I1ERAMIC STUDIO 
169 
dishes and vases, in a wide variety of 
shapes, each of which has a character- 
istic touch which shows that it was the 
original work of some patient Indian 
woman who unconsciously produced 
in the humble dish or cup an object 
that would reclaim her race from 
oblivion after the deeds of the warriors 
had long been forgotten. 
To the burial customs of the In- 
dians we are chiefly i'ndebted for the 
many perfect specimens of pottery that 
are extant. Wherever graves of In- 
dians are found, there one is almost 
certain to find articles of pottery. 
These pieces were buried with the de- 
ceased in accordance with the same 
belief that actuates the Chinese to bury 
food and clothing with their dead. 
Modern Indian pottery, as made 
INDIAN WOMAN MAKING POTTERY AT ZUNI. 
by the Pueblos, cannot be said to come up to the 
high standard of the old, and this is due to the 
fact that there is a large market for their 
products and they consequently neglect the 
details that make the antique ware so interest- 
ing. Nor do the present-day Indians attempt 
to originate design or shape. They content 
themselves with perpetuating the antique 
models. These decorations are almost wholly 
symbolical, and in a collection of any extent 
present a comprehensive history of the religion 
and government of the tribe that made the 
ware. Some depict the animals and birds of 
' the age, and thus aid modern students in 
zoological research. Horses, deer, dogs, owls 
and ducks were chiefly used as subjects for the 
decorator. 
Besides the coil ware, there are various 
styles of plain Indian pottery, ancient and 
modern, which is generally known by 
the color of the ware and its predom- 
inant decoration. There is the " black 
and white," in which the ware is white 
and the decorative lines are black ; 
the "yellow ware" and the "red 
ware," the body being white and the 
decoration in yellow or red. 
[By courtesy of the Bureau of 
American Ethnology (Smithsonian In- 
stitution) we reproduce some of the 
potteries from Awatobi and Sikyatki, 
published in their Seventeenth Annual 
Report. The originals being in colors 
and mostly in yellows and browns, 
which photograph very dark, our half 
tones unfortunately came out so dark 
that the designs are partially lost. 
The two sites of Awatobi and 
Sikyatki are in Northern Central Ari- 
zona. Awatobi is now a ruin ; the 
pueblo or village flourished early in the 
Seventeenth Century. Sikyatki is also 
a ruin and still older; it was evacuated 
probably in pre-Columbian times. — Ed.] 
