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
The most instructive of all the appendages to the body are the
club-shape bodies, one on each side, rising from the point of union of
the wings and the breast. These are spatulate in form, with a terraced
terminal marking. They, like other appendages, represent feathers, but
that peculiar kind which is found under the wing is called the breath
feather.[144] This feather is still used in certain ceremonials, and
is tied to certain prayer offerings. Its ancient symbolism is very
clearly indicated in this picture, and is markedly different from that
of either the wing or tail feathers, which have a totally different
ceremonial use at the present time.
For convenience of comparison, a number of pictures which undoubtedly
refer to different birds in ancient interpretations will be grouped in
a single series.
Plate CXXXVIII, _d_, represents a figure of a bird showing great
relative modification of organs when compared with those previously
discussed. The head is very much broadened, but the semicircular
markings, which occur also on the heads of previously described bird
figures, are well drawn. The wings are mere curved appendages,
destitute of feather symbols, but are provided with lateral spurs and
have knobs at their bases. The body is rectangular; the tail-feathers
are numerous, with well-marked symbolism. Perhaps the most striking
appendages to the body are the two well-defined extensions of parts of
the body itself, which, although represented in other pictures of
birds, nowhere reach such relatively large size.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXXXIX
FOOD BOWLS WITH FIGURES OF BIRDS FROM SIKYATKI]
The figure of a bird shown in plate CXXXVIII, _c_, is similar in many
respects to that last described. The semicircular markings on the head
of the former are here replaced by triangles, but both are symbolic of
rain-clouds. The wings are curved projections, without any suggestion
of feathers or basal spurs and knobs. The tail-feathers show nothing
exceptional, and the body is bounded posteriorly by triangular
extensions, as in figures of birds already described.
The representation of the bird in plate CXXXVIII, _e_, has a
triangular body continued into two points on the posterior end,
between which the tail-feathers are situated. The body is covered with
terraced and triangular designs, and the head is rectangular in form.
On each side of the bird figure there is a symbol of a flower,
possibly the sunflower or an aster.
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