At least three well-marked epochs can be distinguished in the history
of Hopi ceramic symbolism. Each of these is intimately associated with
certain clans that have from time to time joined the Hopi and whose
descendants compose the present population. Although these epochs follow
each other in direct sequence, each was not evolved from its predecessor
or modified by it, except to a very limited extent. Each epoch has left
to the succeeding one a heritage of symbols, survivals which are somewhat
difficult to differentiate from exotic symbols introduced by incoming
clans. So that while each epoch grades almost imperceptibly into the
one directly following it, an abrupt change is sometimes evident in the
passage.
In order to appreciate the relations between ceramic decoration and
history let me sketch in brief outline what I regard as the historical
development of the Hopi living near or on the East Mesa. We know little
of the group of people who first settled here except that they belonged
to the Bear clan, which is traditionally referred to the eastern pueblo
region. At about the time they entered Hopiland there was a settlement
called Sikyatki composed of Jemez colonists, situated about 3 miles from
the southern point of East Mesa, and other towns or pueblos on Awatobi
Mesa and in Antelope Valley, 10 miles away.
The first great additions to this original population were Snake
clans, who came from the San Juan, followed by Flute clans from the
same direction but originally of southern origin. Having become well
established at the point of the East Mesa, the combined settlement
overthrew Sikyatki and appropriated its clans.
Then came the strenuous days of Spanish invasion and the destruction of
Awatobi in 1700. The Little Colorado clans had already begun to seek
refuge in the Hopi mountains and their number was greatly augmented by
those from Zuñi, a Rio Grande settlement called Tewadi, and elsewhere,
each addition bringing new forms of culture and settling new pueblos
on or near the East Mesa, as has been shown in previous publications.
Traditions point out their former settlements and it remains for the
archeologist to excavate those settlements, now in ruins, and verify
these traditions. This can be done by a study of artifacts found in them.
As a rule archeologists have relied on technique, form, and especially
color, in the classification of Pueblo pottery, leading, on the technical
side, to the groups known as (a) rough, coiled ware, and (b) smooth,
polished ware; and on that of form, to bowls, vases, jars, dippers, etc.
When color is used as the basis of classification the divisions black and
white, red, yellow, orange, and polychrome are readily differentiated.
Classifications based on these data are useful, as they indicate
cultural as well as geographical differences in Pueblo ceramics; but
these divisions can be used only with limitations in a study of stages
of culture growth. The fact that they are not emphasized in the present
article is not because their importance is overlooked, but rather for the
purpose of supplementing them with a classification that is independent
of and in some particulars more reliable for indicating chronology and
culture distinctions.
The life-forms on ancient Sikyatki and other Hopi pottery are painted
on what is known as yellow ware, which is regarded by some authors as
characteristic of the Hopi area; but pottery of the same color, yet with
radically different symbolic life-forms, occurs also in other areas. It
thus appears that while a classification of Pueblo pottery by color is
convenient, differences of color are not so much indications of diversity
in culture as of geologic environment. Designs on pottery are more
comprehensive and more definite in culture studies than color, and are so
regarded in these pages.
As there exists a general similarity in the form of prehistoric
pottery throughout the Southwest, shape alone is also inadequate for
a determination of Pueblo culture centers. The great multiplicity and
localization of symbols on Pueblo pottery furnishes adequate material
for classification by means of the designs depicted on vases, bowls,
and other pottery objects. Sikyatki pottery is especially suited to
a classification on such a basis, for it is recognized as the most
beautiful and the most elaborately decorated prehistoric pottery found
in the Southwest. Life-forms are abundant and their symbolism is
sufficiently characteristic to be regarded as typical of a well-defined
ceramic area. There can, of course, be no question regarding the ancient
character of the designs on Sikyatki pottery, nor were they introduced or
modified by white men, but are purely aboriginal and prehistoric.
Pottery from the Sikyatki ruin is chosen as a type of the most highly
developed or golden epoch in Hopi ceramics. Several other ruins were
inhabited when Sikyatki was in its prime and pottery from these belongs
to the same epoch, and would probably be equally good to illustrate its
character. Fortunately, specimens are available from many of these, as
Awatobi, and the ruins in Antelope Valley, old Shumopavi, and other
Middle Mesa ruins. The date of the origin of this epoch, or the highest
development of Hopi ceramics, is not known, but there is evidence that it
lasted until the fall of Awatobi, in 1700. The destruction of Sikyatki
occurred before 1540, but Sikyatki has given the name to the epoch and is
taken as the type, not only because of the abundance of ceramic material
available from that ruin, but also because there can be no doubt of the
prehistoric nature of material from it.
There is abundant evidence that the culture of Sikyatki was never
influenced by white man. After the overthrow of Awatobi there developed
on the East Mesa of the Hopi country a third ceramic epoch which was
largely influenced by the influx of Tanoan (Tewa) clans. They came either
directly from the Rio Grande or by way of Zuñi and other pueblos. Among
other arrivals about 1710 were those clans which settled Hano, a Tewa
pueblo on the East Mesa. The Hano and other symbols introduced in this
epoch are best known in the present generation by the earlier productions
of Nampeo, an expert modern potter.
The pottery of this epoch differs from that of the second in form, color,
and technique, but mainly in its symbolism, which is radically different
from that of the epochs that preceded it. The symbolism of this phase
is easily determined from large collections now in museums. This epoch
was succeeded in 1895 by a fourth, in which there was a renaissance of
old Sikyatki patterns, under the lead of Nampeo. In that year Nampeo
visited the excavations at Sikyatki and made pencil copies of the designs
on mortuary bowls. From that time all pottery manufactured by her was
decorated with modified Sikyatki symbols, largely to meet the demand for
this beautiful ancient ware. The extent of her work, for which there
was a large demand, may be judged by the great numbers of Hopi bowls
displayed in every Harvey store from New Mexico to California. This
modified Sikyatki ware, often sold by unscrupulous traders as ancient, is
the fourth, or present, epoch of Hopi ceramics. These clever imitations,
however, are not as fine as the productions of the second epoch. There is
danger that in a few years some of Nampeo’s imitations will be regarded
as ancient Hopi ware of the second epoch, and more or less confusion
introduced by the difficulty in distinguishing her work from that
obtained in the ruins.