Part 2

HARDNESS.--The paste exposed in fractured edges can be scratched with a steel point, and often with ease. Some of the white pottery of ancient Tusayan can be carved almost as readily as chalk or sun-dried clay. At the same time all localities furnish occasionally specimens that through the accidents of firing have the ring and hardness of stoneware. The ancient pottery is generally superior in hardness to that produced by the historic tribes.

COLOR.--This pottery presents a pleasing variety of color, although the light grays prevail, especially in the more archaic varieties. The general color probably depended greatly upon the natural constituents of the clay and the degree of heat applied, and these conditions varied with the locality and the people. Reds and browns result from the presence of iron, which may have been oxidized in burning, or the red oxides may have been used in rare cases as coloring matter in kneading the clay. The surface is often lighter than the mass; a condition probably resulting from the presence of vegetable matter in the clay, which is destroyed on the surface and remains unchanged within. In the south the colors of the paste are often slightly reddish or yellowish in hue. It is notable that a small percentage of the ware of all localities is red. This gives rise to the suggestion that vessels of this color probably had some especial or sacred use. Color is known to have an intimate connection with superstitious observances among many barbarian peoples.

FORM.--In form the ancient ware is universally simple and pleasing. Many shapes known to both civilized and barbarian art are absent. High-necked bottles and shallow plates are of rare occurrence, and pitchers, canteens or lenticular bottles, and vessels with legs and stands are unknown. There is a notable dearth of life forms, a circumstance that would seem to indicate the rather tardy development of a taste for modeling--a condition which may have resulted from the comparatively recent origin or introduction of art in clay.

Vessels with full globular bodies prevail. The bottoms are generally round or a little pointed, indicating primitive conditions of life and suggesting great simplicity in methods of manufacture and in the models copied.

_Origin of Forms._--There can be no doubt that ceramic forms are to a great extent derivative, and the search for their originals will constitute a most important feature in our studies. Turning to nature for possible originals, we find them liberally supplied by both the animal and the vegetable kingdom. The shells of the sea shore were probably among the first receptacles for food and drink. We have examples of pottery from the mounds in the Mississippi Valley, representing three or four distinct varieties of shells. The shells of turtles and the horns of cattle and other animals have also served as models.

The vegetable world furnishes many originals; the gourd, for example, was utilized at a very early date. Its forms are greatly varied, and must have given rise to many primitive shapes of vessels in clay, and perhaps in wicker-work and wood. One of the ordinary forms cut off midway would suggest the series of bowls outlined in Fig. 210. Simply perforated it would give rise to the series illustrated in Fig. 211.

Wide-mouthed vases would be suggested as indicated in Fig. 212, bottles as shown in Fig. 213, and eccentric forms as seen in Fig. 214.

These particular examples are presented in illustration of the manner in which forms may be derived and nothing more, as there are many possible origins of the same forms. In a separate paper I have amplified this topic, and have discussed the relative importance of the influence of natural and artificial products upon the conformation of utensils of clay.

HANDLES.--In searching for the first suggestions of handles we must certainly go back to the very beginnings of art, when men and women employed leaves or vines to carry their children or their food, or to suspend them for safety from the trees of the forest. The art of basketry would naturally fall heir to this use of handles. Clay, bronze, and iron, when they came into use, would also inherit some of the forms thus developed. There are, however, other sources of equal importance, among which are animal forms, such as horns, and various forms of vegetable growth, such as the gourd. The latter may again serve as an illustration.

By cutting the body of the gourd longitudinally at one side of the axis, we have dippers with straight or curved necks or handles. The primitive potter would in like manner have the suggestion of a handled vessel in clay, which, carried forward by the ever active spirit of improvement, would in time give us the series shown in Figs. 215 and 216:

ORNAMENT.--The shapes of vessels are, in a measure, ornamental, but it is difficult to say just how much the necessary or functional characters of particular forms have given way to decorative modifications. Pure ornament is a feature not essential to the vessel. Its ideas may be expressed by three principal methods: by relieved, by flat, and by intaglio figures.

Relief ornament was not extensively employed by the ancient Pueblos. The forms are few and simple, and nearly all are traceable to constructional or to functional features. Thus the ornamental crenulated surface of the coiled ware is constructional, consisting as it does of ridges, resulting from the method of building. The knobs, isolated coils, and festooned fillets are probably, in some cases, atrophied forms of handles.

Intaglio decoration is still more rare. It consists of incised, impressed, and punctured figures. No designs of importance are produced by this method, the most notable being the simple patterns traced by the finger or a sharp implement upon the relieved edges of fillets in the coiled ware.

With these people, the highest class of decoration consisted of designs in color. This topic is fully discussed in a subsequent section.

_Origin of ornament._--It is probable that before pottery came into use the decorative art had been cultivated in other fields, and we shall need to look both to nature and to antecedent arts for the originals of many decorative ideas.

From a remote period man has been able to appreciate beauty. The first exercise of taste would probably be in the direction of personal adornment, and would consist in the choice of colors or articles thought to enhance attractiveness, or in the grouping and modification of objects at first functional in character. Later, taste would be exercised on a variety of subjects, and finally it would extend to all things in use. Man may have recognized the comeliness of the first simple articles employed in his humble arts, but when he came to attempt the multiplication of these articles artificially, utility was probably the only thought. In reproducing them, however, non-essential features would be copied automatically, and the work of art would through this accident inherit purely ornamental attributes.

Thus it appears that the first ideas of decoration do not necessarily originate in the mind of the potter, but that, like the shapes of art products, they may be derived, unconsciously, from nature. This is an important consideration. At a later stage new forms of ornament are derived in a like manner from constructional features of the various arts. Invention of decorative motives is not to be expected of a primitive, tradition-following people. Advance is greatly by utilization of accidents.

USE.--A satisfactory classification of this pottery by functional characters will be most difficult to make. In the early stages of its manufacture it was confined chiefly, if not solely, to the alimentary arts. A differentiation of use would take place when certain vessels were set aside for special departments of the domestic work. Thus we would have vessels for eating, for cooking, for carrying, and for storage. When vessels came to be used in superstitious exercises, certain forms were probably set aside for especial ceremonies. With some peoples, particular forms were dedicated to mortuary uses, but we have no clew to any such custom among the ancient Pueblos, as the same vessel served for food both before and after death, and cinerary vessels were not called for. Certain classes of the ruder and plainer ware are found to be blackened by smoke. These were evidently cooking vessels. The painted pottery rarely shows evidences of such use. Bowls were probably employed chiefly in preparing and serving food. The larger vessels were devoted to carrying and storing water, fruits, grains, and miscellaneous articles. Smaller vessels were used as receptacles for paint, grease, and the like. The ancient people had not yet devoted their ceramic art to trivial uses--there are no toys, no rattles, and no grotesque figures.

CLASSIFICATION.--In treating a subject covering so wide a field, and embracing such a diversity of products, a careful classification of the material is called for. Three grand divisions of the ceramic work of this province may be made on a time basis, namely: prehistoric, transitional, and modern. At present I have to deal chiefly with the prehistoric, but must also pay some attention to the transitional, as it embraces many features common both to the archaic and to the modern art. In discussing the prehistoric pottery I find it convenient to consider it under the three heads, coiled ware, plain ware, and painted ware. This classification is unsatisfactory, as it is based upon somewhat imperfectly differentiated characters. The smooth vessel is in many cases a coil-built one with obliterated coils, and a painted vessel a smooth one with the addition of designs in color. Very little of the pottery was left plain, but the coiled and painted varieties are fully represented in every locality.

I place the coiled ware first because to all appearances it is the most archaic variety and one which is rarely made at the present day. I suspect that the pieces made by modern potters serve to supply the wants of the collectors rather than to meet the requirements of traditional art. Among the collections in the National Museum are found many crude attempts to manufacture this ware by potters who did not comprehend the secrets of its construction, or who thought to produce the coiled effect by the cheap device of scarifying and indenting the surface of a plain vessel.

Close relations are established between the coiled and the painted pottery, not only by the identity of materials, form, color, and time, but by the union of the two methods of finishing, the coiling and painting, in one and the same vessel, as may be seen in the examples given in in the following pages.

COIL-MADE WARE.

COILING.--The art of building vessels by means of coils of clay has been practiced by many widely separated communities, and is, therefore, certainly not peculiar to the ancient Pueblos. A careful study of the ceramic field shows considerable diversity in the treatment of the coil. The most striking variation, the employment of the coil as a means of embellishment, is, so far as my observation extends, peculiar to the Pueblo peoples. With others it is a feature of construction simply.

The preliminary steps are with all primitive potters in a general sense the same. The first care is to secure suitable clay and to have it properly purified and tempered. After this the treatment varies greatly.

_Coiling of the Pueblos._--The ancient Pueblo potter rolled out long, slender fillets or ropes of clay, varying in width and thickness to suit the size and character of the vessel to be constructed. They were usually perhaps from one-fourth to one-half of an inch in thickness. When they were properly trimmed and smoothed the potter began by taking the end of a single strip between his fingers and proceeded to coil it upon itself, gradually forming a disk, as shown in Fig. 217, which represents the base of a large vase from the San Juan Valley.

At first the fillets overlapped only a little, but as the disk grew large and was rounded upward to form the body of the vessel, the imbrication became more pronounced. The fillet was placed obliquely, as shown in the section, Fig. 218, and was exposed on the exterior side to probably one-half of its width. Strip after strip of clay was added, the ends being carefully joined, so that the continuity might not be broken until the vessel was completed. The rim generally consisted of a broad strip, thickened a little at the lip, and somewhat recurved. The exterior imbricate edges were carefully preserved, while those on the inner surface were totally obliterated, first by pressure, and finally by smoothing down with an implement, or with the fingers, imprints of the latter being frequently visible. So thoroughly were the fillets pressed down and welded together that the vessels seldom fracture more readily along the lines of junction than in other directions.

The fact that the spiral ridges of the bottom are frequently without abrasion, as shown in Fig. 217, suggests an idea in regard to the manipulation of the coil. While building the upper part of the vase the base would necessarily rest upon some sort of support and the soft ridges would suffer from abrasion. In preventing such defacement, an interior support, such as a mold or the base of another vessel, must have been used, in which case the vessel was necessarily built in an inverted position. At the same time it is clear that this would be practicable only with bowls or with very wide-mouthed vessels, as the mold, if rigid, could not be removed through a restricted aperture.

In pressing the coil down, in welding it to the preceding turn, internal support would be necessary, as otherwise the strain would warp the walls. A curved trowel or a rounded pebble could be used as long as the aperture would admit the hand, but no support excepting the fingers, or an implement shaped for the purpose, could be used beyond this stage. The whole process was a most delicate one, requiring patience and skill. In this respect it contrasted strongly with the coiling of other peoples. As indicated by numerous specimens, the coil was sometimes laid on the inside of a shallow basket or bowl, the surface of the vessel showing a combination of basket-markings and nearly obliterated spiral creases. This device served a good purpose in starting the vessel, the upper part being completed by free-hand coiling.

_Coiling of other peoples._--The art, as practiced by the Indians of Louisiana, is graphically described by Dumont. The following paragraph is translated from his work:

"Moreover, the industry of these (savage) girls and women is admirable. I have already alluded to the skill with which, with their fingers only, and without a wheel, they make large pieces of pottery. The following is their method of work: After having collected a quantity of the proper kind of earth, and having cleaned it thoroughly, they take shells which they break up and reduce to a very fine, loose powder; they mix this fine dust with the earth which they have collected, and, moistening the whole with a little water, work it with their hands and feet into a paste, from which they make rolls six or seven feet long and as thick as they may desire. If they wish to make a dish or a vase, they take one of these rolls by the end, and marking on this lump with the thumb of the left hand the center of the vessel, they turn the roll around this center with admirable rapidity and dexterity, describing a spiral. From time to time they dip their fingers into the water, which they are always careful to have near them, and, with the right hand, they flatten the inside and the outside of the vase, which without this would be uneven. In this way they make all kinds of earthen utensils, dishes, plates, bowls, pots, and jugs, some of which hold as much as 40 or even 50 pints. This pottery does not require much preparation for baking. After having dried it in the shade, they make a large fire, and as soon as they think they have enough embers they clean a place in the middle, and, arranging the pieces of pottery, cover them with charcoal. It is thus that the pieces are given the necessary heating (cooking), after which they are as strong as our pottery. There is no doubt but that we must attribute their strength to the mixture which these women make of powdered shells with the earth which they employ."[1]

Professor C. F. Hartt has furnished many facts in regard to the manufacture of pottery by the Brazilian Indians. According to his account the women of Santarem model the bottom of a vessel from a lump of clay in the usual way. Then "a piece of clay is rolled under the hand into a long, rope-like cylinder. This rope is then coiled around the edge of the bottom of the vessel, being flattened sidewise by pinching with the fingers of the left hand, and caused to adhere to the bottom. On this, coil after coil is laid in like manner, each being flattened as before. After a few have been added they are worked into shape with the fingers, which are occasionally moistened in water, and the irregularities produced by the coils are caused to disappear. The vessel is formed by the hand alone and the surface is smoothed down by means of a bit of gourd or a shell, which is from time to time dipped in water. If the vessel be large it is now set away in the shade for a while to dry a little, after which new coils are added as above, no other instrument being used except the hands and the gourd or shell, with which alone the vessel may receive not only an extremely regular form, but also a very smooth surface. * * * The coils are so worked together that from a simple inspection of the vessel it is impossible to determine how it was built up. I should never have suspected that the pottery of Pacoval had been made by coiling, were it not that I found the coils still ununited on the inner surface of the heads of idols."[2]

Prof. Hartt states, also, on the authority of Dr. de Magalhaes, that the pottery of the several tribes of the Araquaya River is always made by coiling, the surface being worked down by the hand and water and the aid of a spoon-like trowel made of bamboo. Humboldt makes a similar statement in regard to the tribes of the Orinoco.

Mr. E. A. Barber[3] relates, on the authority of Captain John Moss, a resident, for a long time, of southwestern Colorado, that the Ute Indians manufacture pottery at the present time, and that they probably follow the methods of the Mokis, from whom they learned the art.

[1] Mémoires sur la Louisiane. Butel-Dumont. Vol. II, pp. 271-273. Paris, 1753.

[2] Hartt: American Naturalist, February, 1879, pp. 83-86.

[3] Barber: American Naturalist, Vol. X, p. 412.

Captain Moss states that "They use marl, which they grind between two rocks to a very fine powder. They then mix this with water and knead it as we would dough. Afterwards they roll it out into a rope-like state about one inch in diameter and several yards in length. They then commence at the bottom of the jar, or whatever vessel they may be making, and coil the clay-rope layer on layer until they have the bottom and three inches of the sides laid up. The tools for smoothing and joining the layers together are a paddle made out of wood and perfectly smooth, and an oval-shaped polished stone." Both of these tools are dipped in the water (salt water is preferred), the stone is held in the left hand and on the inside of the vessel, and the paddle is applied vigorously until the surfaces are smooth. The method thus described by these authors was, probably, almost universally practiced.

I have specimens from a number of the Eastern and Southern States that fracture along the line of junction, showing clearly the width of the fillets and the manner of their attachment. I picked up a small specimen at Avoca, North Carolina, which has broken along the line of junction, giving the section illustrated in Fig. 219. It will be seen that there is no overlapping as in the Pueblo work, the attachment being accomplished by pressure and by drawing both edges of the coil down over the convex edge of the preceding coil. I have similar specimens from the modern Pueblos, from Florida, from Mexico, and from Brazil. It will readily be seen that this method of building differs essentially from that practiced so successfully by the ancient Pueblos.

ORIGIN OF THE COIL.--This use of the coil is but a refinement of the most simple possible method of construction, that of building by the addition of small masses of clay. A disk or shallow cup can be formed successfully by the fingers alone from a single lump of clay, but to carry the wall upward by pressure or by blows from a paddle would result in a weak, frayed edge. To counteract or prevent this tendency small elongated masses are used, which are laid one upon another along the growing margin. From this, in the most natural manner possible, we arrive at the use of the long, even rope or fillet. The imbrication or overlapping of the coil practiced by the Pueblos may have originated in the effort to secure a more stable union of the parts which had to be welded together by pressure. It would also almost necessarily arise from the attempt to lay the coil upon or within a mold or support. There is a possibility that it may have been suggested by features of construction observed in other arts--the overlapping parts of a roof, of a plate or scale garment, or of a coiled basket. The latter is especially suggestive, since we must generally look for the origin of features of the ceramic art in the features of closely associated arts.

THE COIL IN ORNAMENTATION.--Ordinarily the coil has not been expected to contribute to the beauty of the vessel, but the Pueblo tribes made it a prominent feature in decoration. The primitive potter as he laid his rude coils noticed that the ridges thus produced served to enhance the appearance of the vessel. He also observed that the series of indentations left on the outer surface of the fillet in pressing it down gave a pleasing effect, and made use of the suggestion. Improving upon the accidents of manufacture, he worked out a variety of decorative devices.

In some cases the coiled ridges are confined to particular parts of the vessel, the other parts having been worked down or originally constructed by plain modeling. Numerous examples have the body quite plain, the collar alone retaining the spiral ridges of the coil. Fig. 251 illustrates a very good example of this peculiarity.

The fragment shown in Fig. 220 is from the neck of a pot-shaped vase. The surface has been plain below and the fillets of the upper part have been pressed down evenly with the thumb, leaving the extreme edge of the overlapping band in sharp relief, as shown more clearly in the section.

The whole coil is sometimes left plain, as in Figs. 221 and 222, in which cases the edges have been carefully pressed down and smoothed with the fingers.