FEWKEs] DECORATION OF fOUR-MILE POTTERY 143 



independently developed, adaptinj^ certain general forms or patterns 

 to special ideals. The causes of this divertjeiice in the desisiiis on 

 ancient pottery are no more eompreliensible than the differences in 

 the decoration of modern pottery in two different pueblos. Why, for 

 instance, should the symbolism of Walpi differ so markedly from 

 that of Zuiii, when there are so many points in common between 

 the rituals of the two pueblos? The differences in tlie pueblos are 

 mainly due to their clan composition, to the relative prominence of 

 different families in them. 



HUMAN FIGURES 



The Student of the modern Ilopi I'itual is familiar with tlie use of 

 helmets in ceremonial dances, and the author has pointed out the 

 limitation of those helmets to the rites from the advent of tlie kat- 

 cinas at the winter solstice to the Niman, their departure in July. 

 Katcina dancers among the Ilopis are masked, and they are the only 

 masked dancers in the calendar. Studies of the ancient pictography 

 from Sikj^atki have not revealed a single figure wearing a mask; but 

 the ma.i'ority of the human figures on modern pottery wear masks or 

 ceremonial helmets. The interpretation which is advanced for this 

 fact is that the ancients in Tusayan were not familiar with masked 

 figures, not having them in their rites, but that in the growth of the 

 ritual new clans, in modern times, introduced masked katcinas, and 

 consequently modern x^otters now make figures of them on their pot- 

 tery. The logical conclusion would be that, if we find in any ruin a 

 picture of a masked personage, the inhabitants of that pueblo must 

 have seen a katcina. One of the pictures found on a bowl from 

 Four-mile ruin leads to the belief that katcinas were known in that 

 pueblo, for it represents a masked dancer (see figure 90). 



The design maybe interpreted as follows: The figure is evidently 

 intended to be a drawing of a human being. The head has the form 

 of a mask, in which are slits for eyes; the knobs represent feathers. 

 The three semicircular figures on the lower end of the body resem- 

 ble rain-cloud symbols, and the doulile row of rectangles with inclosed 

 dots recall the sj-mbol at present used by the Hopis to represent an 

 ear of maize. 



There is little doul)t that the figure shown in plate xxiv represents 

 a human being. All parts except the head are recognizable, and as we 

 know from another specimen that ancient Pueblo artists could repre- 

 sent a human head very cleverly, we are called upon to explain why 

 they substituted for a head tlie strange device which is found here. 

 The po.ssible explanation is tluit it represents a mask. The designer 

 intended to figure a masked human being or katcina. Now, different 

 katcinas are distinguished by syml)ols drawn on their masks or hel- 

 mets, consequently tlie next step is to compare the helmet of the 

 masked figure from the Four-mile ruin with those known in the Hojii 

 system. 



