In figure 308 a number of these parallel lines are represented, and
the general character of the design is rectangular. In figure 309 is
shown a combination of rectangular and triangular figures with three
tapering points and circles with lines at their tips radiating instead
of parallel. Another modification is shown in figure 310 in which the
triangle predominates, and figure 311 evidently represents one-half of
a similar device with modifications.
[Illustration: FIG. 312--Double key]
[Illustration: FIG. 313--Triangular terrace]
One of the most common designs on ancient pottery is the stepped
figure, a rectangular ornamentation, modifications of which are shown
in figures 312-314. This is a very common design on the interior of
food vessels, where it is commonly interpreted as a rain-cloud symbol.
[Illustration: FIG. 314--Crook, serrate end]
Of all patterns on ancient Tusayan ware, that of the terrace figures
most closely resemble the geometrical ornamentation of cliff-house
pottery, and there seems every reason to suppose that this form of
design admits of a like interpretation. The evolution of this pattern
from plaited basketry has been ably discussed by Holmes and
Nordenskiöld, whose works have already been quoted in this memoir.
The terraced forms from the exterior of food bowls here considered are
highly aberrent; they may be forms of survivals, motives of decoration
which have persisted from very early times. Whatever the origin of the
stepped figure in Pueblo art was, it is well to remember, as shown by
Holmes, that it is "impossible to show that any particular design of
the highly constituted kind was desired through a certain identifiable
series of progressive steps."
[Illustration: FIG. 315--Key pattern; rectangle and triangles]
[Illustration: FIG. 316--Rectangle and crook]
For some unknown reason the majority of the simple designs on the
exterior of food bowls from Tusayan are rectangular, triangular, or
linear in their character. Many can be reduced to simple or multiple
lines. Others were suggested by plaited ware.
[Illustration: FIG. 317--Crook and tail feathers]
In figure 312 is found one of the simplest of rectangular designs, a
simple band, key pattern in form, at one end, with a reentrant square
depression at the opposite extremity. In figure 313 is an equally
simple terrace pattern with stepped figures at the ends and in the
middle. These forms are common decorative elements on the exterior of
jars and vases, where they occur in many combinations, all of which
are reducible to these types. The simplest form of the key pattern is
shown in figure 314, and in figure 315 there is a second modification
of the same design a little more complicated. This becomes somewhat
changed in figure 316, not only by the modifications of the two
extremities, but also by the addition of a median geometric figure.
[Illustration: FIG. 318--Rectangle, triangle, and serrate spurs]
[Illustration: FIG. 319--W-pattern; terminal crooks]
[Illustration: FIG. 320--W-pattern; terminal rectangles]
The design in figure 317 is rectangular, showing a key pattern at one
end, with two long feathers at the opposite extremity. The five bodies
on the same end of the figure are unique and comparable with
conventionalized star emblems. The series of designs in the upper
left-hand end of this figure are unlike any which have yet been found
on the exterior of food bowls, but are similar to designs which have
elsewhere been interpreted as feathers. On the hypothesis that these
two parts of the figure are tail-feathers, we find in the crook the
analogue of the head of a bird. Thus the designs on the equator of the
vase (plate CXLV, _a_), which are birds, have the same crook for the
head, and two simple tail-feathers, rudely drawn but comparable with
the two in figure 317. The five dentate bodies on the lower left-hand
end of the figure also tell in favor of the avian character of the
design, for the following reason: These bodies are often found
accompanying figures of conventionalized birds (plates CXLIV, CLIV,
and others). They are regarded as modified crosses of equal arms,
which are all but universally present in combinations with birds and
feathers (plates CXLIV, _a_, _b_; CLIV, _a_), from the fact that in a
line of crosses depicted on a bowl one of the crosses is replaced by a
design of similar character. The arms of the cross are represented;
their intersection is left in white. The interpretation of figure 317
as a highly conventionalized bird design is also in accord with the
same interpretation of a number of similar, although less complicated,
figures which appear with crosses. Thus the three arms of plate CLX,
_a_, have highly conventionalized bird symbols attached to their
extremities. In the cross figure shown in plate CLVIII, _d_, we find
four bird figures with short, stumpy tail-feathers. These highly
conventionalized birds, with the head in the form of a crook and the
tail-feathers as parallel lines, are illustrated on many pottery
objects, nowhere better, however, than in those shown in plates CXXVI,
_a_, and CLX, _e_. Figure 318 may be compared with figure 317.
[Illustration: FIG. 321--W-pattern; terminal terraces and crooks.]
[Illustration: FIG. 322--W-pattern; terminal spurs]
Numerous modifications of a key pattern, often assuming a double
triangular form, but with rectangular elements, are found on the
exterior of many food bowls. These are variations of a pattern the
simplest form of which is shown in figure 319. Resolving this figure
into two parts by drawing a median line, we find the arrangement is
bilaterally symmetrical, the two sides exactly corresponding. Each
side consists of a simple key pattern with the shank inclined to the
rim of the bowl and a bird emblem at its junction with the other
member.
In figure 320 there is a greater development of this pattern by an
elaboration of the key, which is continued in a line resembling a
square spiral. There are also dentations on a section of the edge of
the lines.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY