fewkes; kintiel riin 129 



Pottery from the Ruin 



general features and form 



The pottery from this ruiu belongs essentiallj^ to the Zuni type, 

 and is very different from th.it of the Tusa.yan series. It is, as a rule, 

 of coarse texture, and decorated with rude symbols. We miss in it 

 the fine yellow ware for which Tusayan is famous, and find in its 

 place abujulant red pottery, with a comparatively large proportion of 

 black and white. The decorative designs are mainly geometrical, 

 and picture writing is very limited in quantity. The decoration is 

 essentially different from that of SiJcyatki, and resembles closelj' that 

 of Ileshotauthla and Ilalona, two ruins near Zuiii pueblo. 



The greater the number of ancient Zuni pottery objects which 

 were examined, the .stronger liecame the belief that the ancient potters 

 of this region were inferior to the ancient Ilopis in their ceramic 

 productions. Modern Zuni ware is certainly as fine as modern Ilopi, 

 and, a priori, the author sees no reason wliy the older pottery of one 

 region should be inferior to that of the other. He formerly supposed 

 that this inferiority was due mainly to imperfect collections and that 

 the best examples of ancient Zufli ware were still under ground, so 

 that the known specimens gave an imperfect idea of what other and 

 lai'ger collections might reveal. 



While these earlier conclusions may be verified by later studies, 

 the author now inclines to the belief that the Zunis never advanced to 

 the same perfection in the ceramic art as did the Ilopis. It must be 

 confessed, however, that pottery has been taken from the cliff houses 

 nortli of Zuiii which is as fine as the Tusayan ware, and if this excel- 

 lent pottery is classified as Zuiii ware, an unfavorable criticism is 

 not just. So far as texture is concerned, the Tusayan ware is siiperior 

 to all others in the Southwest, with the exception of the black and 

 white ware of cliff dwellers. In the character of designs the superi- 

 ority is even greater. In the evolution of Pueblo decoration the 

 development of ornamentation advances from geometrical patterns to 

 rude picture writing, and, as a rule, the jiottery on which the former 

 predominate is inferior to that on which the latter is most prominent. 

 Kot that we should regard this a hard aiul fast law without exception ; 

 the cleverest potters often adorn their wares with simplest patterns; 

 but in a ruin where most of the pottery is decorated with geometrical 

 figures, and the few existing pictures of animals — as birds, reptiles, or 

 human beings — are rudely nuule, the artistic development is inferior 

 to that where the conditions are rever.sed. 



Judged by the criterion of designs, Tusayan decoration of ceramic 

 ware shows a superiority over all others in the pueblo area, as any- 

 one will confess who impartially examines large collections from differ- 

 ent areas of the Southwest. 



It would appear, too, that this high development was autochthonous, 



22 eth— 04 y 



