 



Coiling. — The art of building vessels by means of coils of clay has 

 been practiced by T many widely separated communities, and is, there- 

 fore, certainly not peculiar to the ancient Pueblos. A careful study of 

 the ceramic field shows considerable diversity in the treatment of the 

 coil. The most striking variation, the employment of the coil as a 

 means of embellishment, is, so far as my observation extends, peculiar to 

 the Pueblo peoples. With others it is a feature of construction simply. 



The preliminary steps are with all primitive potters in a general 

 sense the same. The first care is to secure suitable clay and to have it 

 properly purified and tempered. After this the treatment varies greatly. 



Coiling of the Ptieblos. — The ancient Pueblo potter rolled out long, 

 slender fillets or ropes of clay, varying in width and thickness to suit 

 the size and character of the vessel to be constructed. They were usually 

 perhaps from one-fourth to one half of an inch in thickness. When they 

 were properly trimmed and smoothed the potter began by taking the 

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