Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744Fewkes, Jesse Walter
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Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895: Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744
Several food basins from Sikyatki have a human hand depicted upon
them, and in one of these both hands are represented. On the most
perfect of these hand figures (plate CXXXVII, _c_) a wristlet is well
represented, with two triangular figures, which impart to it an
unusual form. From between the index and second finger there arises a
triangular appendage, which joins a graceful curve, extending on one
side to the base of the thumb and continued on the other side to the
arm. The whole inside of the basin, except the figure of the hand and
its appendage, is decorated with spattering,[135] and on the outside
there is a second figure, evidently a hand or the paw of some animal.
This external decoration also has a triangular figure in which are two
terraces, recalling rain-cloud symbols.
One of the most interesting representations of the human hand (figure
354) is found on the exterior of a beautiful bowl. The four fingers
and the thumb are shown with representations of nails, a unique
feature in such decorations. From between the index finger and the
next, or rather from the tip of the former, arises an appendage
comparable with that before mentioned, but of much simpler form. The
palm of the hand is crossed by a number of parallel lines, which
recall a custom of using the palm lines in measuring ceremonial prayer
sticks, as I have described in a memoir on the Snake dance. In place
of the arm this hand has many parallel lines, the three medial ones
being continued far beyond the others, as shown in the figure.
QUADRUPEDS
Figures of quadrupeds are sparingly used in the decoration of food
bowls or basins, but the collection shows several fine specimens on
which appear some of the mammalia with which the Hopi are familiar.
Most of these are so well drawn that there appears to be no question
as to their identification.
One of the most instructive of these figures is shown in plate CXXX,
_a_, which is much worn, and indistinct in detail, although from what
can be traced it was probably intended to represent a mythic creature
known as the Giant Elk. The head bears two branched horns, drawn
without perspective, and the neck has a number of short parallel marks
similar to those occurring on the figure of an antelope on the walls
of one of the kivas at Walpi. The hoofs are bifid, and from a short
stunted tail there arises a curved line which encircles the whole
figure, connecting a series of round spots and terminating in a
triangular figure with three parallel lines representing feathers.
Perhaps the strangest of all appendages to this animal is at the tail,
which is forked, recalling the tail of certain birds. Its meaning is
unknown to me.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXXVIII
MEDICINE BOX AND PIGMENT POTS FROM SIKYATKI]
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