Sikyatki pictures of human beings depict men and women, singly or in
company, and are few in number and crude in execution. Organs of the
body—hands, feet, arms, and legs—are often represented separately. The
hand is portrayed on two vessels, and the foot, elaborately drawn,
appears on another; as a general thing when parts of the body are
represented they are greatly conventionalized. The few human figures on
Sikyatki pottery are crude representations as compared with those of
animals, and especially of birds. Several of the figures are represented
wearing ancient costumes and ornaments, and one or two have their hair
done up in unusual styles; others have the body or face tattooed or
painted; but as a whole these decorations are rare and shed little light
on prehistoric customs. There is nothing that can be identified as a
time count, calendric, hieroglyphic, or phonetic signs, or any record of
historical events.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.—Human head with hair in characteristic whorls.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.—Woman with serpent-like animal.]
None of the human figures are represented with masks or headdresses to
indicate the impersonation of kachinas, nor are there double figures or
animal heads depicted on human bodies. The absence of animal or kachina
heads shows one of the marked differences between Sikyatki pictures and
the designs so common on some other pottery, where a relatively large
number of the heads of the latter occur. The best representation of a
human head is shown in figure 12,[4] in which a characteristic coiffure
is shown. Fig. 13 is identified as a figure of a maiden whose hair is
dressed in two whorls, one above each ear, like a modern Hopi maid.[5]
Opposite this maid is a reptile or similar animal with head decorated
with two eyes on one side and a single foreleg. These two figures
probably refer to some episode or Indian legend connecting a Sikyatki
maiden with some monster.
The maiden depicted in figure 14 is evidently kneeling, her knees being
brought together below, and separated by four median parallel lines
that are supposed to indicate feathers; the curved objects at the lower
corners of the rectangular blanket probably are also feathers. One hand
of the maiden is raised to her head, while the other holds an unknown
object, possibly an ear of corn. The woman with an ear of corn recalls
a figure on the elaborately painted wooden slab carried by women in the
Hopi Marau dance or that on the wooden slab, or _monkohu_, carried by the
priests representing Alosaka, Eototo, and other ceremonial personages.
These painted slabs do not always bear pictures of corn ears, for those
of the priests known as the Aaltû have, instead of pictures of corn,
the corn itself tied to them; in the New-fire ceremony at Walpi members
of the Tataukyamû priesthood, at Walpi, also hold ears of corn with or
without wooden slabs, while those borne by the warrior Kwakwantû are
carved in the form of the sacred plumed serpent, which is their patron.[6]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.—Kneeling woman, showing hair in characteristic
whorls.]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.—Three human figures.]
Different styles of hairdressing are exhibited in figures 13 and 14, that
of figure 14 being similar to the modern Hopi. The group of three figures
(fig. 15) possibly illustrates some ancient ceremony. The middle figure
of this group is represented as carrying a branched stick, or cornstalk,
in his mouth.[7] The accompanying figure, or that to the right, has in
his hand one of the strange frames used as rattles[8] in historic times
by clans (Asa or Honani) of Jemez or of Tewa descent who had settled at
the East Mesa. The author is inclined to identify the object held by this
figure as one of these ceremonial frames and the man as a Yaya priest.
Another interpretation of the central figure of the group, figure 15,
is that he is performing the celebrated stick-swallowing act which was
practiced at Walpi until a few years ago. The last explanation suggested
implies that the human figures represent Snake and Antelope priests, a
doubtful interpretation, since, according to legends, these priests were
never represented at Sikyatki.[9]
The character shown in another figure, not copied, may represent the
supernatural being, called the God of the Dead (Masauû) whose body,
according to legend, is spotted and girt by bands. The Little Fire god
(Shulewitse), when personated in modern ceremonies of the Tewa at Hano,
is represented by a man daubed with pigments of several colors. He is
personated likewise in the Hopi (Tewa) village of Sichomovi.[10]
Several Zuñi ceremonies show evidence of derivation from eastern New
Mexican pueblos,[11] but a critical examination of the origin and
migration of Zuñi clan relations of societies still awaits the student of
this interesting pueblo. It is probable that Zuñi sociology is in some
respects like that of Walpi and that the present population is composite,
having descended from clans which have drifted together from different
directions, each bringing characteristic ceremonies and mythological
conceptions, while certain rites have been incorporated from time to time
from other Pueblo people.