A Study of Pueblo Pottery as Illustrative of Zuñi Culture Growth | Page 2

open spaces of contiguous lines 514
551.--Native painting of deer, showing space-line from mouth to heart
515 552.--Native painting of sea serpent, showing space-line from
mouth to heart 515 553.--The fret of basket decoration 516 554.--The
fret of pottery decoration 516 555.--Scroll as evolved from fret in
pottery decoration 516 556.--Ancient Pueblo "medicine-jar" 517
557.--Decoration of above compared with modern Moki rain symbol
517 558.--Zuñi prayer-meal bowl illustrating symbolism in form and
decoration 518 559.--Native paintings of sacred butterfly 519
560.--Native painting of sacred migratory "summer bird" 519
561.--Rectangular or Iroquois type of earthen vessel 519
562.--Kidney-shaped type of vessel of Nicaragua 520 563.--Iroquois
bark vessel, showing angles of juncture 520 564.--Porcupine quill

decoration on bark vessel, for comparison with Fig. 561 521 ~~~ * * *
* *

A STUDY OF PUEBLO POTTERY AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF ZUÑI
CULTURE-GROWTH.
* * * * *
BY FRANK H. CUSHING.
* * * * *

HABITATIONS AFFECTED BY ENVIRONMENT.
It is conceded that the peculiarities of a culture-status are due chiefly to
the necessities encountered during its development. In this sense the
Pueblo phase of life was, like the Egyptian, the product of a desert
environment. Given that a tribe or stock of people is weak, they will be
encroached upon by neighboring stronger tribes, and driven to new
surroundings if not subdued. Such we may believe was the influence
which led the ancestors of the Pueblo tribes to adopt an almost
waterless area for their habitat.
It is apparent at least that they entered the country wherein their
remains occur while comparatively a rude people, and worked out there
almost wholly their incipient civilization. Of this there is important
linguistic evidence.
[Illustration: FIG. 490.--A Navajo hut.]
A Navajo hogan, or hut, is a beehive-shaped or conical structure (see
Fig. 490) of sticks and turf or earth, sometimes even of stones chinked
with mud. Yet its modern Zuñi name is _hám´ pon ne_, from ha we,
dried brush, sprigs or leaves; and _pó an ne_, covering, shelter or roof
(po a to place over and ne the nominal suffix); which, interpreted,

signifies a "brush or leaf shelter." This leads to the inference that the
temporary shelter with which the Zuñis were acquainted when they
formulated the name here given, presumably in their earliest condition,
was in shape like the Navajo hogan, but in material, of brush or like
perishable substance.
The archaic name for a building or walled inclosure is _hé sho ta_, a
contraction of the now obsolete term, _hé sho ta pon ne_, from _hé
sho_, gum, or resin-like; _shó tai e_, leaned or placed together
convergingly; and _tá po an ne_, a roof of wood or a roof supported by
wood.
[Illustration: FIG. 491.--Perspective view of earliest or Round-house
structure of lava.]
The meaning of all this would be obscure did not the oldest remains of
the Pueblos occur in the almost inaccessible lava wastes bordering the
southwestern deserts and intersecting them and were not the houses of
these ruins built on the plan of shelters, round (see Figs. 491, 492, 493),
rather than rectangular. Furthermore, not only does the lava-rock of
which their walls have been rudely constructed resemble natural
asphaltum (_hé sho_) and possess a cleavage exactly like that of
piñon-gum and allied substances (also _hé sho_), but some forms of
lava are actually known as _á he sho_ or gum-rock. From these
considerations inferring that the name _hé sho ta pon ne_ derivatively
signifies something like "a gum-rock shelter with roof supports of
wood," we may also infer that the Pueblos on their coming into the
desert regions dispossessed earlier inhabitants or that they chose the
lava-wastes the better to secure themselves from invasion; moreover
that the oldest form of building known to them was therefore an
inclosure of lava-stones, whence the application of the contraction _hé
sho ta_, and its restriction to mean a walled inclosure.
[Illustration: FIG. 492.--Plan of Pueblo structure of lava.]
[Illustration: FIG. 493.--Section of Pueblo structure of lava.]
RECTANGULAR FORMS DEVELOPED FROM CIRCULAR.

It may be well in this connection to cite a theory entertained by Mr.
Victor Mindeleff, of the Bureau of Ethnology, whose wide experience
among the southwestern ruins entitles his judgment to high
consideration. In his opinion the rectangular form of architecture,
which succeeds the type under discussion, must have been evolved
from the circular form by the bringing together, within a limited area,
of many houses. This would result in causing the wall of one circular
structure to encroach upon that of another, suggesting the partition
instead of the double wall. This partition would naturally be built
straight as a twofold measure of economy. Supposing three such houses
to be contiguous to a central one, each separated from the latter by a
straight wall, it may be seen