66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull, to 



color, showing the former existence of painted figures. Some of 

 these, however, are not ascribed to the Indians who built the towers, 

 but to a later tribe who camped in this region after the house build- 

 ers had disappeared. They were probably made by wandering bands 

 of Ute Indians, and are not significant in a comparison of the differ- 

 ent kinds of buildings described in this article. 



MINOR ANTIQUITIES 



The preceding pages deal wholly with the immovable antiquities, 

 as buildings, reservoirs, and the like. In addition to these evidences 

 of a former population, there should be mentioned likewise the smaller 

 antiquities, as pottery, stone objects, weapons, baskets, fabrics, bone 

 and other implements. No excavation was attempted in the course of 

 the reconnoissance, so that this chapter in the author's report is natu- 

 rally a very brief one. The few statements which follow are mainly 

 based on local collections, one of which, owned by Mr. Williamson, of 

 the First National Bank of Dolores, is comprehensive. The most sug- 

 gestive of these minor antiquities are objects of burnt clay or pottery, 

 which occur generally in piles of debris or accompany human burials. 

 It was the custom of these people, like the cliff-dwellers, to deposit, 

 near the dead, food in bowls and other household utensils, varying in 

 shape, technique, decoration, and color. The most important fact 

 regarding these ceramics is that they belong to the same archaic type 

 as those from the ruins of the Mesa Verde. The predominating colors 

 are white or gray with black figures, within and without, almost 

 universally geometrical in form. There occurs also a relatively large 

 number of corrugated vessels, and those made by using coils of clay, 

 the figures on their exterior being indented with some implement, as 

 a bone, stone, or even with the finger nail. While the majority 

 belong to the black-and-white group, the red ware decorated with 

 black figures is found but comparatively rarely, which is also true of 

 the pottery of the cliff-dwellers. In the large variety of forms of 

 burnt clay objects, the most remarkable in shape is a double water 

 jar, connected by a transverse tube, the ends of which project beyond 

 the opening into the jar, much in the form of an animal with a head 

 at one end, body elongated, terminating in a short tail, the legs not 

 being represented. While the number of unbroken mortuary bowls 

 obtained from this region thus far known is comparatively small, 

 we find in many places large quantities of broken fragments, all of 

 which belong to the varieties of ware above enumerated. 



None of the bowls, vases, dippers, or other ceramic objects from 

 the region of the rums described have that significant feature com- 

 monly called the "life line;" the encircling lines are continuous 

 around the vessel, and not broken at one point. The broken line 

 never occurs on archaic pottery like black-and-white ware, and we 



