Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1910-05-28
AN INTEREST
ING EXHIBIT
Collection of Ceremonial OBJ
jects From the Puye to
Be Displayed
PIECES OF POTTERY INCLUDED
No One Should Fail to Visit the
Old Palace Next
Week.

There will be on exhibition next
week. at the Museum OF New Mexico,
collection of ceremonial objects
from the Rio Grande valley, chiefly
| from Puye The most interesting
piece perhaps in the collection is an
anthropOmorphic statuette one foot
in height Originally this had been
painted red, but most of the coloring
has now disappeared In spite of the
crudity of its workmanship, this stat
uette is unique, in that ii is the only
| likeness OF the human form in any
material that has been discovered up
to the present time al Puye. This
| specimen has been in the national
museum at Washington for the last
ten years, but upon the opening Of the
museum of New Mexico it was return
ed to the territory.
In order that visitors to the museum
may see from Just what part of the an
cient community house at Puye this
specimen was taken. the position of
the room, where the statuette was
found, has been marked by a red flag
on the model of the South House,
which stands in the hall of the mus
cum at the entrance to the Puye room
In addition to the above there will
be exhibited a series of small obong
boX-like pieces of pottery. The use
Of these has not, as yet been definite
| ly determined. but their small size,
and beauty of execution would seem
to indicate that they were ceremonial
objects rather than every day utensils
There are strong indications that they
were receptacles for the sacred pray
| portant part in the life of the modern
pueblo Indian. as it doubtless did, in
| the life of his ancestors. But that
| this could not have been their only
use is also clear from the fact, that
at least, one of these pottery boxes
has red paint inside on the bottom.
These specimens probably were more
or less sacred objects used in the
ceremonies of the long forgotten race,
who once peopled Puye.
A larger piece of the same shape
from the ruins of Perage will be ex-
hibited for comparison. Perage is the
ruined pueblo on the west side of the
Rio Grande river. through which the
| Denver & Rio Grande railroad passes,
some six miles south of EspanOla The
San Ildefonso Indians say that this
was their home before the coming of
the white man, but that when the
lockwood stone" men came and drove
them from their home to the Black
mesa, not once but many times, they
decided to abandon Perage and build
a new home where the present pueblo
of San Ildefonso now stands.
By the lakewood stone" men the
Indians mean the Spaniards. Having
no word for metal in their own Ian
guage, they could not describe the ar
NOR of the Spanish soldiers, other
than by likening it to the toughest and
hardest substances with which they
were familiar, oak wood and stone.
The word stone is used today among
the San Ildefonso Indians in speaking
of the metals.
In addition to the foregoing there
will be exhibited other stone and pot
terry material from Puye The medi-
cine bag and its contents, loaned by
H. c. Yontz, will be on exhibition also
in the hall of the museum from now