Michael J. Harner

“ Emphasis is on the overall effect of pattern, not on its items. The continuous forked-and-angled design, the combinations of hourglass figures, of spaced rhomboids or hexagons, even the simpler fishbone pattern—all have this total-field approach, with relative indifference to figure elements that got squeezed, stretched, or distorted. ”

“ My doubts are strengthened by my having obtained no specific name for either handled shape: the high jug, 5,g, was called a jar, hápurui; the low jug, 5,e, kwáθki, bowl; and in 1900 I bought a cup for which the name kwáθki aha-suraitši was given.
In the dreamed Mastamhó myth of the origin of culture (AR 11:1, 1948, see 7:76, p. 63) , the culture hero calls some of the principal vessel forms by two sets of names, the first being recondite, twisted, or punning. The list is:
It will be noted that handled jugs and handled cups are lacking from this list, though so are canteens and round platters. ”

“ These outer triangles are each crossed by a bar of light background—a feature not repeated in the collection, and seeming strange to me; but it does yield a pair of miniature solid triangles—that favorite Mohave design device—in the waist of each outer hourglass. The miniature solid angle also recurs in the central quartering. The solid middle triangles as well as the medium-sized ones toward the rim are followed outside their edge (or inside the light rhomboids) by a row of dots. ”

“ The four handled jugs fall into two classes: d and e, medium; f and g, high. In the former, the height is about a tenth greater than the mouth diameter, in the latter, about a half greater. Also, in the medium jugs, the base of the handle springs from the lower half of the vessel; in the high ones, from the middle or above. In all cases the handle rises somewhat above the lip. The neck is less than the mouth by 12 to 15 per cent.
The cups are like the jugs except that they are lower and the main painted designs come inside. In fact, the cups seem to be small bowls with a handle attached. ”

“ All vessels are unslipped. Interior surfaces of all vessels and the exterior of one parcher and part of the exterior of the other are smooth, but not polished. The exterior surfaces of the bowls and part of the exterior of one of the parchers have an extremely rough, granular surface, called "stucco."
Surface color: Exterior surfaces of bowls are covered with the soot from cooking fires. Interior surfaces of [19] parchers and one bowl are likewise uniformly blackened through use. Otherwise the surface color is visible and within the range described for Parker Red-on-Buff, Fort Mohave variant. ”

“ On the outside, to which the design name "halter face paint" applies, there are eight double-outlined hourglass triangle pairs, meeting tips solid, the rest of their interiors and the intervening hexagons being stippled with oval, streakish dots. Cf. the outside of a.
e has been much rubbed in the middle, but the design toward the rim is allied to those of the bowls in plate 1—triple lines turning back or forking at acute angles. Only the solid small triangles at junctures and ends seem to be lacking. The outside carries 58 vertical stripes averaging about 4 mm. wide. ”

“ The pottery here described was collected fifty years ago by Kroeber and is all in the University's Museum of Anthropology.
It is described for ethnological comparability by Kroeber, with emphasis on use, shape, painted design, and names of designs; and for archaeological utilization by Harner, with special attention to ware, temper, firing, hardness, forms, paint and color, and technological considerations generally. The two parts were written independently. They overlap here and there, especially on vessel shapes ”

“ Or, the middle lines might be said to emerge from the points of the solid triangles. The two remaining lines of the bars are therefore mere borders or shadows: they never touch a solid triangle. The dead ends of the forking branches point at each other, or inward toward the center, in most cases: a, b, d, f, g, h. In c they point parallel; e is unskillfully painted and lacks the dead or free ends.
This pattern is complex and calls for skill in execution. e is a botch, a irregularly crowded, g, h simplified and open ”

“ There are small solid triangles where the "petal" borders meet, and dots also in the peripheral spaces. The handle is striped crosswise; the outside of the vessel, vertically. Compare pl. 5,h,i.
c, under side of platter 1722, front shown in pl. 3,d; d. 203 mm. The design is a solid dark and light checker of 25 whole or partial squares.
d, bowl, 1721, d. 220 mm., h. 135, ratio 61 per cent. Design: the forked-and-angled pattern, crudely executed, and called teítθôk face paint. The dots were named hatúhk, rows of tattoo dots. ”

“ Wall thickness range: (presence or absence of modeling does not seem to correlate with any variation in wall thickness) (a) at rim, 4 to 5 mm.; (b) at a distance of 1 cm. below rim, 4.5 to 8.5 mm.; (c) at center of vessel base, 4.5 to 14 mm.
Additional features: None for the scoops without modeling, with the exception of one vessel which has a curved handle (see profile form type XIII) 42.1 mm. long. Scoops with modeling have two types of features:
"Keels": (a) Nature of feature: a keel-like ridge characterizes every scoop with modeling. ”

“ Only b differs in that the dead or free branches each end in a solid circle. The solid triangles tend to vary somewhat in shape, from equilateral to narrow isosceles, even in well painted bowls: cf. b, c; this variation is perhaps unavoidable.
This pattern is the most ambitious of Mohave design treatments.
The outer side of these bowls is painted with vertical stripes down from the rim 6 times. Usually they are thinnish lines, in c wider stripes. Bowls e and f partly repeat the inside pattern on their outside.
PLATE 2: BOWLS
a, 13771, diameter 246-260 mm. ”

“ Assumed to be Mohave, but condition suggests the vessel was made for sale and not used.
The two water jars are of about the same height, toward 8 in., but a is smaller-mouthed and bigger-bellied than b. The neck diameters are around 5/6 to 4/5 of the mouths. a is somewhat greater through the body than it is high; b, nearly the same. Another and larger jar is shown in plate 8,a.
The cook pot, c, has the opening as large as the body diameter; the neck is only 9 to 10 per cent smaller than the mouth, the height only 77 per cent of the width. ”

“ The ware is definitely paler than Mohave pottery: a sort of half-yellow. It bears on its upper half a red pattern, but this is fainter than most Mohave patterns, and most resembles occasional fishnet patterns on the under sides or backs of Mohave bowls, platters, or spoons. It has 42 vertical (radiating) lines and 7 horizontal (encircling) lines, resulting in 252 hollow quadrilaterals. The vessel also has two mends or strengthenings with lumps of black gum. The overall height, 225 mm., is 75 per cent of the maximum body diameter, 300 mm., which comes at about 100 mm., or less than halfway up. ”

“ The two katéla or parchers, f and g, having adjacent numbers, 13787 and 13788, are probably out of one household—a conservative one, inasmuch as they were secured in 1908. They differ slightly in proportions, yet are closely similar. Piece f, the longer and flatter, has its ends brought into a semblance of the abbreviated quail beaks and eyes found on some spoons—class A2. The rims of both f and g are transversely flat and wiped or pinched over inward to extra thickness, then scored regularly with a fingernail or stick; in g the outer edge has also been lightly punch-marked. ”

“ Rattle handle: (a) Nature of feature: a single closed compartment containing some loose, small, hard objects (probably pebbles or pottery pellets) . (b) Placement: located in the handle of the scoop and with its length oriented along the length of the handle. (c) Dimensions: compartment occupies less than one-half the total length of the vessel. Its exact dimensions are uncertain, since none of the handles are broken open; probably the interior length ranges from ca. 30 to ca. 49 mm. and the interior width from ca. 32 to ca. 55 mm. ”

“ Oval platter: kayúka or kakápa. Like the last except for being oval, with width/length percentage between 78 and 89. They also average smaller than the round plates—modes around 160 mm. and 260 mm. respectively; but [9] the two classes do overlap in size. (Pls. 3,e-f, h-j, 6,d-e.)
Spoon, ladle, dipper, scoop: kam'óta. These are oval trays brought at one end to (A) a point or rude quail's head, or (B) to a sharp rounding or blunt point. The second type is obviously related in form to the oval platters; though most spoons are longer than most platters. ”

“ The following analysis of the Mohave pottery collected by Professor Kroeber is primarily for the use of the archaeologist to aid him in identifying historic Mohave ceramics. Not represented in the collection is pottery made by the Mohave south of Parker. Some typological differences may exist between the pottery of those settlements and the pottery in Kroeber's collection, which is from Mohave Valley. ”

“ A second design of outstanding frequency in spoons is represented by e,f,k,o, (s) . It was twice designated as fish backbone (with adhering ribs) . The backbone itself appears only twice in the five examples in plate 4 (e,o) , and is by no means dominant then. The sets of parallel ribs or chevrons number from 10 to nearly 20, and make either 3 or 5 bends (i.e., are formed by 4 or 6 lines) . The bends are filled in with small solid triangles in f,k,s. Rows of dots show in e and s.
Other designs each occur only once in the collection.
c, polka dots only. ”

“ Amount.—Every vessel has at least one fire cloud on its exterior surface. Presence of fire clouds on the interior surface is more variable. Fire clouds are extremely variable in size.
Bowls: Exterior: as many as 14 per vessel. Often cover more than one-half of the surface. Interior: no fire clouds.
Jars: Exterior: as many as 4 per vessel. Cover less than half of the surface. Interior: ranges from being entirely free of fire clouds to being completely blackened through use.
Cups: Exterior: as many as 4 per vessel, and at least 1. ”

“ This presumably refers to the large dot-studded hexagonal areas—hexagonal at least in intent. My notes also name a "tšitθôk face-paint" design, which would then be the name of the interconnected hourglass figures which constitute the primary or positive element of the patterning. ”

“ Their range is from 113 to 226 mm. Painted design on the inner side varied; on the back it is usually simpler, but also varied. A few spoons are built up at the "handle" into a hollow box that rattles.
Parcher: katéla. As the spoons can be construed as oval platters pointed at one end, the parchers—used to shake live coals with grain or seeds—are two-ended, with well-raised points. They are about twice as long as spoons, and longer than any known platters or bowls: 340-385 mm., with a width about seven-tenths that. They are wholly unpainted. ”

“ Hardness.—Where the paste is buff-colored: range of hardness is 2 to 6.5; average is 4. Where the paste is grayish: range 3.5 to 8.5; average 6.5. These hardness ratings can be in error ± .5 owing to variability in the mineral set used for testing. ”

“ In Handbook (fig. 61,k, l) it appears as sharp points under the eyes (cf. ibid., fig. 61,g, h, "ha-tsira-tsirk," a vertical line down from the eye) .
ta-skilye-skilye: 5,d. Reference is to a column of horizontal points at the edge of one style of women's chin tattoo. (See Handbook, p. 521, fig. 46,q.)
iya-m-tšupe (r) t (a) : 2,g. Iya is the mouth; tšupeta, to hold back or cover.
"Adjectivally" descriptive.
ta-hlame-hlame, "patches": 1,b, 4,d
kyauelkyau, "angled, zigzag": 4,g
kan'ú (?) , "patterned": 2,b
It is evident that there is no deeper symbolic significance in the pattern names. ”

“ Design: inside, raccoon hand; outside, fish bone, atcí isáka. [5] This is from Tokwaθa's wife.
b, broken bowl, 4282; d. 157, h. 85. Design; raccoon hand.
c. large bowl or platter, 1745, of type called suyíre, d. 330, h. 125. Weight, 44 oz. The flanges to hold mesquite bark binding in place are unusually prominent.
This is the largest and second heaviest round vessel in the collection; but it is low, 38 per cent of the diameter—at the minimum for bowls, maximum for platters. It is not strictly a bowl, because there is no neck constriction: the vessel curves in unbroken convexity up to the rim. ”

“ Bowls: kwáθki. Diameter about twice the height; neck concave, often strengthened with a lashing of mesquite bark; lip gently everted; principal design inside; outside design usually mere lines, stripes, rows of dots. H/D down to 38 per cent, usually 45-61 per cent, in two cases 68 per cent—one of these has been cooked in. ”

“ Its composition is also given in Appendix III on the basis of Professor Meyer's examination. Both it and no. 4354 were obtained at matekwaθ-kutšyep, "yellow paint wide open," a spot in a wash cutting across the peneplain from Avimota, Mt. Manchester, in Nevada opposite Fort Mohave.
Several samples of material that might help further elucidate the technology of Mohave pottery have unfortunately been misplaced in the Museum since at least several years. Quite possibly they have been put together into one tray, which was then mislaid. They include:
1759, sample of pottery clay. ”

“ Two, broken off, are 7-8 mm. across; the third projects 11 mm.
f,g are outside-painted bowls, both with height 48 per cent of their rim diameter, almost the same as e. f, 13777, d. 310, h. 150; thickness near bottom 7-9 mm., at neck 4.5-6, at lip 6.5-7; wt. 48 oz.—heaviest piece in the collection. g, 13781, d. 165, h. 80; wt. 14 oz. The design of f is negative in effect: a band of light diamonds reserved on darker background; they are about twice as high as wide, and each is inner-outlined with a dark border. The interior is dark and worn smooth. ”