An Enigmatic Creature

INSIGHTS ON THE HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PUEBLO POTTERY OWLS.

In 1879, Col. James D. Stevenson, who was executive officer of the U.S. Geological Survey, headed west to research and collect Pueblo pottery with his wife, ethnologist Matilda Coxe Stevenson. Among the places that the couple traveled to was the Zuni Pueblo, where they discovered not only the traditional utilitarian vessels, but also animal effigies including pottery owls. The analyses and information on what they collected would be chronicled in the Bureau of Ethnology Annual Reports, bringing the knowledge of these items to all parts of the United States.