holmbb.1 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 359 



intimate association of the two groups in nearly every locality indicates 

 close indentity in time. It cannot be said that the other classes of ware 

 found within the same province belong to different times or to distinct 

 races, but they are widely separated in many important characters from 

 the two leading groups. They exhibit greater variety of form, less 

 constraint in decoration, and greatly improved technique, points tend- 

 ing to prove advance in culture, and, presumably, in time. 



The more closely the ceramic art of the ancient peoples is studied the 

 more decidedly it appears that it was profoundly influenced by the text- 

 ile arts, and especially by basketry. The latter art was practiced from 

 remote antiquity, and within historic times the manufacture of baskets 

 has been the most important industry of the tribes of the Pacific slope 

 of temperate North America. Ceramic shapes, wherever found within 

 this region, coincide closely with textile outlines, and the geometric 

 ornamentation can be traced to textile prototypes originating in the 

 technical peculiarities of construction. 



Another point brought out by the preceding studies follows naturally 

 the foregoing statement. There are in the pueblo country no primitive 

 forms of earthenware. This may lead to the inference that the pueblo 

 tribes migrated from other regions in which the earlier stages of the art 

 had existed, but taken in connection with the lack of individuality in 

 the potter's art, and its evident dependence upon the textile art, it 

 leads decidedly to the conclusion that art in clay was acquired by these 

 tribes in comparatively recent times. The ancient pueblos practised 

 the art of basketry, but clearly remained ignorant of the plastic art, 

 until by some accident of environment it was introduced or discov- 

 ered. Under the influence of the sister art, pottery at once took a high 

 stand. During the first stages, however, it was a servile art, repro- 

 ducing the forms and decorations of basketry. The true plastic char- 

 acters of clay remained practically undiscovered, and is only now, under 

 the influence of the European, dawning upon the conservative mind of 

 the inhabitant of the plateaus. 



Besides basketry, it is probable that the early pueblos made use of 

 gourds and of tissue vessels, traces of their influence occurring quite 

 frequently, but there is no indication whatever of the presence of carv- 

 ings in shell, wood, and stone. 



I do not wish in this place to dwell upon the details of pueblo orna- 

 ment. A single example will serve to illustrate the origin and char- 

 acter of the leading decorative conceptions. Glancing through the 

 series of vases illustrated under painted ware, we find that ninety-four 

 out of one hundred designs are meanders, or are based upon the 

 meander. Beginning with the simple waved or broken line we pass up 

 through all grades of increasing complexity to chains of curvilinear and 

 rectilinear meanders in which the links are highly individualized, being 

 composed of a sigmoid line, terminating in reversed hooks ; but in no 



