[Illustration: Fig. 300. ENGRAVED SHELL GORGET. Greek cross with incised
lines resembling a Swastika. Union County, Ill.]
The shell gorget presented in fig. 300 belongs to the collection of Mr. F.
M. Perrine, and was obtained from a mound in Union County, Ill. It is a
little more than three inches in diameter and has been ground to a uniform
thickness of about one-twelfth of an inch. The surfaces are smooth and the
margin carefully rounded and polished. Near the upper edge are two
perforations, both well worn with cord-marks indicating suspension. The
cross in the center of the concave face of the disk is quite simple and is
made by four triangular perforations which separate the arms. The face of
the cross is ornamented with six carelessly drawn incised lines
interlacing in the center as shown in the figure, three extending along
the arm to the right and three passing down the lower arm to the inclosing
line. Nothing has been learned of the character of the interments with
which this specimen was associated.[282] The incised lines of the specimen
indicate the possible intention of the artist to make the Swastika. The
design is evidently a cross and apparently unfinished.
[Illustration: Fig. 301. ENGRAVED SHELL GORGET. Greek cross. Charleston,
Mo. Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pl. LI, fig. 2.]
The National Museum possesses a large shell cross (fig. 301) which, while
quite plain as a cross, has been much damaged, the rim that formerly
encircled it, as in the foregoing figure, having been broken away and
lost. The perforations are still in evidence. The specimen is much
decayed and came to the National Museum with a skull from a grave at
Charleston, Mo.; beyond this there is no record. The specimen shown in
fig. 302 is quoted as a "typical example of the cross of the
mound-builder." It was obtained from a mound on Lick Creek, Tennessee, and
is in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass. While an elaborate description
is given of it and figures are mentioned as "devices probably
significant," and "elementary or unfinished," and more of the same, yet
nowhere is suggested any relationship to the Swastika, nor even the
possibility of its existence in America.
[Illustration: Fig. 302. SHELL GORGET WITH ENGRAVING OF GREEK CROSS AND
INCHOATE SWASTIKA. Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pl.
LII, fig. 3.]
[Illustration: Fig. 303. FRAGMENT OF COPPER DISK WITH GREEK CROSS IN INNER
CIRCLE. Ohio. American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Second
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pl. LII, fig. 4.]
A large copper disk from an Ohio mound is represented in fig. 303. It is
in the Natural History Museum of New York. It is eight inches in diameter,
is very thin, and had suffered greatly from corrosion. A symmetrical
cross, the arms of which are five inches in length, has been cut out of
the center. Two concentric lines have been impressed in the plate, one
near the margin and the other touching the ends of the cross. Fig. 304
shows a shell gorget from a mound on Lick Creek, Tennessee. It is much
corroded and broken, yet it shows the cross plainly. There are sundry pits
or dots made irregularly over the surface, some of which have perforated
the shell. Pl. 19 represents a recapitulation of specimens of crosses,
thirteen in number, "most of which have been obtained from the mounds or
from ancient graves within the district occupied by the mound-builders.
Eight are engraved upon shell gorgets, one is cut in stone, three are
painted upon pottery, and four are executed upon copper. With two
exceptions, they are inclosed in circles, and hence are symmetrical Greek
crosses, the ends being rounded to conform to a circle."[283] Figs. 7 and
9 of pl. 19 represent forms of the Latin cross, and are modern, having
doubtless been introduced by European priests. Figs. 10 to 13 are
representatives of the Swastika in some of its forms.
[Illustration: PLATE 19. VARIOUS FORMS OF CROSSES IN USE AMONG NORTH
AMERICAN INDIANS, FROM GREEK CROSS TO SWASTIKA. Second Annual Report of
the Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81, Pl. LIII.]