We find that pendant gorgets grade imperceptibly into another group of
objects, the use or significance of which have not be fully determined.
These objects are more frequently made of stone or copper, but good
examples in shell have been found. As a rule they take the form of thin
oblong plates which exhibit great variety of outline. The perforations
are peculiar, and have not been designed for ordinary suspension, but
are placed near the middle of the specimen as if for fixing it to the
person or costume by means of cords. Many theories have been advanced in
attempting to determine their use. They have been classed as gorgets,
badges of authority, shuttles, armor plates, wrist protectors, and as
implements for sizing sinews and twisting cords.
Objects of this class in stone have been frequently illustrated and
described. They are made of many varieties of stone, some of which seem
to have been selected on account of their beauty. They have been neatly
shaped and often well-polished. The edges are occasionally notched and
the surfaces ornamented with patterns of incised lines. The perforations
vary from one to four, the greater number of specimens, however, having
only two. In the early days of mound exploration objects of this class
were even greater enigmas, if possible, than they are to-day. Even the
material of which a number of them were formed remained for a long time
undetermined. Schoolcraft has published an illustration of a large
specimen from the Grave Creek Mound, Va. This drawing is reproduced in
Fig. 3, Plate L. The original was six inches long, one and three-tenths
inches wide, and three-tenths of an inch in thickness. He expresses the
opinion that it was one of those ancient badges of authority formerly in
such general use among the Indians.[129]
Another specimen, very much like the last in size and shape, but made of
shell, supposed at the time of discovery to be ivory, was found
associated with human remains in the Grave Creek Mound. It is described
by Mr. Tomlinson in the American Pioneer,[130] and the cut given in
Plate L, Fig. 4, is copied from that work.
A remarkable specimen of this class is given in Fig. 5. It is made from
the body of a large _Busycon perversum_, and is nine and a half inches
long by three inches in width at the widest part. The concave surface
has been highly polished, but is now somewhat roughened by weathering;
the back has been slightly ground to take off the rougher ridges of
growth; the edges are even and rounded and in many places quite thin.
The peculiarity of its shape is such as to give it very much the
appearance of the sole of a sandal. The perforations are three in
number, one being near the middle and the others near the broader end,
about one and a half inches apart; they are very neatly made and are
slightly bi-conical and a little countersunk. There appears to be no
evidence whatever of abrasion by use. It was found associated with human
remains in a mound at Sharpsburg, Mercer County, Ohio. A similar
specimen from the same locality is nearly nine inches in length, and
lacks but a little of three and a half inches in width. As in the
specimen illustrated, one perforation is placed near the middle and two
others near the broader end. This specimen is highly polished on the
broader part of the back, and is evenly smoothed on the concave side. It
bears evidence of considerable use, and the two holes are much worn by a
string or cord, which, passing from one hole to the other on the concave
side of the plate, gradually worked a deep groove between them. On the
back or convex side, the perforations show no evidence of wear. The
central perforation is not worn on either side. The letter of Mr.
Whitney, transmitting this relic to the National Museum, states that
there were in the mound "about ten pairs of the shell sandals of
different sizes, and made to fit the right and left feet." From the
latter remark I should infer that some were made from dextral and others
from sinistral shells; the two described are made from the _Busycon
perversum_.
An extremely fine specimen, much like the preceding, was exhumed from an
ancient mound in Hardin County, Ohio. It was found on the head of a
skeleton which occupied a sitting posture near the center of the mound.
It is nine inches in length by three and one-half inches in width, and
in shape resembles the sole of a moccasin, being somewhat broader and
less pointed than the specimen presented in Fig. 5. It had been placed
upon the skull with the wider end toward the back, but whether laid
there as a burial offering simply or as constituting a part of the
head-dress of the dead savage we have no means of determining. The
perforations are three in number, and are placed similarly to those in
the specimen illustrated in Fig. 5. Two other skeletons had similar
plates associated with them, which differed from the one described in
size only, the smaller one being less than six inches in length.
Lithographs of two of these specimens are given by Mr. Matson, in whose
very excellent report they were first described.[131]
The gorget presented in Fig. 1 of this plate is copied from
Schoolcraft.[132] It was taken, along with many other interesting
relics, from one of the ossuaries at Beverly, Canada West. It is formed
from some large sea shell, and is three inches in width by three and
three-fourths inches in length. Its perforations are four in number, and
are so placed as to be conveniently used either for suspension by a
single cord or for fixing firmly by means of two or more cords. It seems
to hold a middle place between pendants proper and the pierced tablets
under consideration.[133]
The unique specimen given in Fig. 2 is from Cedar Keys, Florida, but
whether from a grave or a shell-heap I am at present unable to state. In
its perforations, which are large and doubly conical, it resembles very
closely the typical tablet of stone. The outline is peculiar; being
rounded at the top, it grows broader toward the base like a celt, and
terminates at the outer corners in well-rounded points, the edge between
being ornamented with a series of notches or teeth. It has been cut from
the wall of a _Busycon perversum_, and is sharply curved. The surface is
roughened by time, but there is no evidence of wear by use either in the
perforations or in the notches at the base.
[Illustration: PL. L--PERFORATED PLATES.
1. Ornament from Beverly, C. W.
2. Ornament from Florida.
3, 4. Objects from the Grave Creek Mound, Va.
5. Perforated plate from Ohio.]
In studying these remarkable specimens the fact that they so seldom show
marks of use presents itself for explanation. Dr. Charles Rau, whose
opinions in such matters are always worthy of consideration, remarks
"that at first sight one might be inclined to consider them as objects
of ornament, or as badges of distinction; but this view is not
corroborated by the appearance of the perforations, which exhibit no
trace of that peculiar abrasion produced by constant suspension. The
classification of the tablets as 'gorgets,' therefore, appears to be
erroneous."[134]
The same argument could, however, be brought with equal force against
their use for any of the other purposes suggested. The perforations, if
not used for suspension or attachment, would be subject to wear from any
other use to which they could be put. But, as we have already seen, one
of the specimens in shell exhibits well-defined evidence of wear, and
that of such a character as to indicate the passage of a cord between
the perforations in a position that would produce abrasion between the
holes on the concave side of the plate, but would leave the back
entirely unworn. This peculiar result could only be produced by
attachment in a fixed position, concave side out, to some object
perforated like the plate, the cord passing directly through both. The
perforations of pendants necessarily show wear on both sides; a like
result would follow from the use of these plates in any of the other
ways mentioned. Those made of shell could not, on account of their
warped shape, be used for shuttles; besides, they show no evidence of
marginal wear, such as would result from this use. The fact, too, that
the material had to be brought from the distant sea-shore would seem to
render it too rare and precious to be employed in the ordinary arts when
wood, stone, and bone would serve the purpose as well. Owing to the
carelessness or negligence of collectors we have but little information
in regard to their relation to the human remains with which they were
deposited. Such facts as we have, however, tend, I believe, to show that
they were used for personal decoration. Again, the material of which
they are formed is, on account of its beauty, especially adapted for
ornament, and for this use it has been almost exclusively reserved by
peoples as distant from the sea as were the ancient peoples of the Ohio
Valley.