i HISTORICAL SDCII-TV O^Xh\V MhXICo. IUK STONE IDOLS OF k DESCRIPTION <>i : TIIUM Hi TO riu HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ^.\ x r.\ I-M-;, 1896. UNIVERSITY 0( NE\V MEXICO. HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF M-.W Mli.Xiru. THE STONE IDOLS OF NEW MEXICO. A DESCRIPTION OF THOSE BELONGING TO THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ^ \.XTA SANTA FE, N. M.: NBW MEXICAN PRINTING COMPAXT MM OFFICERS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW MEXICO. 1896. President Hon. L. Bradford Prince, LL. 1). Vice President Hon. William T. Thornton. Recording Secretary William M. Berber, Esq. Corresponding Secretary .... *Hon. Walter C. Hadley. Treasurer Mr. Solomon Spiegelberg. Curator Henry Woodruff. *Died February, 1896. LIFE MEMBERS. BY T1IH PAYMENT OF $25 EACH. 1881 William G. Hitch. 1883 L. Bradford Prince, LL. D. 1885 William W. Griffin.* 1887 Francisco A. Manzanares. 1889 L. P. Browne. Jefferson Baynolds. Buel M. Johnson. Wm. A. Vincent. Wilson Waddingham. Mariano S. Otero. Nicolas T. Armijo.* Angus A. Grant. O Joshua S. Baynolds. Wm. C. Hazledine.* Numa Beymond. Bussell Marcy. 1890 Pedro Y. Jaramillo.* Jose E. Chav /.. Samuel P. Foster.* 1890 Gustav Billing.* Eutimio Montoya. Thomas B. Catron. J. Pablo Gallegos. Chas. H. Gildersleeve. Mariano Barela.* C. H. Dan. Walter C. Hadley.* 1891 H. B. Fergusson. Charles B. Eddy. Abram Staab. W. A. Hawkins. Mrs. Louisa Bristol. Frank Springer. Bufus J. Palen. 1892 William T. Thornton. Bichard Mansfield Whit. 18 Thomas Lowthian. 1896 Antonio Joseph. Ch;i\ Deo PLATE NO. i. 1 3 THK STOM. IDOLS. While images of stone, u^-il in religious ceieux or kept in the houses of the people as "household g were common in New Mexico, and wen and elaborate workmanship vet thev wen- not used by the nomadic aboriginal tribes inhabiting most of what is now the I'nited States, and so far as known are found in no part of our country except New .Mexico. Here they seem to have been very numerous ! the coming of the Spaniards. The first descriptions that we have of the people and their surround in;; customs, from any other than a military standpoint. are found in the narrative of the expedition of Antonio de Espejo, who set out from the valley of St. Uaitholo- mew, in Mexico, on December in, l^s-j, and en 1 - Mexico early in l.~>s:-$. After traveling up the valley of the Kio Grande for a long distance th. district containing ten towns situated on bo: i the river and at a short distance from it. This \\ the vicinity of the present pueblo of Isleta. po extending southward into what \B no\ 8 -unty. In the course of a very interestii. iption of tin- people, their modes of living, form of govern m-ir we are told that "many idols, which the Indians wor- shiped, were found in this proxin.-i-; and in - house an oratorx 'ed for t he de\ il, where ],. said to preside, and to which f him to eat. In various places the Indians ha chapels, dedicated to the devil, in which he was said to recreate and rest himself when he traveled through the country, from one town to another. The- all IwmUmiely trimmed and painted. I resented, by pictures, the sun. moon and stars as prin- cipal objects of their worship." When Kspejo, shortly afterwards, having 1. Stone Idols of New Mexico. the death of the friars, whom he had come to protect, determined to explore the country generally, he first proceeded toward the west, traveling for two days with only two companions. This brought him to the region of Laguua. Here he found a province containing eleven towns, which he tells us were very populous and estimated to contain 40,000 inhabitants. The people were well dressed in garments of skin and cotton, and had considerable ore from adjacent mines in their houses. Here again we are told "the inhabitants wor- shiped idols." Returning from this province to Puara, a little below Bernalillo, Espejo proceeded up the Rio Grande twelve or fifteen miles, and there found a flourishing province of five towns and a population of about 15,000, who showed great hospitality to their strange visitors. Here we are told all the people "worshiped idols in the manner of their neighbors," and here also the rep- resentations of the sun, moon and stars were found. In the general description of the country as obtained from Espejo and appearing in DeLarenaudiere's history, it is said "In the pueblos of all the Indians were seen a multitude of idols." The question then naturally arises "What has become of these idols?" The answer is not difficult. While the colonists who settled the country under Oilate near the end of the sixteenth century, were estab- lishing themselves, building houses, cultivating the soil, and seeking for mineral wealth, the friars who accom- panied them were preaching to the natives and convert- ing them to Christianity. At first this was a voluntary proceeding brought about by persuasion and argument. As early as 1608 no less than 8,000 Indians were re- ported to have been baptised. Geronimo de Zarate Salmaron, the most zealous of the Franciscans, who settled at Jemez and preached to the people there in their own language, baptized 6,500 Indians with his own hand. By the year 1629 we are told that no less than 34,650 natives had been baptized. ,S7o,,r /r/M/.s- Of \C\ ' Wherever -hristianiU was introduced, tin- ihort time tln-v saw all their ancient rites prohibited ; the, closed; their altars removed and their idols dest i Their favorite dance, the cacliina. was interdicted, and in fine, they saw themselves compelled to kneel at the white man's shrine, and worship his (Jod. Tin a compliance cruel in the extreme. Imt t _; arm of Spanish power obliged them to submit and not un- frequeutly the lash was applied to make tli-m mo- vout." The first Indian attempt at revolution, dm ; Ar^uello's administration, about It'. 10. - d by the whipping, imprisonment and han^in^ of for 1 dians, who refused to abandon their old religion. Tin- Inquisition was in full power in V \| , by tlie middle of the I7th century, and dian was forced to at least a pretended acceptance i Ionian Catholic faith. Anything that could be found. - ing in the slightest derive of the old religion. WHS in- stantly destroyed. Articles of v "burned and those of stone broken and ground to It is undoubtedly true that the Pueblo Indians i really abandoned their old religion, and in bir cases, have d< to this da nonial exercises of their religion had to In- absolutely ft and in the recesses of the chamber of the lar^e communal building, ! window or direct communicat i.n with tlie out>ide world. Tin- idols, existing ii :isehld gods, Idols of New Me,ric<>. disappeared and were to a great extent destroyed, be- fore the middle of the 17th century. Hence in the ruins of the numerous pueblos destroyed or deserted during the revolution of 1680, nothing of this kind has been found. Those that have been excavated come from the ruins of towns destroyed or deserted before the arrival of the Spaniards, and while the old faith was publicly followed and the household gods, as well as the images used in the general public worship, were displayed rather than concealed. These idols are almost always found on the floor of the lower rooms, covered by the ruins of the upper stories as well as the accumulated dnst of ages. They are often accompanied by metates,> entire or broken, the mano stones, and sometimes by stone mortars, with or without pestles, stone hammers, axes and other stone implements. Usually the ruins in which they are found show evi- dences of destruction by fire, and this may account for the desertion being so sudden that even the household gods could not be carried away. Charred wood, and half burned corn are frequently found, and in some cases vitrified masses caused by the intense heat of the fire. In one instance one of these vitrifactions shows plainly the impression of an ear of corn which was partially imbedded in it but has since been destroyed. Our Society has been fortunate enough to obtain twenty of these rare objects of worship thus intimately connected with the history of our Territory and with the customs of the people in pre- historic times. Xo oilier public institution in this country or Europe pos- sesses even one. So far as we have been able to ascer- tain, the total number that have been found, besides those in the large collection of Hon. L. Bradford Prince, and our own specimens, does not exceed ten. One of these belongs to Thomas Lowthian, Esq., of Bland, who has kindly promised to donate it to our Society. One is in the possession of President Hard- >/'//' son at [ndianopolis, one belongs to Hon. \\illiam M. Evarts iu New York, our to Hon. John \\ . N.ble in St. Louis, and five were in possession of H. A U fort, Esq., of Albuquerque, but have since been distrib- uted ftmoog eastern collectors. Tin* Prine.- collection, a considerable portion of which has been loaned to our Society antl is tlins av?iilal)le for public inspection, and other sp-<-imrns from which are on exhibition at the Met ropolitan Mnseiun in \ York, contains tin- ^ivat lndk "f all tlie stone idols that has thus far been discovered. It embraces <>. thousand figures, the result of twelve nnreinit- ting activity in exploration^ and excavation and li expenditure of time and inonev in all localities which ^ave [u-omise of t-ontainin^ such historic tiva>u: \\'e pi-esent lierewith four illustrations, representing the most important of the idols belon^m^ to our So- ciety, in order to ijivr a more accurate idea of their character than could be coin eyed by simple description. The sixes of these figures are jiven on i : tin- last five not having been photographed. The dimen sions are ^i\cn in indies. 10 Stone Idols of New Mexico. PLATE NO. 2. 5 6 8 llf AVi. 11 PLATE NO. 3. 9 10 11 12 1'2 xtnni' Idols of Neir PLATE. NO. HEIGHT. GREATEST WIDTH. 1 1 HHj 74 i 2 ir> 7 1 3 141 o 1 4 17J P)| 2 5 10| 7=| 2 (> 12 r>4 2 7 12 j 94 2 s 124 74 3 9 21" 84 3 10 20 r>" 3 11 104 5 3 12 9> <>; 4 13 13 : J s ; : 4 14 1C) ii 4 15 84 134 II) 10" 54 17 12 4| 18 ^ 3g 11) 7 3 A 20 13J ( J) Some are quite flat, numbers 13 and 14 being the most noticeable in this way; and others are nearly round, as numbers 1, 6 and 7. Number 21 is about 44 inches in thickness from front to back. Number 20 is made from a flat slab of sand stone, and is entirely different in material and other respects from the others. The largest, it will be seen from the above table, are numbers 9 and 10, each of which is about 21 inches high. Number 9 is a very massive image, weighing 314 Ibs. Number 10 is peculiar in shape, the head running up about to a point, and the body having a flat back. While these do not approach in size some of the great idols belonging to Gov. Prince where a number are over 4 feet in height and one measures 5 feet 5^ inches, yet they are the largest known to exist out- side of that collection. All of these figures except No. 20 are of the same Sto*< //../* of A. w v. i ; material a volcanic stone, of a light i^i'n\ color, i and porous, with holes of considera 1.1. >!/ apparently caused by air bubbles when cooling. Tin- itooe ra sembles an artificial concrete, and is of a character quite common in parts of Mexico wheiv there have been comparatively recent volcanic eruptions and lava Mows. The walls of many of tin- ancient pueblo houses wen- built of similar material. While the idols in the collection belonging to our Society are, with the one exception stated, all made from this stone, it must not be understood that all the idols that have been excavated are of similar character. In the collection belonging to (Jov. Prince there is a considerable variety in this respect. For instance, one type of idols, of the most crude char- acter, is made from black or dark red lava, pieces be- ing selected which naturally bore a resemblance to some object that it was desired to represent, and then by a few strokes of the hammer, and the rough carving of features, ma:le to serve as the household god. The idols of another type, of a much higher charac- ter, are made of a whitish, veined marble, quite un- usual in this section. One idol in his collection, is of a pumice sti. light that it will float in water. Nineteen of the twenty images in our collection rep- resent human figures, and one an animal. The latter is shown in plate 1, number 1 ". and will be rei'ern-d to separately. Eighteen of the human figures are of the ^aim- era! type, the other, which is numbered -"JO" in tin- list, as before stated, is of different material, being a large oval fiat sandstone, with round edges, and with eyes, nostrils and mouth to represent a human face at tin- upper end. The eyes and nostrils are round cavities and the mouth a straight incision about an inch and three-quarters long. The whole crudely n-pre>. human figure, but has no neck or division between the head and bndv. and no representation ,,f arm >or leg-. 14 Stone Idols of New Mexico. The eighteen other human figures all have heads with eyes, nostrils and mouths. Some have well de- fined necks, as numbers -2 and 4 in plate 1, and num- bers 9 and 10 in plate 3. Others simply have the heads smaller than the bodies, the shoulders widening out directly from the base of the head, as number 7 in plate 2, number 12 in plate 3, and numbers 13 and 14 in plate 4, and others have scarcely any line of de- marcation between the head and the body, as seen in numbers 1 and 3 in plate 1, and notably in number f> in plate 2, and number 19. In most of them the eyes and nostrils are simply round holes punctured in the stone, and the mouth is a long, deep cavity below the nostrils. This class of mouth is seen very distinctly in numbers 1 and 4 in plate 1, and number 5 in plate 2. The mouth of num- ber 9 (plate 3) is shorter but very deep. In others the mouth is represented by another circular cavity similar to those intended for the eyes and nostrils, but larger and deeper. Such mouths are seen in number 2 in plate 1, numbers 6, 7 and 8 in plate 2, numbers 10 and 12 in plate 3, and to a modified degree in num- ber 13 in plate 4. Generally the holes representing the nostrils are cut directly into the stone, but in a few cases they have an upward inclination. All of the human figures appearing in the plates have arms, but they are not all in the same position. The usual position what may be called the normal type is that with the forearm brought up over the breast, so that the hands (merely ends of the arms in these idols) touch the mouth. This position will be, seen in all of the figures, 1 to 4 in plate 1, and in numbers 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14. being nine of the 14 represented in the plates. Another position for the arms, is with the left arm bent and brought up to the mouth, as in the usual type, but the right arm is placed across the body, be- low it, and tending downward. This form is seen in numbers 5, 6, 10 and 11, with slight variations. m / Some of the idols in Gov. Prince's collection have this position of the arms reversed; the left arm In-low bent upward to the mouth, and the right one crossed below it. In number '. the arms hang down straight from the shoulders, and are strongly defined in high relief. Among the four lava idols which are not photographed, two, numbers 18 and 19, have no arms at all ; they also have no necks or divisions between the head and the body, and are of the simplest possible form to represent a human being; one (No. 17) has two arms in the usual position, reaching to the mouth, and number 1(5 has a left arm only, bent at the elbow as in the normal type, so as to reach the mouth with the end of the arm, where a hand should he. Two of the figures, numbers 2 and 3, have legs, in a form exactly similar to the arms of what we have called the "normal type. 1 ' The legs in this form are almost in the exact position of the legs of the Pueblo Indians who sit on the ground, and usually lean l>ark against the walls of their houses. This form of repre- senting the legs seems to have become conventionalized, as they almost always appear in substantially the same position. In fact there is but one known exception that of a very large and perfect idol in Gov. Prince's collection, 424 inches high, in which the legs appear carved at full length and with considerable regard to proportion, the knees, etc., being well represented. Number 11 in plate 3, differs entirely from all the others in our collection, and so far as we know from all others that have been excavated, in the carving at the top of the head, which apparently represents a crown. A v.-i -\ intelligent Pueblo Indian, who WHS shown this idol, immediately pronounced this to be a crown, and said that the idol though small was proba- bly the "(Vntro" or m> t'ul onr of all. around which ordinary ones wen- ^n.uped in the religious ceremonials. He said that undoubtedly it wa- the 10 Stone Idoh of New Mexico. PLATE NO. 4. 13 14 15 .S7..,,r l,i, |0 Captain or King, bring the only one distinguished 1\ any head covering, and certainly the only !) inth any head-dress similar to a crown. The object ion to this theory is that we have noth- ing to show that the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians knew anything whatever of crowns as insignia of n>\ - alty. There can he no doubt, however, that the orna- mental head-dress represented some kind of dignitx and authority, which may have been civil, military or ecclesiastical. A careful search through the vast col- lection of Gov. Prince, which contains every known type of New Mexico's stone idol, fails to show any figure thus decorated, and we therefore claim for this idol a unique distinction and special interest. Number 15 is an animal, and the ordy one in our collection. They were not so uncommon, however, in some of the ancient towns as might be indicated by this fact, as the Prince collection contains nearly or quite a hundred specimens, representing a considerable variety of animals, as well as a number of crude birds. The one which we possess, and which appears in plate 4, is solid and massive, with a large head pro- jecting in front, eyes, nostrils and along, partly opened mouth. The distinguishing characteristic is the tail, which is thrown over the body and appears there in high relief. The mouth is curved downward, and is 8 inches in length, measured directly from end to end. The tail is 7 inches long. All the stone images of animals are conventionalized, and no doubt the accepted form has been continued to the present time, as the well informed Pueblos of to-day will state, without hesitation, which animal is indicated b\ rach figure. The one in question they pronounce to be a mountain lion, on account of its long tail, which they say doen not appear on the image of any other animal: though they express surprise that the head is smooth and without representation of Mr* I'hU stone lion meas- ures _;! inches around tin- body and i- I'-', inches in length. It weighs 22 pou in: MM I Wo, 1-