GROUND STONE—PROBLEMATICAL FORMS
BICAVES, OR DISCOIDAL STONES, TUBES, ETC.
Some years ago, Dr. J. F. Snyder coined the term “bicave,” or “twice
hollowed,” as applying to these. He contended that the term “discoidal”
was meaningless. I have always adopted his new word, and those who have
not liked it have not offered convincing reasons for disregarding the
term. It is possible for Latin scholars to coin many concise words to
describe certain objects, and these words would convey precise meaning.
This is done in palæontology, geology, and all other branches of
science, and there is no reason why it should not be followed in
archæology. The arguments to the contrary savor of pedantry.
Dr. Snyder’s term does not fit any other stone object, although Mr.
McGuire, Professor Holmes, and others have all discussed these bicaves
under the term “discoidals.”
There are many flat, thin discs of both stone and clay found throughout
the United States. These could not be called bicaves, because they are
not twice hollowed. But they mark the beginning of that form.
Of these discs, especially numerous in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio and
along the Ohio River, there are three kinds: simple discs, discs with
slightly depressed centres, and ornamented discs. The bicaves themselves
are alike in outline, having depressed centres. But there are great
differences in the depressions.
In the centre of Fig. 388 is a large disc of black slate around which is
a well-defined rim. This form is rare. To the right of this specimen is
a large quartzite bicave with a more extended rim. In Fig. 389 are four
typical quartz and quartzite bicaves of general type.
Certain specimens in Figs. 389 and 391 have a second small but prominent
depression exactly in the centre. Usually about this depression is a
little rim.
Fig. 392 is a photogravure plate from the collection of Mr. F. P. Graves
of Doe Run, Missouri.
Here we have all of the discs and bicaves present. In the lower row is a
large polished disc with flat base, which is not concave on either side.
To the left of it, one in which the concavity is slightly marked. The
others range from this type to those that are perforated through the
centre. In Fig. 390, Colonel Young’s collection, there is a bicave of
unusual form, being high instead of broad, with slight concavities, yet
having the central depression clearly indicated. These have been called
“chunky” stones by those who have written regarding the famous Southern
game played by various Indians in the South and which has been described
so frequently that I dismiss it with the statement that round discs
similar to those illustrated in this chapter were rolled along the
ground and a spear or lance shot after them, and the stone when it fell
over on the side was supposed to be transfixed by one of these
projectiles. Or, the nearness of a projectile to the hole in the stone
counted in various ways. There is an early historical reference to this
game cited in the Conclusions, Volume II.
[Illustration:
FIG. 387. (S. 1–4.) This series of fourteen circular stones, with
depressed centres, and most of them perforated, is from the Andover
collection. They represent the smaller bicave or discoidal stones.
All of them are fine and interesting specimens. Materials:
sandstone, clay, and granite. Localities: Kentucky, Tennessee,
Indiana, and Ohio.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 388. (S. 1–4.) Discoidal stones from Kentucky; valley of the
Cumberland River. The central one is of slate. B. H. Young’s
collection, Louisville, Kentucky.
]
Discoidals may be common, circular discs with flat polished sides, or
circular with concave sides and perforated through the centre, or with
the centre rimmed out, as certain specimens in Fig. 387. In this figure
all are bicaves save three. That all of these small ones were used in
playing chunky games I do not believe. They may have served as
gaming-stones in other events. Some of the ruder ones, of the small
stones I mean, may have been spindle-whorls.
[Illustration:
FIG. 389. (S. 1–3.) Phillips Academy collection. Locality: Tennessee.
Material: quartz and quartzite.
]
Fig. 389 shows four beautiful specimens from Tennessee, Andover
collection. These are not merely depressed in the centre, but have a
high, fluted rim, the centre being cut out, and the surfaces on the
inside of the rim either sloping toward a second depression in the
centre, or made flat. All are highly polished, and of Tennessee marble
or quartz. The colors vary from rich brown to spotted, with yellow
predominating. Fig. 388, from Colonel Young’s magnificent collection,
illustrates nine bicaves of various sizes and materials—the black slate
one in the centre, flanked by those of beautifully mottled quartz on
either side, and one of pure white quartz to the right of the centre.
Fig. 391 is a remarkable object with a slightly depressed top, and with
the central depression plainly marked. Around this central depression is
a rim.
In the “Handbook of American Indians,” page 391, Mr. Fowke has described
the bicaves, and his description I here quote, as it is the best
published up to this time:—
[Illustration:
FIG. 390. (S. 1–2.) Barrel-shaped bicave. Hard, light-colored
material. B. H. Young’s collection, Louisville, Kentucky.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 391. (S. 1–2.) Quartzite bicave found on sandy bank of Hightower
River, Cherokee County, Georgia. Weight, 37 ounces. Translucent
between the depressions. Pink by reflected light and pink by
transmitted light. It has a perfect secondary depression, and is
highly polished and perfect. H. M. Whelpley’s collection, St. Louis,
Missouri.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 392. (_S. 1–4._)
_Various types of bicaves, etc. Localities: Missouri, Illinois,
Tennessee. F. P. Graves’s collection. Doe Run, Missouri._
]
“Prehistoric objects of unknown use whose most typical form is that of a
double-convex or double-concave lens. The perimeter is a circle and the
sides range from considerably convex through plane to deeply concave.
The diameter varies from 1 in. to 8 in., the thickness from one fourth
of an inch to 6 inches, very rarely passing these limits; the two
dimensions have no definite relation to each other. Some specimens are
convex on one face and plane on the other; but when one face is concave
the other is also. Of the latter form many have a secondary depression
at the centre; others have a perforation which is sometimes enlarged
until the disc becomes a ring. They are made principally of very hard
rock, as quartz, flint, jasper, novaculite, quartzite, porphyry,
syenite, and the like, though stone as soft as marble, sandstone,
barite, and even steatite was sometimes chosen. No type of relics is
more difficult to classify than these discs. The name first given them,
and by which they are still commonly known, is ‘chunky stones,’ from the
native name of the game played with analogous discs by Southern Indians.
But the description of the game, considered in connection with the great
variation in size and material of the specimens, shows that only a small
percentage of them could have been thus utilized. Culin believes that a
limited number may be definitely regarded as ‘chunky stones.’ He
recognizes three types: (1) perforated (least common); (2) symmetrical,
unperforated; (3) asymmetrical, unperforated. A similar diversity is
observed in the stones used in the analogous Hawaiian game of
_maika_.[44] From the smooth, symmetrical, highly polished ‘chunky’
stone they merge by insensible gradations into mullers, pestles,
mortars, pitted stones, polishing- and grinding-stones, hammers,
sinkers, club-heads, and ornaments, for all of which purposes except the
last they may have been used in some of their stages, so that no
dividing-line is possible. They present various styles and degrees of
finish. Many retain their natural surface on both sides with the edge
worked off by grinding or pecking, the latter marks possibly resulting
from use as hammers. The sides may be ground down while the edge remains
untouched; or, when made from a thick pebble, the sides may be pecked
and the edge ground. Some specimens which are entirely unworked require
very close examination to distinguish them from others whose whole
surface has been artificially produced. It is possible, however, to
arrange a large number of specimens from one locality in a regular
series from a roughly chipped disc to a finished product of the highest
polish and symmetry. The finest specimens, in greatest numbers, come
from the states south of the Ohio River, and from Arkansas eastward to
the Atlantic. The territory within a radius of one hundred miles around
Chattanooga, Tennessee, and for about the same distance around Memphis,
is especially rich in them. From southeastern Ohio to central Missouri
considerable numbers have been found, though few of them are as well
wrought as those from the South. Rather rough ones occur along the
Delaware River. Beyond the limits indicated, the type practically
disappears. Discoidal stones corresponding closely with Eastern types,
save that the faces are rarely concave, are found in the Pueblo country
and in the Pacific States.”
The remarkable stone disc, engraved and presented in Fig. 393, was found
near a mound eight miles from Arkansas Post, Arkansas. Mr. H. L.
Stoddard secured this specimen and permitted me to make illustrations
from the photographs. There were also found two effigy pipes which are
shown in Fig. 491.
These stone discs were found in considerable numbers by Mr. Clarence B.
Moore at Moundville, Black Warrior River, Alabama. He figures several of
them in “Certain Aboriginal Remains on the Black Warrior River”
(Philadelphia, 1905).
The culture at Moundville was high as is evinced by the character of the
objects found by Mr. Moore. These discs were more or less thickly
smeared with paint, cream color or red.
Mr. Moore states: “The universal presence of paint upon these discs and
slabs seems to offer a clue to the purpose for which they were used,
and, until a better suggestion is offered, we shall consider them
palettes for the mixing of paint.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 393. (S. 1–3.) Engraved discs from Arkansas Post, Arkansas. H. L.
Stoddard’s collection.
]
As ordinary slabs serve just as well as stones on which to mix paint, it
is my opinion that these highly ornamented stones, if used for this
purpose, were employed by the shamans in painting the warriors for
certain ceremonies.
But the discs owned by Mr. Stoddard have not smooth centres as have Mr.
Moore’s discs, and are apparently for other purposes than the mixing of
paint.
TUBULAR FORMS
Not only are there tubular pipes, but there are also tubular forms which
apparently are not pipes. I show numbers of these in Figs. 394 and 398.
Fig. 394 illustrates a number of steatite beads from the collection of
H. K. Deisher, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Cylindrical forms may be said to begin with the beads and end with the
long tubular objects, which are really pipes.
[Illustration:
FIG. 393 _A_ (S. 1–3.) Engraved discs from Arkansas Post, Arkansas. H.
L. Stoddard’s collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 394. (S. 1–1.) H. K. Deisher’s collection, Kutztown,
Pennsylvania.
]
Various uses have been assigned these and I have commented in so many of
my writings on tubes, that one would tell an old story to repeat all
that has been said. It suffices to say, that passing from the bead class
to larger objects, the size of marbles, these may have been worn as
stone beads. But these stone objects are usually made of banded slate.
They may be oval in outline, such as Fig. 395, or long and slender, as
Fig. 396. Again, some are grooved, others flattened, others rounded, and
yet some are square.
[Illustration:
FIG. 395. (S. 1–3.) Collection of H. K. Deisher, Kutztown,
Pennsylvania. Material: red granite.
]
In Fig. 396 are seven from the Andover collection. In the lower
left-hand corner is the short, small tube or large bead, with a curious
depression, the purpose of which is unknown. In Mr. Deisher’s specimen,
Fig. 395, the depression is longer and the groove extends from end to
end.
In the upper left-hand corner of Fig. 396 is a tube with a broad,
shallow groove, and concave sides.
Sometimes there are specimens found here and there in the country which
seem to be more pipe-like than tube-like in character. I present one of
these in Fig. 397, from the collection of Mr. G. P. Chandler, Knoxville,
Tennessee.
This specimen is of fine sandstone. The drilling makes it appear as an
hour-glass. It was impossible to photograph the openings in this
specimen, there being no contrast, and therefore it is drawn. One of the
openings is about one fourth of an inch larger than the other. There is
a band about the centre of the stone. Mr. Chandler kindly presented the
specimen to me for our Andover collection.
In Fig. 398, I present three large tube-like stones—perhaps pipes. This
form, called by some of the early writers, “telescope,” is fairly common
throughout the South. What they were used for, no one knows. I think the
general explanation that they were shamans’ charms used in incantations,
whereby the evil spirit was drawn from the bodies of the sick, is as
good as any. We know that bone and wooden tubes were used for such
purposes in historic times and these may have been also made use of in
prehistoric times.
[Illustration:
FIG. 396. (S. 2–3.) Phillips Academy collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 397. (S. 2–3.) Phillips Academy collection. Drawn by George P.
Chandler, Knoxville, Tennessee.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 398. (S. 1–2.) Stone tubes. The two upper specimens are of
steatite, and the lower one is of hard clay stone. B. H. Young’s
collection, Louisville, Kentucky.
]
-----
Footnote 1:
Bureau of American Ethnology, _Bulletin_ no. 30, pt. 1, Washington, D.
C.
Footnote 2:
Pages 16 to 22.
Footnote 3:
See Boas, in 6th _Report_, Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 399–669
(1884); Murdoch, in 9th _Report_, Bureau of American Ethnology, pp.
133–617 (1887); and _Report_ of the National Museum for 1884, pp.
307–316.
Footnote 4:
_American Anthropologist_, vol. IV, no. 1, p. 108.
Footnote 5:
For further account of these implements, see the article by the writer
in _American Naturalist_, vol. XV, p. 425.
Footnote 6:
See vol. I, Fig. 64 (p. 185), and plate XIV, Fig. 1.
Footnote 7:
Roland B. Dixon, _The Northern Maidu_ (Bulletin of the American Museum
of Natural History, 1905, vol. XVII, Fig. 5, p. 135).
Footnote 8:
See 17th _Annual Report_, Bureau of American Ethnology.
Footnote 9:
_Relation_, pp. 75, 78; New York, 1871.
Footnote 10:
“Some of the South American natives cut the lobes of their ears, and
for a considerable time fastened small weights to them, in order to
lengthen them; that others cut holes in their upper and under lips;
through the cartilage of the nose, their chins and jaws, and either
hung or thrust through them, such things as they most fancied, which
also agrees with the ancient customs of our Northern Indians.”
_History of the American Indians_, p. 213; London, 1775.
Footnote 11:
“En d’autres endroits de l’Amérique, quelques Nations se percent le
nez, entre les deux narines, d’où ils font dépendre quelques joli
vetez; ... et d’autres sur leurs lèvres pendantes et renversées, et
tout cela pour contenter leurs yeux, et pour trouver le point de la
beauté.” _Jesuit Relation_, 1658, p. 30.
Footnote 12:
“Leurs narines ne sont jamais percées, et il n’y a que parmi quelques
Nations, qu’elles se percent les oreilles.” Charlevoix, VI, p. 43. As
to the existence of these customs, cf. Lafitau, III, p. 53; Sagard, p.
135; Carver, p. 227; Loskiel, p. 49; Marquette, p. 48; Iberville, p.
72; in _Hist. Coll. Louisiana_, 1875; Adair, p. 171.
Footnote 13:
_Mémoire sur les Mœurs, Coustumes et Religion des Sauvages de
l’Amérique Septentrionale_, p. 30; Leipzig et Paris, 1864.
Footnote 14:
Lafitau, III, p. 53; Adair, p. 171.
Footnote 15:
Compare _Jesuit Relations_, 1658, p. 30; Adair, p. 171; Carver, p.
277; Loskiel, _Indians of North America_, p. 49; Lafitau, III, p. 49;
Bartram, p. 499.
Footnote 16:
Adair, _North American Indians_, p. 171; London, 1775.
Footnote 17:
Heckwelder, _Indian Nations_, p. 207; Philadelphia, 1876.
Footnote 18:
_Voyage des Hurons_, I, p. 135; Paris, 1865. Radisson, _Voyages_, in
Prince Society Publications, pp. 146, 226.
Footnote 19:
Loskiel, p. 49; London, 1794.
Footnote 20:
Carver, _Travels_, p. 227; London, 1778.
Footnote 21:
Adair, p. 171. Among the articles traded to the Indians at different
times, mention is made of nose crosses.
Footnote 22:
Lafitau, III, pp. 49, 53; Charlevoix, VI, p. 43; Sagard, p. 133.
Footnote 23:
Wood, _New England’s Prospect_, p. 74, Prince Society Publications;
_Plaine Dealing, or Newes from New England_, in Collections of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, p. 103; Father Rasle, in Kip,
_Jesuit Missions_, p. 38.
Footnote 24:
Loskiel, _Indians of North America_, pp. 49, 52; Beverly, _Virginie_,
plate II; _First Voyage to America_, in Hakluyt, II, p. 286;
Edinburgh, 1889.
Footnote 25:
Lawson, _Carolina_, p. 193.
Footnote 26:
Lafitau, III, pp. 49, 50; Brereton, p. 90, in vol. VIII of Third
Series, Massachusetts Historical Society Collections; Adair, p. 171;
Radisson, _Voyages_, _loc. cit._, p. 146; Verrazzano, _loc. cit._, p.
401; _First Voyage to America_, in Hakluyt, II, p. 286; Edinburgh,
1889.
Footnote 27:
De Bry, _Brevis Narratio_, quoted in _Antiquities of the Southern
Indians_, p. 521; New York, 1873.
Footnote 28:
Du Pratz, _Louisiane_, II, p. 195.
Footnote 29:
_Historie of Travaile into Virginia_, pp. 57, 67. Compare Captain
Smith, _Virginia_, p. 130; Hariot, plates III, IV, VII; London, 1893;
_Brevis Narratio_, in De Bry, plate XIV; Geo. Percy, in _Purchas’
Pilgrims_, IV, p. 1687.
Footnote 30:
_Jesuit Relations_, 1633, p. 35; Megapolensis, _loc. cit._, p. 154;
Cartier, in _Early English Voyages to America_, II, p. 43;
Laudonnière, in same, p. 413; Champlain, I, p. 380; Lafitau, I, p.
201.
Footnote 31:
Frazer, _Totemism_, p. 26; Edinburgh, 1887. “They differ from each
other in the mode of dressing their heads, each following the custom
of the nation or band to which they belong, and adhering to the form
made use of by their ancestors from time immemorial.” Carver,
_Travels_, p. 229. Cf. Miss Fletcher, _Journal of American Folk-Lore_,
vol. I, no. 11, pp. 116, _et seq._, for modes of cutting hair among
Omahas; and Hariot, plate XI, for statement as to medicine-man. See
Captain Smith, p. 139, for an account of the snake-skin head-dress of
the chief Priest.
Footnote 32:
Lafitau, III, p. 50. Cf. Adair, p. 8, for same custom among Southern
tribes.
Footnote 33:
Strachey, _loc. cit._, p. 67. Cf. _First Voyage_, in Hakluyt, II, pp.
286 _et seq._, for account of copper pendants, sometimes five or six
in either ear, and red pieces of copper on the head.
Footnote 34:
Charlevoix, VI, p. 42.
Footnote 35:
Du Pratz, II, p. 197.
Footnote 36:
Hariot, plates IV, VI, and VII.
Footnote 37:
“A quantity of pearls amounting to six or seven arrobes.” Biedma, in
Historical Collections of Louisiana, part II, p. 101. “In her eares
bracelets of pearls hanging down to her middle.” _Voyages of English
Nation to America_, in Hakluyt, II, p. 286. In same, p. 304, it is
said, “not only his own skinnes that hee weareth, and the better sort
of his gentlemen and followers are full set with the sayd Pearle, but
also his beds, and houses are garnished with them, and that hee hath
such quantitie of them, that it is a wonder to see.” “Bracelets of
real pearls; but they pierce them when hot and thus spoil them.”
Membré, _loc. cit._, p. 183. Cf. Shea, _Early Voyages_, p. 86, and in
same, p. 140, Father Gravier says, “the chief’s wife had some small
pearls ... but about seven or eight which are as large as small peas.”
Cf. Captain Smith, _loc. cit._, pp. 138, 144, 191, etc.; Strachey, pp.
54, 132; Tonti, _loc. cit._, p. 62.
Footnote 38:
_Knight of Elvas_, _loc. cit._, p. 144. Cf. Garcilaso de la Vega, I,
pp. 424, 434; and in vol. II, pp. 5 _et seq._, there is an account of
the way in which the Indians extracted pearls from shells; Paris,
1670.
Footnote 39:
_First Voyage_, in Hakluyt, II, pp. 286, 334; Edinburgh, 1889.
Footnote 40:
“De tout ce que je vient de dire de la manière de s’orner, on conclura
aisément, que les Sauvages, au lieu d’ajouter à leur beauté naturelle,
(car ils sont presque tous bien faits,) travaillent à se rendre laids
& à se défigurer. Cela est vrai aussi; cependant quand ils sont bien
parez à leur mode, l’assemblage bizarre de tous leurs ornemens, non
seulement n’a rien qui choque, mais il a un je ne sçai quoi qui plaît,
& leur donne de la bonne grace.” Lafitau, _Mœurs des Sauvages
Amériquains_, tome III, p. 57; Paris, 1724.
Footnote 41:
October, 1902, p. 15.
Footnote 42:
University of Pennsylvania, Bulletin Series, 1901.
Footnote 43:
_Prehistoric Implements_, p. 280.
Footnote 44:
24th _Report_ of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1906.
=The Riverside Press=
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
197 point, and it was doubtless used point, and it was doubtless used
as a hand-hatchet, mounted as is as a hand-hatchet, mounted as in
Fig. 176. Fig. 176.
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last
chapter.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
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