An instructive group of human figures is drawn on a deep red and white
food bowl (fig. 13), which measures ten inches in diameter. It is
evident that this design represents three hunters following the trail
of a horned animal, probably a deer. This trail is represented on the
surface of the bowl by a row of triangles, while the footprints of the
hunters extend along its side. It may be noted that although there are
three hunters, the trails of two only are represented, and that the
hunters are barefoot. They have perhaps lost the trail and are looking
the opposite way, while the animal has turned back on his path. The
footprints of the deer in advance of the hunters are tortuous, showing
want of decision on the part of the animal. The three hunters are
dressed alike, wearing the close-fitting jacket probably made of strips
of skin woven together like that found by Dr. Hough in a sacrificial
cave at the head of the Tulerosa, New Mexico. Each carries a bow and
arrow in his right hand, and in his left a stick which the leader uses
as a cane; the second hunter holds it by one end before him, and the
third raises it aloft. These objects are supposed to represent either
weapons or certain problematic wooden staffs with feathers attached,
like divining rods, by which the hunters are in a magical way directed
in their search. The first hunter “feels” for the lost trail by means
of this rod.
An examination of the pictures of the arrows these hunters carry shows
that each has a triangular appendage at the end representing feathers,
and small objects, also feathers, tied to its very extremity. The hair
of the third hunter appears to be a single coil hanging down the back,
but in the other two it is tied in a cue at the back of the head. The
eyes are drawn like the eyes on Egyptian paintings, that is, the eye as
it appears in a front view is shown on the side of the head. The right
shoulders of all are thrown out of position, in this feature recalling
primitive perspective. The information conveyed by this prehistoric
picture conforms with what is known from historical sources that the
Mimbres Valley formerly abounded in antelopes, and we have here a
representation of an aboriginal hunt.