picuous although always present.
The same points may be modified into terraced figures, the separation
then appearing as a zigzag line drawn across the figure, or they may
have interlocking dentate or serrate prolongations imparting a variety
of forms to the interval between them.[153] In order to trace out
these modifications it would be necessary to specify each individual
case, but I think that is unnecessary. In other words, the broken line
appears to be a characteristic not only of simple encircling bands,
but also of all geometric figures in which highly complicated designs
extend about the periphery of a utensil.
DECORATIONS ON THE EXTERIOR OF FOOD BOWLS
The decorations on the exterior of the ancient food bowls are in most
instances very characteristic and sometimes artistic. Generally they
reproduce patterns which are found on the outside of vases and jars
and sometimes have a distant relationship to the designs in the
interior of the bowl upon which they occur. Usually these external
decorations are found only on one side, and in that respect they
differ from the modern food bowls, in which nothing similar to them
appears.
The characteristics of the external decorations of food bowls are
symbolic, mostly geometric, square or rectangular, triangular or
stepped figures; curved lines and spirals rarely if ever occur, and
human or animal figures are unknown in this position in Sikyatki
pottery; the geometric figures can be reduced to a few patterns of
marked simplicity.
It is apparent that I can best discuss the variety of geometric
designs by considering these external decorations of food vessels at
length. From the fact that they are limited to one side, the design is
less complicated by repetition and seems practically the same as the
more typical forms. It is rarely that two of these designs are found
to be exactly the same, and as there appears to be no duplication a
classification of them is difficult. Each potter seems to have
decorated her ware without regard to the work of her contemporaries,
using simple designs but combining them in original ways. Hence the
great variety found even in the grave of the same woman, whose
handiwork was buried with her. As, however, the art of the potter
degenerated, as it has in later times, the patterns became more alike,
so that modern Tusayan decorated earthenware has little variety in
ornamentation and no originality in design. Every potter uses the same
f
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