FEWKES] FOOD-BOWL DECORATIONS O21 
at some length. It would, I believe, be going too far to say that these 
step designs always represent clouds, as in some instances they are 
produced by such an arrangement of rectangular figures that no other 
forms could result. 
The material at hand adds nothing new to the theory of the evolu- 
tion of the terraced ornament from basketry or textile productions, so 
Fig. 351—Bifureated rectangular design 
ably discussed by Holmes, Nordenskiéld, and others. When the Sik- 
yatki potters decorated their ware the ornamentation of pottery had 
reached a high development, and figures both simple and complicated 
were used contemporaneously. While, therefore, we can so arrange 
Fic, 352—Lines of life and triangles 
them as to make a series, tracing modifications from simple to complex 
designs, thus forming a supposed line of evolution, it is evident that 
there is no proof that the simplest figures are the oldest. The great 
number of terraced figures and their use in the representation of 
Fia. 353—Infolded triangles 
animals seem to me to indicate that they antedate all others, and I see 
no reason why they should not have been derived from basketry pat- 
terns. We must, however, look to pottery with decorations less highly 
developed for evidence bearing on this point. The Sikyatki artists had 
advanced beyond simple geometric figures, and had so highly modified 
these that it is impossible to determine the primitive form. 
