_Chiriqui._--Figs. 363, 364, and 365 show terra-cotta spindle-whorls from
Chiriqui, the most northern territory in South America and adjoining the
Isthmus of Panama. They are engraved natural size, with ornamentation
similar to that on the pottery of that country.
[Illustration: Fig. 363. SPINDLE-WHORL MADE OF GRAY CLAY AND DECORATED
WITH ANNULAR NODES. Chiriqui. Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology, fig. 218.]
_Colombia._--Fig. 366 shows a cone-shaped terra-cotta whorl from
Manizales, Colombia, South America. It has a star-shaped design on the
face and a three-line zigzag or chevron pattern.
_Peru._--Plate 23 represents a series of spindles and whorls from Peru.
They were furnished to the U. S. National Museum by I. V. Norton, of
Plainville, N. Y. The whorls were originally considered to be beads, and
were without further description. The spindles were not inserted in them
as at present. The spindles, as well as whorls, are exceedingly small.
Some of the whorls are decorated by incised lines in the clay, and many of
the spindles are decorated in the middle with paint in different colors,
in lines, scrolls, and chevrons. These are the only whorls from Peru which
the U. S. National Museum has, though it possesses an extensive series of
the spindles, several of which still have the spun thread wrapped upon
them.
[Illustration: PLATE 23. SERIES OF ABORIGINAL SPINDLES AND WHORLS FROM
PERU. Cat. No. 17510, U. S. N. M.]
[Illustration: Fig. 364. SPINDLE-WHORL OF GRAY CLAY WITH FIGURES OF
ANIMALS. Chiriqui. Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, fig.
219.]
[Illustration: Fig. 365. SPINDLE-WHORL OF DARK CLAY WITH PERFORATIONS AND
INCISED ORNAMENTS. Chiriqui. Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology, fig. 220.]
[Illustration: Fig. 366. TERRA-COTTA SPINDLE-WHORL. Manizales, Colombia.
Cat. No. 16838, U. S. N. M.]
There are certain distinguishing peculiarities to be remarked when
comparing the spindle-whorls from the Western Hemisphere with those from
the Eastern Hemisphere. There is greater diversity in size, form, and
decoration in the American than in the European whorls. A series of
European whorls from any given locality will afford a fair representation
of those from almost every other locality. But it is different with the
American specimens. Each section in America has a different style, not
only different from the European specimens, but different from those of
neighboring sections. Among the eighteen thousand whorls found by Dr.
Schliemann on the hill of Hissarlik, there is scarcely one so large as
those here shown from Mexico, while, on the other hand, there were only a
few as small as the largest of the series from Peru. The difference in
size and material in the Pueblo whorls has already been noticed. The
ornamentation is also peculiar in that it adopts, not a particular style
common to the utensil, but that it adopts the styles of the respective
countries. The Mexican whorl has a Mexican style of ornamentation, etc.
The Nicaragua specimens resemble the European more than any other from
America in their forms and the almost entire absence of decoration.
The foregoing are the differences; but with all the number and extent of
these differences the fact remains that the whorls of the two hemispheres
are practically the same, and the differences are insignificant. In style,
shape, and manner of use they are so similar in the two hemispheres as to
be the same invention. The whorls, when put upon their spindles, form the
same machine in both countries. They were intended for and they accomplish
the same purpose, and the method of their performance is practically the
same. While the similarity of the art of spinning and the mechanism (_i.
e._, the spindle and whorl) by which it is accomplished may not prove
conclusively that it migrated from the Eastern Hemisphere, nor yet show
positive connection or communication between the two peoples, it goes a
long way toward establishing such migration or communication. The
similarity in the art and its mechanism appears to the author to show such
resemblance with the like culture in the Eastern Hemisphere, and is so
harmonious with the theory of migration or contact or communication, that
if there shall be other objects found which either by their number or
condition would prove to be a well-authenticated instance of migration
from or contact or communication between the countries, the evidence of
the similarity of the spindle-whorls would form a valuable addition to and
largely increase the evidence to establish the main fact. Until that piece
of well-authenticated evidence has been obtained, the question must, so
far as concerns spindle-whorls, remain only a probability. The differences
between them are of manner, and not of matter; in size and degree, but not
in kind, and are not other or greater than might easily arise from local
adaptation of an imported invention. Compare the Navajo spindle (pl. 22)
with that from Wurtemburg, Germany (fig. 356), and these with the spindles
and whorls from Peru (pl. 23). These facts are entirely in harmony with
the possibility that the spindle and whorl, as a machine for spinning, was
a single invention, and that its slight differentiations resulted from its
employment by different peoples--the result of its intertribal migrations.
For purposes of comparison, and to show the similarity of these objects in
Europe, the author has introduced a series of spindle-whorls from Troy,
Hissarlik (pls. 24 and 25). These belong to the U. S. National Museum, and
form part of the valuable collection from Mme. Schliemann, the gift by her
talented husband to the people of the United States as a token of his
remembrance and grateful feelings toward them.
[Illustration: PLATE 24. SELECTED SPECIMENS OF SPINDLE-WHORLS FROM THE
THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH CITIES OF TROY. U. S. National Museum.]
[Illustration: PLATE 25. SELECTED SPECIMENS OF SPINDLE-WHORLS FROM THE
THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH CITIES OF TROY. U. S. National Museum.]