450 The Ancient Pottery of Colorado, ete. [ August, 
tained one or more skillful artificers. In the seven Moqui Pue- 
blos of Arizona, I was fortunate enough to witness the modern 
operation as performed by the women of the tribe, and I doubt 
not that the method is very similar to the ancient. The vessel 
was first molded out of the plastic yellow clay, and, whether 
painted or not, was placed when dry in a small square aperture 
or oyen, built in the side of the stone wall of the dwelling. 
There it was burnt until done; and I noticed in or near each of 
the Moqui houses several of these baking kilns, which were as 
important a part of the household as the fire-place or the ever- 
present flour-mill. 
Around the bases of the mesas beneath the villages lay great 
quantities of damaged pottery, which had been accumulating for 
many years, perhaps centuries. Each vessel, as it outlived its 
usefulness, was cast over the bluff to swell the heap below. 
Thus among the ruins, we noticed in the walls of many of the 
structures square or cubical apartments in the solid walls, about 
eighteen inches in dimension, which had without doubt served the 
purpose of bake-ovens. It is not unreasonable to suppose, then, 
that every family produced its own utensils, and that in the 
course of a few years a considerable amount of rejected ware 
collected in the vicinity of each occupied building. In the im- 
mediate neighborhood of each house, be it large or small, this 
pottery abounds in greater or lesser quantity, so that were we to 
suppose one ruin or one locality to have once constituted a burn- 
ing kiln, we must class all the structures under the same head. 
As the result of a particular study of a great variety of speci- 
mens which we were unable to bring away, and also a subse- 
quent examination of our own extensive collections, I have 
divided the ancient earthen ware of this region into five classes, 
namely : — 
I. The plain burned clay. s 
II. The laminated or indented. 
III. The embossed or molded. 
IV. The glazed ware. 
1. a. Plain white. 
6. Ornamented in colors. 
2. Red or brick-ware. 
V. The glazed and corrugated. 
I. This includes the most simple and probably the oldest pot- : 
tery, made of common clay, usually coarse and unornamentee 
II. The laminated class comprises all those varieties which arè : 
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