[Footnote 71: Sikyatki ware is more closely related to that of the ancient Jemez and Pajarito subarea than to that made by the Snake clans when they lived at Tokónabi, their old home, or at Black Falls shortly before they arrived at Walpi. Careful study of ancient Walpi pottery made by the Bear clan before the arrival of the Snake clans shows great similarity to Sikyatki pottery, and the same holds regarding the ware from old Shongopovi.] [Footnote 72: In the ruins found on the banks of the Little Colorado at Black Falls, the predominating influence, as shown by pottery symbols, has been from the north. It is known from legends that Wukóki was settled by clans from the north, the close likeness to the symbols of the San Juan valley supporting traditions still current at Walpi.] The relation of Cliff Palace pottery designs to the symbolism or decorative motives characteristic of the Gila valley ruins is remote. Several geometrical patterns are common to all areas of the Southwest, but specialized features characterize each of these areas. The pottery from Cliff Palace finds its nearest relation throughout the upper San Juan region; the most distant to that of ruins in northern Arizona near Colorado Grande.[73] [Footnote 73: A thorough comparative study of Pueblo pottery symbolism is much restricted on account of lack of material from all ceramic culture areas of the Southwest. It is likewise made difficult by a mixture of types produced by the migration of clans from one area to another. The subject is capable of scientific treatment, but at present is most difficult of analysis.] SYMBOLS ON POTTERY The symbols on the Cliff Palace pottery are reducible to rectangular geometrical figures; life forms, with the rare exceptions noted above, are not represented, and the exceptional examples are crude. Contrast this condition with the pottery from Sikyatki, where three-fourths of the decorations are life designs, as figures of men or animals, many of which are highly symbolic. The "sky band" with hanging bird design, peculiar to old Hopi ware, was unknown to Cliff Palace potters. Encircling lines are unbroken, no specimen being found with the break so common to the pottery from the Hopi, Little Colorado, Gila, and Jemez subareas. The designs on food bowls are often accompanied with marginal dots. No example of the conventionalized "breath-feather" so common in Sikyatki pottery decoration occurs. Spattering with color was not practiced. An analysis of the pottery decorations shows that the dominant forms may be reduced to a few types, of which the terrace, the spiral, the triangle, and the cross in its various forms are the most common.