s sacrificial vessels, in which food or
sacred meal was deposited as an offering to some water deity. The
handle of a mug (plate CXI, _f_) from Awatobi, so closely resembles
the handles of certain drinking cups taken from the cliff-houses of
San Juan valley that it should be specially mentioned. There is in the
handle of this mug a T-shape opening quite similar in form to the
peculiar doorways of certain cliff-dwellings. The mug is made of the
finest white ware, decorated with black lines arranged in geometric
patterns. So close is its likeness in form and texture to cliff-house
pottery that the two may be regarded as identical. Moreover, it is not
impossible that the object may have been brought to Tusayan from Tsegi
canyon, in the cliff-houses of which Hopi clans[84] lived while
Awatobi was in its prime, and, indeed, possibly after the tragedy of
1700. The few fragments of Tsegi canyon pottery known to me have
strong resemblances to ancient Hopi ware, although the black-and-white
variety predominates.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXIII

POTTERY FROM INTRAMURAL BURIAL AT AWATOBI]

The collection of pottery from Awatobi is, comparatively speaking,
small, but it shows many interesting forms. Awatobi pottery may be
classed under the same groups as other old Tusayan ceramics, but most
of the specimens collected belong to the yellow, black-and-white, and
red varieties. It resembles that of Sikyatki, but bears little
likeness to modern ware in texture or symbolism. One is impressed by
the close resemblance between the Awatobi pottery and that from the
ruins of the Little Colorado and Zuni,[85] which no doubt is
explained, in part, by the identity in the constituents of the
potter's clay near Awatobi with that in more southerly regions.

Evidences of Spanish influence may be traced on certain objects of
pottery from Awatobi, especially on those obtained from the eastern
mounds of the ruin. In most essentials, however, the Awatobi ware
resembles that of the neighboring ruins, and is characteristically
Tusayan.

The differentiation in modern Cibolan and Tusayan symbolism is much
greater than that of the ancient pottery from the same provinces, a
fact which is believed to point to a similarity, possibly identity, of
culture in ancient times. With this thought in mind, it would be
highly instructive to study the ancient ruins of the Rio Grande
region, as unfortunately no larg