imes, and implies
how deceptive it may be to present modern beliefs and practices as
facsimiles of ancient culture.

The main subjects chosen by the native women for the decoration of
their pottery are symbolic, and the most abundant objects which bear
these decorations are food bowls and water vases. Many mythic concepts
are depicted, among which may be mentioned the Plumed Snake, various
birds, reptiles, frogs, tadpoles, and insects. Plants or leaves are
seldom employed as decorative motives, but the flower is sometimes
used. The feather was perhaps the most common object utilized, and it
may likewise be said the most highly conventionalized.

An examination of the decorations of modern food basins used in the
villages of East Mesa shows that the mythologic personages most
commonly chosen for the ornamentation of their interiors are the Corn
or Germ goddesses.[117] These assume a number of forms, yet all are
reducible to one type, although known by very different names, as
Hewueqti, "Old Woman," Kokle, and the like.

Figures of reptiles, birds, the antelope, and like animals do not
occur on any of the food bowls from the large collection of modern
Tusayan pottery which I have studied, and as these figures are well
represented in the decorations on Sikyatki food bowls, we may suppose
their use has been abandoned or replaced by figures of the
Corn-maids.[118] This fact, like so many others drawn from a study of
the Tusayan ritual, indicates that the cult of the Corn-maids is more
vigorous today than it was when Sikyatki was in its prime.

Many pictures of masks on modern Tusayan bowls are identified as
_Tacab_ or Navaho _katcinas_.[119] Their symbolism is well
characterized by chevrons on the cheeks or curved markings for eyes.
None of these figures, however, have yet been found on ancient Tusayan
ceramics. Taken in connection with facts adduced by Hodge indicative
of a recent advent of this vigorous Athapascan tribe into Tusayan, it
would seem that the use of the _Tacab katcina_ pictures was of recent
date, and is therefore not to be expected on the prehistoric pottery
of the age of that found in Sikyatki.

In the decoration of ancient pottery I find no trace of figures of the
clown-priests, or _tcukuwympkiya_, who are so prominent in modern
Tusayan _katcina_ celebrations. These personages, especially the
Tatcukti, often called by a corruption of the Zuni name Koyimse
(Koyomaeshi), are very common on modern bowls