FEWKES] 



DECORATION OF PUEBLO VIEJO POTTERY 



181 



Fig. 110. 



Decorated slipper jar from Pueblo Viejo 

 (number 177.533). 



ill form with tliose of Tiisayaii, have their interiors deeorated with 

 rectauguhir patterns, sometimes with terrace ligiires, Ijut rarely with 

 spirals. Encircling bands are often broken at one point, forming 

 "life lines," and zigzag lines are not uncommon. Few specimens with 

 external decorations were found. Vases were generallj' decorated with 

 the same simple geometrical patterns as were the food bowls, with no 

 attempt to depict human or animal forms. It is unfortunate for 

 the student of Gila valley 

 ceramics tliat pictographic 

 material is so scanty, as it 

 shuts him out from most 

 instructive data regarding 

 ancient life in this part of 

 Arizona. 



A finely made human head, 

 forming the handle of a 

 ladle, was dug out of an 

 ash heap in the Buena Vista 

 ruin. This was the only 

 handle modeled in human form which was found, though objects of 

 of this kind are said to be common lower down the Gila river. A 

 like ornamentation is not a rare feature of ladle handles from the Little 

 Colorado ruins. 



The broken encircling band, called the "line of life," occurs on 

 manj' of the decorated pieces of pottery, and the H figure, so com- 



moil on the exterior of bowls' north 



of the mountains, was found on a 

 single fragment of pottery from 

 Pueblo Viejo. 



There were a few specimens of 

 clay slippers which were orna- 

 mented on their iipjier side. One 

 of tliese is shown in the accom- 

 panying cut (figure 110), in which 

 the design of the decoration can 

 be partially seen. It is not im- 

 probable that the " foot of an idol," 

 mentioned by Emory and his offi- 

 cers, was one of these slipper jars. 

 Another specimen from the Pueblo Viejo, in which the likeness to an 

 Indian moccasin is close, is shown in figure 111. The specimen is, 

 however, much smaller than a human foot. 



The accompanying illustration, jilate LXVIII, shows two 'vdews of 

 one of the most richly decorated vases from the Pueblo Viejo, and 

 exhibits several of the commoner geometrical designs from the Gila 

 ruins. This vase was dug up near San Jose, and was probably a cin- 



Fui. 111. Moccasin-shaped .iar f roni Puebl 

 Viejo. 



