FEWKES] MINOR ANTIQUITIES 121 
Frwkes COLLECTION 
STONE IDOLS 
Several small stone idols (pls. 47, 48)! were found during the exca- 
vation and repair of Casa Grande, among which are represented a 
human being, a lizard, and a bird. These objects are as a rule rudely 
made and exhibit no traces of pigment. As most of them were found 
in a shrine, we may suppose they were used ceremonially. The 
sculpturing of these objects does not indicate a high degree of art. 
The best image is made of diorite, evidently taken from an arroyo 
or ariver bed. It is instructive to note that the shrine in which 
the images were found was situated within a compound and was not 
extra-mural. 
Human figure. —This idol (pl. 47) evidently represents a female. 
The carving is very rude; the arms and legs are closely approximated 
to the body, the former in low relief, the latter indicated by slight 
ridges. The posture of the lower part of the body would seem to 
indicate that it was the intention to represent the figure in a sitting 
position. There is no mouth; a low ridge indicates the position of 
the nose, at right angles to one end of which are scratches show- 
ing the position of the eyes. There are no eyebrows. The surface of 
the idol is smooth, and it evidently was made from a river stone, 
which was but slightly worked. 
Reptile—It is impossible to identify the genus of reptile or batra- 
chian intended to be represented in plate 47, which is suggestive of 
some tailed species, possibly a turtle or a lizard. The amount of 
working in the case of this specimen is somewhat greater than in 
that of the human figure. The rear and fore legs are drawn to the 
sides of the somewhat inflated body, suggesting the attitude of a 
frog. The head is slightly fractured. The top of the body is oecu- 
pied by an elliptical depression,” in which are traces of red pigment. 
Bird.—One of the most interesting stone idols in the Casa Grande 
collection, found in a shrine of Compound B with the human and rep- 
tilian images, is that representing a bird, shown in the accompanying 
illustration (pl. 48). The identification of this bird is not possible, 
but the occurrence of a bird-form image in a Casa Grande shrine is 
unusual. No similar stone idol* is known from the Gila-Salt Basin, 
and the few bird fetishes from the Little Colorado differ in form 
considerably from the Casa Grande specimen. 
Mountain sheep.—The idol identified as a mountain sheep (fig. 21) 
on account of the large curved horns is of lava roughly fashioned. 
The body is quite long, the tail short; the legs appear as stumpy 
1The numbers beneath the illustrations on the plates, beginning with plate 47, correspond to the 
U. S. National Museum numbers in the table on pp. 161-179. 
2 An idol found in a ruin on the San Pedro by Mr. Childs, of Mammoth, has a similar depression in the 
back. This idolresembles a mountain sheep, the horns being wellrepresented. There isa similar stone 
idol in the museum of the University of Arizona, at Tucson. 
8 Several bird fetishes made of shell are known to the writer, but these bear no resemblance to the stone 
image above mentioned. 
