The decorations on the exterior of the ancient food bowls are in most
instances very characteristic and sometimes artistic. Generally they
reproduce patterns which are found on the outside of vases and jars
and sometimes have a distant relationship to the designs in the
interior of the bowl upon which they occur. Usually these external
decorations are found only on one side, and in that respect they
differ from the modern food bowls, in which nothing similar to them
appears.
The characteristics of the external decorations of food bowls are
symbolic, mostly geometric, square or rectangular, triangular or
stepped figures; curved lines and spirals rarely if ever occur, and
human or animal figures are unknown in this position in Sikyatki
pottery; the geometric figures can be reduced to a few patterns of
marked simplicity.
It is apparent that I can best discuss the variety of geometric
designs by considering these external decorations of food vessels at
length. From the fact that they are limited to one side, the design is
less complicated by repetition and seems practically the same as the
more typical forms. It is rarely that two of these designs are found
to be exactly the same, and as there appears to be no duplication a
classification of them is difficult. Each potter seems to have
decorated her ware without regard to the work of her contemporaries,
using simple designs but combining them in original ways. Hence the
great variety found even in the grave of the same woman, whose
handiwork was buried with her. As, however, the art of the potter
degenerated, as it has in later times, the patterns became more alike,
so that modern Tusayan decorated earthenware has little variety in
ornamentation and no originality in design. Every potter uses the same
figures.
[Illustration: FIG. 277--Oblique parallel line decoration]
[Illustration: FIG. 278--Parallel lines fused at one point]
[Illustration: FIG. 279--Parallel lines with zigzag arrangement]
The simplest form of decoration on the exterior of a food bowl is a
band encircling it. This line may be complete or it may be broken at
one point. The next more complicated geometric decoration is a double
or multiple band, which, however, does not occur in any of the
specimens from Sikyatki. The breaking up of this multiple band into
parallel bars is shown in figure 277. These bars generally have a
quadruple arrangement, and are horizontal, vertical, or, as in the
illustration, inclined at an angle. They are often found on the lips
of the bowls and in a similar position on jars, dippers, and vases.
The parallel lines shown in figure 278 are seven in number, and do not
encircle the bowl. They are joined by a broad connecting band near one
extremity. The number of parallel bands in this decoration is highly
suggestive.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY