The collection of pottery from Awatobi is, comparatively speaking,
small, but it shows many interesting forms. Awatobi pottery may be
classed under the same groups as other old Tusayan ceramics, but most
of the specimens collected belong to the yellow, black-and-white, and
red varieties. It resembles that of Sikyatki, but bears little
likeness to modern ware in texture or symbolism. One is impressed by
the close resemblance between the Awatobi pottery and that from the
ruins of the Little Colorado and Zuñi,[85] which no doubt is
explained, in part, by the identity in the constituents of the
potter's clay near Awatobi with that in more southerly regions.
Evidences of Spanish influence may be traced on certain objects of
pottery from Awatobi, especially on those obtained from the eastern
mounds of the ruin. In most essentials, however, the Awatobi ware
resembles that of the neighboring ruins, and is characteristically
Tusayan.
The differentiation in modern Cibolan and Tusayan symbolism is much
greater than that of the ancient pottery from the same provinces, a
fact which is believed to point to a similarity, possibly identity, of
culture in ancient times. With this thought in mind, it would be
highly instructive to study the ancient ruins of the Rio Grande
region, as unfortunately no large collections of archeological objects
from that part of the Southwest have been made.[86]
The majority of the bowls from Awatobi are decorated in geometric
patterns and a few have animal or human figures. The symbols, as well
as the pottery itself, can not be distinguished from those of
Sikyatki. Fragments of glazed ware are not unknown at Awatobi, but so
far as recorded, entire specimens have never been obtained from the
latter ruin.
In order that the character of the geometric designs on Awatobi
pottery may be better understood, two plates are introduced to
illustrate their modifications in connection with my discussion of the
geometric forms figured on Sikyatki ware. The figures on these bowls
(plates CLXVI, CLXVII), with one or two exceptions, need no special
description in addition to what is said of Sikyatki geometric designs,
which they closely resemble.
The cross-shape figure (plate CLXVI, _b_) may profitably be studied in
connection with the account of the modification of Sikyatki sun
symbols. Evidences of the use of a white pigment as a slip were found
on one or two fragments of fine pottery from Awatobi, but no
decoration of this kind was observed on the Sikyatki vessels. The red
ware is the same as that found in ancient Cibola, while one or two
fragments of glossy black recall the type common to modern Santa
Clara.
Two bird-shape vessels, one made of black-and-white ware, the other
red with black-and-white decoration, were found at Awatobi. Large
masses of clay suited to the potter's art were not uncommonly found in
the corners of the rooms or in the niches in their walls. Some of
these masses are of fine paste, the others coarse with grains of sand.
The former variety was used in making the finest Tusayan ceramics; the
latter was employed in modeling cooking pots and other vessels of
ruder finish.
Several flute-shape objects of clay, with flaring extremities, were
found on the surface of the mounds of Awatobi, and one was taken from
a Sikyatki grave. The use of these objects is unknown to me.
Among the fragments of dippers from Awatobi are several with
perforations in the bottom, irregularly arranged or in geometric form,
as that of a cross. These colanders were rare at Sikyatki, but I find
nothing in them to betray Spanish influence.[87] Handled dippers or
mugs have been found so often by me in the prehistoric ruins of our
Southwest that I can not accept the dictum that the mug form was not
prehistoric, and the conclusion is legitimate that the Tusayan Indians
were familiar with mugs when the Spaniards came among them. The
handles of the dippers or ladles are single or double, solid or
hollow, simply turned up at one end or terminating with the head of an
animal. The upper side of the ladle handle may be grooved or convex.
No ladle handle decorated with an image of a "mud-head" or clown
priest, so common on modern ladles, was found either at Awatobi or
Sikyatki.
Rudely made imitations in miniature of all kinds of pottery,
especially of ladles, were common. These are regarded as votive
offerings, from the fact that they were found usually in the graves of
children, and were apparently used as playthings before they were
buried.
A common decoration on the handles of ladles is a series of short
parallel lines arranged in alternating longitudinal and transverse
zones. This form of decoration of ladle handles I have observed on
similar vessels from the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, and it reappears
on pottery in all the ruins I have studied between Mexico and Tusayan.
In the exhibit of the Mexican Government at Madrid in 1892-93 a fine
collection of ancient pottery from Oaxaca was shown, and I have
drawings of one of these ladles with the same parallel marks on the
handle that are found on Pueblo ware from the Gila-Salado, the Cibola,
and the Tusayan regions.
The only fragment of pottery from Awatobi or Sikyatki with designs
which could be identified with any modern picture of a _katcina_ was
found, as might be expected, in the former ruin. This small fragment
is instructive, in that it indicates the existence of the _katcina_
cult in Tusayan before 1700; but the rarity of the figures of these
supernatural beings is very suggestive. The fragment in question is of
ancient ware, resembling the so-called orange type of pottery, and is
apparently a part of the neck of a vase. The figure represents Wupamo,
the Great-cloud _katcina_, and is marked like the doll of the same as
it appears in the _Powamû_ or February celebration at Walpi.[88]
The associates of the _katcinas_ are the so-called "mud-heads" or
clowns, an order of priests as widely distributed as the Pueblo area.
In Tusayan villages they are called the Tcukuwympkia, and are
variously personated. As they belong especially to the _katcina_ cult,
which is naturally supposed to have been in vogue at Awatobi, I was
greatly interested in the finding of a fragment representing a
grotesque head which reminded me of a glutton of the division of the
Tcukuwympkia called Tcuckutû. While there may be some doubt of the
validity of my identification, yet, taken in connection with the
fragment of a vase with the face of Wupamo, I think there is no doubt
that the _katcina_ cult was practiced at Awatobi.