92.0 DESIGNS ON HOPI POTTERY (ETH. ANN. 33 
culture. From the character of the symbols on the ancient pottery 
from the ancient Middle Mesa pueblos it is probable that the clans 
who founded them came, like the colonists who settled Sikyatk, 
from the Jemez plateau in New Mexico. Although the Field collection 
is very rich in old Walpi ware, nothing of importance has been pub- 
lished on the symbols of this collection; it contains some of the most 
instructive examples of the Sikyatki epoch. A large and probably 
the most valuable portion of this collection was gathered by Dr. 
George A. Dorsey and Mr. Charles L. Owen, while many pieces were 
purchased from Mr. Frank Wattron, of Holbrook, and from the 
late Mr. T. V. Keam, of Keams Canyon, Arizona. The source of 
many of the Wattron specimens is unknown, but it is evident from 
their decoration that some of them are ancient Hopi and probably 
belong to the Sikyatki epoch and came from Shongopovi, Awatobi, 
or Sikyatki. 
Shortly before his death Mr. T. V. Keam sold to the Museum fiir 
Volkerkiinde at Berlin, Germany, a rich collection of pottery ob- 
tained mainly from Awatobi and Sikyatki, containing several spec- 
imens of the Sikyatki epoch which are highly instructive. Some of 
the designs on the pottery of this collection are unique, and their pub- 
lication would be a great aid to a study of the most important epoch 
of Hopi ceramics. 
A large proportion of life-forms used in the decoration of Sik- 
yatki pottery are mythological subjects, showing the predominance 
of supernatural beings and their magic power in the minds of the 
makers. Like a child, the primitive artist is fond of complexity 
of detail, and figures in which motion is indicated appealed more to 
his fancy than those objects that do not move. It needs but a glance 
at the ancient Sikyatki life-figures to show a tendency to represent 
detail and to convince one of the superiority of the Sikyatki potters 
in this respect over those of modern times... There has been a gradual 
deterioration, not only less care being now devoted to the technique 
of the pottery but also to the drawing of the figures. This lack in 
itself is significant, for while modern ware reflects in its hasty 
crudeness the domination of commercialism, the ancient pottery 
shows no indication of such influence. Pottery is now made to please 
the purchaser; in ancient times another motive influenced the maker, 
for then it was a product worthy of the highest use to which it 
could be put, since it often formed a part of sacred paraphernalia 
in religious ceremonies. , 
Human Ficures 
Sikyatki pictures of human beings depict men and women, singly 
or In company, and are few in number and crude in execution. Or-° 
