528 PUEBLO RUINS NEAR WINSLOW, ARIZONA. 



of burying basket plaques with the dead is still preserved in the 

 Tusayan towns, where it appears to have been inherited from ancient 

 times. Baskets are not now made at the East Mesa of Tusayan, and 

 the craft is confined to the Middle Mesa and Oraibi. The baskets 

 from several graves were identical with those made at Oraibi. There 

 were also representations of the peculiar kind manufactured at Micoui- 

 novi and among the Kohoniuos. Some of the baskets were painted on 

 the surface a green or bine 1 color, others had the component twigs 

 stained before they were plaited. When the basket ware was painted 

 the pigment formed a thick coating or layer over the surface. 



There was found in a Chevlon grave a large stone slab ornamented 

 in color on both sides. The designs on one side are shown in the 

 accompanying plate, but the figure on the reverse is almost invisible. 

 From the portions still remaining I recognized symbols of the dragon 

 fly. The triangular figure I will not 'attempt to explain, out of a feeling 

 that it would be presumptuous to attempt it when the best folklorists 

 among the people of Walpi declared that they did not understand its 

 meaning. 



The use of stone, wooden, and burnt clay slabs on the altar of Tu- 

 sayan priests has been repeatedly illustrated by me in accounts of the 

 Hopi ritual, but none of these bear a symbolism identical with that on 

 the stone slab from a grave in the Chevlon ruin. This form of pictog- 

 raphy is therefore exceptional, and the specimen, so far as I know, 

 unique. 



The colors with which it was painted are the same as those used 

 to day, and from being mixed with water easily wash off. Undoubtedly 

 this stone slab was used in ceremonials, perhaps prehistoric, and buried 

 in the grave of the priest who performed them, at his demise. 



Although the significance of the three triangular figures is unknown 

 to me, their likeness to similar markings on the walls of certain cham- 

 bers called kivas in the cliff homes of the Mesa Yerde is very striking. 

 In the view of the interior of one of these rooms given by NordenskiohP 

 not only the same number of these triangles are depicted, but also 

 adjacent to one of them, but not on its apex, is represented a bird. It 

 has been suggested that these are rain-cloud symbols, and it may be 

 called to mind that similar figures, reversed, are painted on dados of 

 modern homes, and embroidered on wedding blankets, where they are 

 called butterfly symbols. In the secret rites of the snake dance at 

 Walpi the priests still use a stone slab decorated with a figure of the 

 butterfiy or moth, and called the Hokona niana (butterfly virgin). 3 



One of the rarest stone implements found in the Chevlon ruin was 

 an ax of white stone, smoothly polished and symmetrically finished. 

 This implement was ornamented on opposite faces with a simple incised 



1 Blue pigment is a/Airite; green, carbonate of copper. 



2 Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde. 



3 Jouru. Ainer. Eth. and Arch., Vol. IV. 



