--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anderson, Joseph F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 4 published: 1914-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph F. Anderson, "Discoveries on the Colorado—IV," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 4 (February 1914): 305–310.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1704unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1704unse start_page: 305 end_page: 310 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1704unse publication_year: 1914 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Discoveries on the Colorado—IV Discoveries on the Colorado BY JOSEPH F. ANDERSON, OF THE UTAH ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPOSI- TION, 1913, FORMERLY PRINCIPAL OF THE MONROE HIGH SCHOOL IV. Ceramic Art and Other Arts of the Cliff Dwellers. It was in ceramic art that the Cliff Dweller displayed his greatest skill. Wonderful as were his achievements in architecture, excellent as was his work in the textiles, important as were his agricultural operations, — none of these show the esthetic taste, the patient effort, or the technical skill, manifest in the ceramics of the prehistoric potter of the cliffs. Without the aid of a potter's wheel or a coke-fed furnace, he turned out a product that can scarcely be duplicated by modern pottery-makers, with all of their Photo by Frazicr, Utah Arch. Exped. A NAVAJO HOME Observe the warp of a blanket in the loom ready to be woven. This suggests the kind of loom used by the cliff dwellers in weaving their fabrics. With woof of colored yarns spun by herself, the woman composes the complex design as she laboriously weaves the uanket. modern appliances. For the Cliff Dwellers, this work was an art as well as a science, for it became the medium of expression of genuine emotion in the form of supplications to their deities, artistic designs, pleasing forms and what not. Beauty of line and symmetry of form were delightfully combined with utility, in such a way as to excite the admiration of the modern world. 306 I M I M<« >VEMENT EK \ DISCOVERIES ON THE COLORADO 307 region have been collected. One very interesting and unusual specimen is a jug, in the University of Utah museum, molded to represent a prairie-dog sitting on its haunches. Among the varieties of pottery classified with respect to their uses, are found ollas, bowls, ladles, pitchers, mugs, cups, bottles, jugs, canteens, plates, seed-jars, and strainers. Good clay is abundant and easily manipulated. The artist knew how to strengthen it by adding mica and granulated mesa-sandstone to the plastic clay. Sections of pottery have been found to contain Photo by Stratton, Utah Arch. Exped. CLIFF RUINS These ruins show the pictographs dimly visible at the right, and were excavated by the Utah Expedition, yielding a wealth of relics, including the mummified skeleton of a cliff man. quartz, plagioclase, pyroxine, mica and olivene — a combination which, when skilfully mixed and fired, made a very durable article. The skill of the potter in the management of clay justly commands our admiration. Some of the great jars with a capacity of many gallons are hardly one-eighth of an inch thick; are of excellent shape and symmetry, and ring like a bell when struck. Several such large vessels secured by Professor Cummings are at the University of Utah. One of them — the largest of its kind in the world — has a girth of five feet, and is finely decorated. It was dug from the floor of a cliff house by the Utah expedition of 1913. The cliff man knew how to mix pounded stone, or old 308 IMI'KOVEMKXT I \< \ pottery broken into small fragments, with his clay, to prevent shrinkage and cracking. Then he knew how to bake the finished article to a hardness scarcely penetrable to steel. Kilns for baking were constructed of rock masonry. Wood seems to have been the universal fuel for both heat and light, although Peet calls attention to the possibility that the peculiar little pieces of pottery, in which cotton wicking has been found, may have been used as lamps. The molding of the ware was probably accomplished without the aid of any mechanical appliances. In spite of this the vessels Photo by I. Wetherill PICTURES OF COLONEL ROOSEVELT As he appeared at Cayenta trading post, on his trip of exploration in the land of the cliff dwellers; in the summer of 1913. He displayed a keen interest in the wonders of the country, and suggested the need of a school of archeology being established there under the direction of such a man as Dean Cummings, of the University of Utah. While President, he set apart, by proclamation, a part of the country as the "Natural Bridges National Monument." He is respected by the natives as a man who is not a tenderfoot. are almost perfectly circular. In many cases the most searching examination reveals no flaw. The general belief is that practically all of the pottery made by these people was constructed by the coil process. The clay, after having been carefully kneaded, was molded into small ropes. Perhaps using a plate as a foundation, one end of the rope of clay was rolled into spiral coils, thus forming a disk to compose the bottom of the vase. More coils were added ; the size of the disk increased, at the same time being given a concave shape. As the coils grew higher and higher, they were pressed together and built to the desired form. In the smooth ware, both inside and DISCOVERIES ON THE COLORADO 309 A CLIFF DWELLERS' PRAIRIE DOG MUG Notice the Hopi Indian mat as a background. outside surfaces were smoothed while the clay was yet plastic. In the corrugated ware the ridges of the coils were left, and usually indented with the thumb nail or some sharp instrument. Often the indentations were made to conform to some elaborate design. The smooth ware was smoothed and polished with polishing stones of flint or quartzite. The painted decoration was evidently done before the baking, making it possible to burn the colors into the walls of the vessel. The piece was washed over with a mineral paint, samples of which have beeen found in several of the ruins. A lump found by Nordenskjold proved, on analysis, to be composed of silica, alumina, ferric oxide, magnesia, potash and sodium. This combination, diluted with water, forms a tenacious slip. Over this wash was painted the designs in other colors. The corrugated ware was seldom, if ever, painted. Forms of the painted pottery are of much greater variety than are found in the unpolished and corrupottery of the coiled ware gated ware. The large jar in the center shows the cliff dwellers' method of * . mending the broken vessel with yucca cord. The jars at either end S e X V e Q a show the method of supporting the round-bottomed jars in mats. crrpater vari- These jars were collected by Utah expeditions led by Professor gicdici vd Cummings. ety of uses. It is argued by Holmes that textile decoration preceded ceramic decoration, and that the ornament on the ancient pottery 310 IMPROVEMENT ERA of the southwest is a development from textile patterns. It is true that the designs on the textile fabrics are, in general, similar to the ceramic decorations. In the textiles the warp and woof were dyed before the weaving was begun, making the art of decorating the fabric all the more difficult. The designs seem to have been woven in much the same manner as the Navajo of today weaves designs in blankets. Some of the ancient sandals were woven in raised patterns as well as in colors, making them very pretty. In tracing the origin of ceramic art among theCliffDwellers, it is significant to note that the swastica, which is so common in the old world as a luck symbol, was also used by these ancient Americans. But whether it meant the same to them as it did to the old world people is not clear. Ornamentation of the walls of their houses is another evidence of the artistic sense of the Cliff Dwellers. These decorations are in general similar to the embellishments on the pottery. The smooth plastered walls of the rooms furnished an inviting surface on which to apply paint in artistic designs. A design of unusual interest is a picture found by F. H. Chapin, in "Spruce Tree House," showing two turkeys fighting. The flat cliff surfaces so plentiful in the country have received both painted and chiseled pictographs at the hands of these primitive artists. In the pictographs, forms of animals, plants and men often predominate. Pictures of birds, reptiles and mountain goats are very common. It is believed that most of these had a religious significance. Perhaps some of them, if they could be interpreted, might reveal startling secrets concerning the lives and fortunes of the vanished people who placed them there. h'holo by Rynearson, Utah Arch. Exped. NATIVES OF THE TEWA TRIBE, NEW MEXICO This is the only tribe in America now making the famous black pottery. They were in Salt Lake City as guests of Professor Cummings during the N. E. A. week, in the summer of 1913, and demonstrated their skill to the visiting crowds. The gentleman in the picture is a native who has a college education.