he flaring end of a flageolet and ornamented with a
zigzag decoration is unique in the collections from Sikyatki, although
in the western cemetery there was found a fragment of an earthenware
tube, possibly a part of a flute.

In order to show more clearly the association of mortuary objects in
single graves a few examples of the grouping of these deposits will be
given.

In a grave in the western cemetery the following specimens were found:
1, ladle; 2, paint grinder; 3, paint slab; 4, arrowpoints; 5,
fragments of a marine shell (_Pectunculus_); 6, pipe, with fragments
of a second pipe, and 7, red paint (sesquioxide of iron).

In the grave which contained the square medicine bowl shown in plate
CXXVIII, _a_, a ladle containing food was also unearthed.

The bowl decorated with a picture of a girl's head was associated with
fragments of another bowl and four ladles.

Another single grave contained four large and small cooking pots and a
broken metate.

In a grave 8 feet below the surface in the western cemetery we found:
1, decorated food vessel; 2, black shoe-shape cooking pot resting in a
food bowl and containing a small rude ladle; 3, coarse undecorated
basin.

A typical assemblage of mortuary objects comprised: 1, small decorated
bowl containing polishing stones; 2, miniature cooking pot blackened
by soot; 3, two small food bowls.

In modern Hopi burials the food bowls with the food for the dead are
not buried with the deceased, but are placed on the mound of soil and
stones which covers the remains. From the position of the mortuary
pottery as regards the skeletons in the Sikyatki interments, it is
probable that this custom is of modern origin. Whether in former times
food bowls were placed on the burial mounds as well as in the grave I
am not able to say. The number of food bowls in ancient graves exceeds
those placed on modern burials.

The Sikyatki dead were apparently wrapped in coarse fabrics, possibly
matting.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. CXXIII

DECORATED POTTERY FROM SIKYATKI]

PALEOGRAPHY OF THE POTTERY

GENERAL FEATURES

The pottery from Sikyatki is especially rich in picture writing, and
imperfect as these designs are as a means of transmitting a knowledge
of manners, customs, and religious conceptions, they can be
interpreted with good results.

One of the most important lessons drawn from the pottery is to be had
from a study of the