FEWKES] MINOR ANTIQUITIES 147 
there is no evidence whatever that the ancients of Casa Grande had 
knowledge of the potter’s wheel, paddles of this kind were necessary. 
Smoothing was likewise accomplished by means of stones, after the 
clay had dried, in the same way that the fine glossy surface is often 
imparted to earthenware by modern Pima potters. 
Among other wooden objects are small pointed sticks of ironwood, 
a few inches long, which served probably for needles, possibly for 
weaving. Decayed fragments of a prayer-stick painted green also 
came to light; this was used possibly in prehistoric ceremonies. 
The two objects shown in plate 78 were found on the surface and 
are modern. The ball was used possibly in the ball game, which is 
still played at times by the Pima. 
BASKETRY 
The women of Casa Grande were skillful basket makers. Many 
fragments and several small-whole pieces of their work have been 
found in the excavations in the houses. The specimens of Casa 
Grande baskets obtained are of two kinds, one of which is loosely 
woven of willow twigs, flat in form, more like a Hopi plaque than an 
ordinary basket. While varying in size, most of these baskets are 
quite large, the remains of one indicating so great a capacity that it 
might have been used as a bin for the storage of corn or other grain 
in much the same way that a similar granary is used by the modern 
Pima. The other type of flat basket belongs to the coiled variety, 
being made from the fiber of raffia wound over bunches of the same 
material. Most of these baskets are small and bear evidences of 
ornamentation, the strands of which they are composed being vari- 
ously colored. One specimen of this type was found covered with 
a thin deposit, possibly pitch, as if to render it serviceable as a water 
jar. Similar waterproof baskets are not uncommon among the 
Apache and other Indians of northern Arizona. 
A large fragment of coarse matting was unearthed in one of the 
rooms; this is evidently part of a mat that was used in much the 
same way as the ancient Pima used their sleeping mats. Impressions 
of one of these mats were seen upon the adobe floor of one of the 
rooms of Compound B, elsewhere mentioned (p. 99). These mats 
were made of a rush which, according to historians, formerly grew 
abundantly along the banks of the Gila and Salt Rivers, but which 
in late years has become rare in the vicinity of Casa Grande. 
FABRICS 
From the number of fragments of cloth excavated at Casa Grande 
there is little doubt that the prehistoric inhabitants of this settlement 
