H0LME6.] ANCIENT POTTERY. 403 



As to the importance of the event recorded in this picture no conclu- 

 sions can be drawn ; it may represent the migration of a tribe or family 

 or the trophies of a victory, A number of figures are wanting in the 

 drawing at the left, while some of those at the right may not belong 

 properly to the main group. The reduction is, approximately, to one- 

 twelfth. 



Figures 2 and 3 of the same plate represent only the more distinct 

 portions of two other groups. The complication of figures is so great 

 that a number of hours would have been necessary for their delineation, 

 and an attempt to analyze them here would be fruitless. 



POTTERY. 



The pottery of the ancient tribes of the San Juan Valley is undoubt- 

 edly sui)erior in many respects to that of the town-building tribes of 

 today. It is especially superior in composition and surface-finish. In 

 form and ornamentation it does not compare well with the highly 

 artistic wares of the Moquois and Zunis. There is great similarity, 

 however, in every respect, and the difierences do not vSeem greater than 

 could be expected in the manufactures of the same people at periods 

 separated by a few generations, or even of related tribes of the same 

 time surrounded by different physical features or by different neighbors. 



The study of the fragmentarj'^ ware found about the ruins is very 

 interesting, and its immense quantity is a constant matter of wonder. 

 On one occasion, while encamped near the foot of the Mancos CaQon, 

 I undertook to collect all fragments of vessels of manifestly different 

 designs within a certain space, and by selecting pieces having pecul- 

 iarly marked rims I was able to say with certainty that within 10 feet 

 square there were fragments of fifty-five different vessels. In shape 

 these vessels have been quite varied, but by far the greater portion have 

 been of the form of bowls and handled cups or ladles. Jugs and vases 

 also occur. In general the forms have been so simple that with the aid 

 of the great quantities of fragments it is not difficult, providing the rim 

 is preserved, to say with accuracy to what form of vessel a given speci- 

 men belongs. The bottoms of the various vessels, excepting a kind of 

 handled mug, are rounded or very slightly flattened.* The art of orna- 

 mentation seems to have been especially cultivated, as very few speci- 

 mens are found that are not painted, indented, or covered with raised 

 figures. Indeed, these ornamental designs are often so admirable, and 

 apparently so far in advance of the art-ideas of these people in other 

 respects, that one is led to suspect that they may be of foreign origin. 

 But there is certainly no conclusive evidence that these people ever came 

 in contact with Europeans or were even influenced by European art. 



The material used in the manufacture of pottery was generally a fine 

 clay (in which the country abounds), tempered with sand or pulverized 

 shells. The modelling was done almost exclusively with the hand; no 

 wheel has been used, and no implement whatever, except for surface 

 Greasings or indentings. 



The thickness of the ware varies from J to ^ an inch. Lightness has 

 evidently been greatly desired, and vessels having a capacity of many 

 gallons are not more than J of an inch thick in any part. 



* Dr. Charles Rau says, in an article on Indian pottery, in the Smithsonian Report 

 for 1866, p. 346, that "the oldest vessels of all nations who practised the potter's art 

 probably exhibited that shape (the rounded bottom), the model of which was fur- 

 nished by nature in the gourd and other fruits presenting rounded outlines. A flat bot- 

 tom, therefore, would denote a progress in the ceramic art," 



