THE CLIFF VILLAGES OF THE RED EOCK COUNTRY. 581 



Repeated questioning of the Snake chief, who was one of my work- 

 men, failed to elicit any legend that the Snake family once lived at 

 Sikyatki, hut a rattle of the rattlesnake found in a mortuary food ves- 

 sel calls to mind the reverence with which this reptile is held hy the 

 two societies of priests which biennially celebrate the well-known snake 

 dance. 



The small red disks punctured near the rim are regarded as ear orna- 

 ments. Some of these are notched on the border, as if to facilitate 

 winding with string, while others were imperforate, slightly convex 

 on each side. Some of these pendants were rectangular, but generally 

 smooth and highly polished. Two specimens of the shell, Oliva angulata 

 Lam., were found in one food basin, which indicates either that the 

 Sikyatkians traded with those tribes who obtained it from the Gulf of 

 California or that it passed by barter among peoples who did. Their 

 occurrence likewise shows that in prehistoric times seashells Avere 

 prized by the Sikyatkians in much the same way as at present. 



Most problematical of all mortuary objects are the large white disk- 

 shape fragments of kaolin, which are artificially fashioned and perfo- 

 rated at the axis. One of these was found upon the cranium of a skull, 

 over which it fitted like a crown. 



The cylindrical clay object, with reticulated surface, was immedi- 

 ately identified by Indian workmen as an imitation of a corn fetish, 

 whose surface was formerly studded with seeds of maize. A similar 

 ceremonial object is displayed at the x>resent day on the altar of a 

 woman's society called the Lalakohtu, and in elaborate purification 

 ceremonies called Powamvi. The presence of these ceremonial objects 

 in prehistoric graves, in form almost identical with those at present 

 used in secret ceremonials, shows the great antiquity of portions of 

 the Tusayan ritual and opens a vista into prehistoric rites of these 

 Indians. 



Many graves had votive dippers, ladles, or small square clay boxes, 

 with or without handles, resembling medicine bowls, holding fragments 

 of green or red stones or finely ground pigment of the same colors. The 

 frequency of these paints indicates that the Sikyatki priests attached 

 considerable reverence to these colors, and that red and green played 

 the same important part that they do today in ceremonial and divina- 

 tory practices. 



The ancient Sikyatkians evidently deposited large stones on the 

 grave in order to prevent animals from digging up the body. The only 

 approach to a gravestone was a stone slab of rectangular outline, one 

 edge of which had been cut into a terrace form and the face decorated 

 with a symbolic figure of a rain cloud drawn in black outline. This 

 stone can hardly be said to designate the name of the dead, but is more 

 or less talismanic. The modern Tusayan Indians believe that the dead 

 have certain occult powers over rain deities. "You have come to be 

 a Rain God," is the iurport of their prayer to a deceased friend or 



