[Illustration: Fig. 310. POTTERY JAR WITH CROSSES, ENCIRCLING RAYS AND
SCALLOPS. Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 188.]
Fig. 310 shows a small globular cup of dark ware from the vicinity of
Charleston, Mo.; height, 2-1/2 inches; width, 3-1/2 inches. It has four
large nodes or projections, and between them, painted red, are four
ornamental circles, the outside one of which is scalloped or rayed, while
the inside one bears the figure of a Greek cross. The specimen shown in
fig. 311 (Cat. No. 47197, U. S. N. M.) is a medium-sized decorated olla
with scalloped margin, from New Mexico, collected by Colonel Stevenson. It
has two crosses--one Greek, the other Maltese--both inclosed in circles
and forming centers of an elaborate, fanciful, shield-like decoration. In
fig. 312 (Cat. No. 39518, U. S. N. M.) is shown a Cochiti painted water
vessel, same collection, showing a Maltese cross.
[Illustration: Fig. 311. OLLA DECORATED WITH GREEK AND MALTESE CROSSES.
Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 708.]
[Illustration: Fig. 312. POTTERY WATER VESSEL. Maltese cross. Second
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 642.]
[Illustration: PLATE 20. PALENQUE CROSS, FOLIATED. Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. XXII, fig. 7.]
Dozens of other specimens are in the collections of the U. S. National
Museum which would serve to illustrate the extended and extensive use
of the cross in great variety of forms, so that no argument as to either
the meaning or the extent of the cross can be based on the supposition
that these are the only specimens. Fig. 313 (Cat. No. 132975, U. S. N. M.)
shows a vase from Mexico, about 8 inches high, of fine red ware, highly
polished, with an elaborate decoration. Its interest here is the Maltese
cross represented on each side, with a point and concentric circles, from
the outside of which are projecting rays. This may be the symbol of the
sun, and if so, is shown in connection with the cross. This style of
cross, with or without the sun symbol, is found in great numbers in
Mexico--as, for example, the great cross, pl. 20, from the temple at
Palenque.[285]