d in a spiral. A groove in the upper
surface of one example is an unusual variation, and a right-angle bend
of the tip is a unique feature of another specimen. The Sikyatki
potters, like their modern descendants,[113] sometimes ornamented the
tip of a single handle with the head of an animal and painted the
upper surface of the shaft with alternate parallel bars, zigzags,
terraces, and frets.

Several spoons or scoops of earthenware, which evidently had been used
in much the same way as similar objects in the modern pueblos, were
found. Some of these have the shape of a half gourd--a natural object
which no doubt furnished the pattern. These spoons, as a rule, were
not decorated, but on a single specimen bars and parallel lines may be
detected. In the innovations of modern times pewter spoons serve the
same purpose, and their form is sometimes imitated in earthenware.
More often, in modern and probably also in ancient usage, a roll of
paper-bread or _piki_ served the same purpose, being dipped into the
stew and then eaten with the fingers. Possibly the Sikyatkian drank
from the hollow handle of a gourd ladle, as is frequently done in
Walpi today, but he generally slaked his thirst by means of a clay
substitute.[114]

Several box-like articles of pottery of both cream and red ware were
found in the Sikyatki graves, some of them having handles, others
being without them (plate CXXV). They are ornamented on the exterior
and on the rim, and the handle, when not lacking, is attached to the
longer side of the rectangular vessel. Not a single bowl was found
with a terraced rim, a feature so common in the medicine bowls of
Tusayan at the present time.[115]

In addition to the various forms of pottery which have been mentioned,
there are also pieces made in the form of birds, one of the most
typical of which is figured in plate CXII, _c_. In these objects the
wings are represented by elevations in the form of ridges on the
sides, and the tail and head by prolongations, which unfortunately
were broken off.

Toys or miniature reproductions of all the above-mentioned ceramic
specimens occurred in several graves. These are often very roughly
made, and in some cases contained pigments of different colors. The
finding of a few fragments of clay in the form of animal heads, and
one or two rude images of quadrupeds, would seem to indicate that
sometimes such objects were likewise deposited with the dead. A clay
object resembling t