used as mortars, hammers, or pestles. This form gradually merges into
disk-shaped, pitted, or entire dressed hammers, which in turn run into
the ordinary hammerstones. The types are figures 106 (quartzite, from
Bradley county, Tennessee) and 107 (quartzite, from Nicholas county,
Kentucky). There are in this group from eastern Tennessee three of
quartzite, 2¼ by 4½ inches, 4¼ by 5¾ inches, and 1¾ by 3¼ inches, and
one of granite, 2¾ by 3 inches; from Caldwell county, North Carolina,
one of granite; and from Montgomery county, North Carolina, three of
quartzite. The last four are evidently hammers or pestles. In addition
there is a specimen from Jackson county, Illinois, of ferruginous
sandstone, 3 inches in diameter. On one side there is a pit and on the
other a shallow, mortar-like cavity extending entirely across.
[Illustration: FIG. 106.--Discoidal stone, used as mortar.]
[Illustration: FIG. 107.--Discoidal stone, probably used as hammer.]
_O._ One side flat, the other rounded; of convenient size for grasping.
In some the bottom is quite smooth. There is sometimes a pit in one or
both sides, more frequently in the bottom. They were used as mullers
or pestles; in the latter, either the side or the edge may have been
the pounding surface. The line between these implements and the
cylindrical, dome-topped pestles can not be drawn (see figure 91).
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
| District. | A | B | C | D |
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
|Eastern Tennessee | 1| 2| | |
|Southwestern Wisconsin | 2| | 1| 1|
|Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 1| | | |
|Crittenden county, Arkansas | 1| | | |
|Jackson county, North Carolina| 1| | | |
|Warren county, Ohio | | | | 1|
|Savannah, Georgia | 2| 1| 2| 8|
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
KEY:
A = Quartzite.
B = Quartz.
C = Sandstone.
D = Granite.
_P._ Sides flat; edge convex; same size and use as last.
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
| District. | A | B | C | D |
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
|Southeastern Tennessee | | 1 | 1 | |
|Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 3 | | 5 | |
|Warren county, Ohio | | | | 1 |
|Madison county, Alabama | | | 1 | |
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
KEY:
A = Quartzite.
B = Quartz.
C = Sandstone.
D = Granite.
_Q._ From southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia there are
many disk-shape fragments of pottery, small, thin, and coarse, with
the edges roughly chipped; and from northeastern Kentucky there are
similar pieces, except that they have been fashioned from fragments of
limestone and sandstone. These specimens are illustrated by figure 108
(pottery, from a mound in Bartow county, Georgia).
[Illustration: FIG. 108.--Discoidal pottery fragment.]
SPUDS.
It has been a puzzle to archeologists to assign to any class the
peculiar stones called “spuds.” They are usually of a comparatively
soft material, carefully worked and polished, and bear no marks of
rough usage. On the other hand, they seem too large for ornament.
Perhaps their office may have been in some ceremony or game. Something
similar in form seems to be denoted in the following extracts:
Col. James Smith[81] says, speaking of the Indians of western
Pennsylvania, that as soon as the elm bark will strip in spring, the
squaws, after finding a tree that will do, cut it down, and with a
crooked stick, broad and sharp at the end, take the bark off the tree,
and of this bark make vessels. The Twana Indians, who formerly lived at
the south end of Hoods canal, Washington, in barking logs use a heavy
iron implement about 3 feet long, widened and sharpened at the end;[82]
and the tanbark workers of our day use an instrument of somewhat
similar form.
The ordinary spud is too weak to endure such usage, though it is
claimed by old people living in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, that
in the last century the Indians in that locality used an implement of
this pattern for stripping the bark from trees. The implement may have
been used in dressing hides, the hole being for attachment of a handle.
[Illustration: FIG. 109.--Spud.]
A celt of argillite, highly polished, from Loudon county, Tennessee, of
the pattern shown in figure 64, has a neatly drilled cylindrical hole
about a third of the way from the top; but such cases are unusual. The
spuds may be divided into three general classes, as follows:
_A._ Blade circular in outline, including 180 degrees or more, or
semielliptical with either axis transverse; sides of stem straight or
slightly curved, parallel or slightly tapering to top, which is either
straight or slightly rounded; shoulder nearly at right angles to stem,
with sharp or rounded corners or sometimes barbed; stem and blade not
differing greatly in length. The type of the class, presented in figure
109, is of clay slate, from a mound in Monroe county, Tennessee. The
other six specimens in the collection were distributed as shown in the
table.
+---------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
| District. | A | B | C | D | E |
+---------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
|Western North Carolina | 1| 1| | | 1|
|Monroe county, Tennessee | | | 1| 1| |
|Phillips county, Arkansas | | | | | 1|
|Pulaski county, Arkansas | | | | | 1|
+---------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY:
A = Green slate.
B = Mica-schist.
C = Compact quartzite.
D = Clay slate.
E = Quartzite.
_B._ Lower part of the blade a half circle or less; top square or
slightly rounded; stem rapidly widening, with increasing curve to the
blade, making an angle with it; stem and blade nearly the same length.
A specimen of green slate, from Mississippi county, Arkansas, is
illustrated in figure 110. Another, of compact quartzite, comes from
Loudon county, Tennessee.
[Illustration: FIG. 110.--Spud.]
_C._ Handle or stem round; very much longer than the blade, which
is semicircular or semielliptical, with square or barbed shoulders.
Illustrated in figure 111 (probably of chloritic slate, from Prairie
county, Arkansas).
PLUMMETS.
The specimens known as plummets vary considerably in form, size, and
degree of finish, indicating diversity of purpose, and different
writers have assigned to them various uses.
According to Abbott, one of these relics was found at Salem, in a
mortar.[83] Stevens says, quoting from Schoolcraft, that the Pennacook
Indians used sinkers very much like a plummet in shape.[84] In
Florida very rough plummets with deep grooves are found in the shell
mounds, which were no doubt used as sinkers. The Indians of southern
California use them as medicine stones to bring rain; the Eskimo use
similar stones as sinkers, but have them perforated at the end. The
larger objects of this form may have been used as pestles.[85] They
might be made very efficient in twisting thread, as they revolve for a
considerable time when set in motion.
[Illustration: FIG. 111.--Spud.]
The general form is ovoid, sometimes quite slender, sometimes almost
round; the ends may be either blunt or pointed. They may be grooved
near the middle or near either the larger or smaller end. Some have two
grooves, some are only partially grooved, while others have the groove
extending lengthwise. There are forms that differ somewhat from this
description, but such are rare.
[Illustration: FIG. 112.--Plummet, grooved near one end.]
[Illustration: FIG. 113.--Plummet, double-grooved.]
Many small and otherwise unworked waterworn pebbles and pieces of
steatite pots from southeastern Tennessee and from Montgomery county,
North Carolina, have grooves near the middle or near one end; they were
probably applied to some of the uses for which plummets were intended.
The plummets in the Bureau collection may be grouped as follows:
_A._ Grooved near smaller end. The types are illustrated in figure
112 (sandy limestone, from a mound in Catahoula parish, Louisiana),
and figure 113 (hematite, double grooved, with notches cut in various
places, from a mound in Kanawha valley, West Virginia). Other specimens
are, one from Arkansas county, Arkansas, of sandstone, and one each
from Brown and Randolph counties, Illinois, both of hematite.
_B._ Grooved near larger end. A good example, of hematite, is from
Kanawha valley, West Virginia, with a second groove partially around
the middle.
_C._ Grooved near the middle. The class is represented by a beautiful
specimen (figure 114) of hematite, with the groove much polished and
irregular, and a deep notch cut in one end, from Ross county, Ohio.
Another specimen, from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, is a double
conical implement of hematite, elliptical in section with both ends
ground off on flatter sides only.
[Illustration: FIG. 114.--Plummet, grooved near middle.]
[Illustration: FIG. 115.--Plummet, grooved lengthwise.]
_D._ Grooved lengthwise. This class includes a plummet of quartzite,
from Yellowstone park (figure 115), and another of hematite, much
shorter than the Yellowstone specimen and with blunt ends, from Kanawha
valley, West Virginia.
[Illustration: FIG. 116.--Plummet, grooveless, perforated.]
[Illustration: FIG. 117.--Plummet, double cone in shape.]
_E._ Grooveless. A good specimen (figure 116) is of quartz and mica,
elliptical in section, pointed at ends with one end perforated, from
Yellowstone park; another, from Randolph county, Illinois, of hematite,
rough, perhaps unfinished.
_F._ Double cone, with one end ground off flat and hollowed out. The
type (figure 117) is of granite, one of three from Savannah, Georgia.
_G._ Top flattened and hollowed out; sides incurving to the middle;
lower half a hemisphere. The class is represented by figure 118
(quartzite, from Randolph county, Illinois), and figure 119 (sandstone,
from Adams county, Ohio). From Kanawha valley there is one of hematite,
similar in form to the last.
[Illustration: FIG. 118.--Plummet.]
_H._ Ovoid, with the smaller end ground off flat.[86] A good specimen
of this class (figure 120) is of magnetite, from Caldwell county, North
Carolina. From Savannah, Georgia, there are two of sandstone, both
smaller than the type and rough; from Kanawha valley there is one of
quartzite, nearly half ground away, leaving almost a hemisphere; and
from eastern Tennessee there are one of magnetite and one of quartzite,
the latter nearly round.
_I._ Cylindrical. A unique specimen, from a mound in Loudon county,
Tennessee, is illustrated in figure 121. It is of sandstone; a short
cylinder with incurved sides, each end terminating in a blunt cone.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.--Plummet.]
[Illustration: FIG. 120.--Plummet, end ground flat.]
[Illustration: FIG. 121.--Plummet.]
Figure 122 represents a piece of smoothly dressed steatite from Desha
county, Arkansas, with a two-thirds round section, the ends rounded,
with a groove near one end, which may be classed with the plummets.
There are pieces of sandstone from the same locality which connect
this pattern with the simpler “boat-form” stones, except that the flat
side is ground smooth instead of being hollowed. This is only one of
numerous examples where the shapes of implements whose “typical forms”
seem utterly dissimilar merge into one another so gradually that no
line of demarkation can be drawn.
[Illustration: FIG. 122.--Plummet, cylindrical.]
CONES.
[Illustration: FIG. 123.--Cone.]
[Illustration: FIG. 124.--Cone.]
The relics known as “cones” have the base flat and the side curving
slightly; usually the curve extends regularly over the top, but
sometimes the apex is rubbed off flat. The conic surface may form
an angle with the base, or the line of junction may be rounded into
a curve. They vary considerably in thickness, some being nearly
flat, others having a height equal to the diameter of the base. One
of steatite from Savannah, as also one of sandstone from Kanawha
valley, has a slight pit or depression on the flat side. Among the
best examples are one (figure 123) of steatite from Bradley county,
Tennessee, and another (figure 124) of hematite from Loudon county, in
the same state; one (figure 125) of compact quartzite from a mound in
Ogle county, Illinois, and a fourth specimen (figure 126) of granite
from Kanawha valley, West Virginia. The distribution is as follows:
FIG. 125.--Cone.
FIG. 126.--Cone.
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
| District. | A | B | C | D | E |
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
|Eastern Tennessee | 3 | 4 | | | |
|Ogle county, Illinois | | | 1 | | |
|Savannah, Georgia | 1 | | | | |
|Haywood county, North Carolina| | 1 | | | |
|Kanawha valley, West Virginia | | 1 | | 1 | 1 |
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY:
A = Steatite.
B = Hematite.
C = Compact quartzite.
D = Granite.
E = Sandstone.
HEMISPHERES.
Hemispheric stones, like the cones, can receive a name only from the
form and not from any known or imagined use to which they could have
been applied.
All such specimens in the collection, except one, are from Kanawha
valley, and of hematite; many if not most of them have been ground
down from the nodule, and were probably paint stones originally; at
least, the material rubbed from them was used as paint while the maker
had their final form in view. One, however, has been pecked into shape
and is entirely without polish. In all, the base is flat and varies
in outline from almost a circle to a narrow ellipse. A section of the
stone parallel to either axis of the base varies from a little more
to a little less than a semicircle. Typical forms, both from Bracken
county, Kentucky, are illustrated in figure 127.
[Illustration: FIG. 127.--Hemispheres.]
The specimen, illustrated in figure 128 (yellow quartz, from a mound
in Kanawha valley) is intermediate between cones and hemispheres.
The sides are polished, while the flat bottom and rounded top are
roughened. As it has faint red stains, it may have been used as a
paint-muller.
[Illustration: FIG. 128.--Hemisphere.]
PAINT STONES.
The articles known as paint stones scarcely come under the head
of implements. Some of the hematite pieces are incipient celts,
hemispheres, or cones; but most of them were used merely to furnish
paint, at any rate until rubbed down quite small. They are of every
degree of firmness, some being as brittle as dry clay, others like
iron. Most pieces in the collection are from Kanawha valley, but others
are from southeastern Tennessee, northeastern Arkansas, and Caldwell
county, North Carolina. From the last-named section, as well as from
Chester county, South Carolina, and McMinn county, Tennessee, come
pieces of graphite more or less rubbed; and one has been sent in from
Elmore county, Alabama.
[Illustration: FIG. 129.--Paint stone.]
The specimen illustrated in figure 129, from a mound, is a good example
of the manner in which the harder hematite was ground.
CEREMONIAL STONES.
FUNCTIONS AND PURPOSES.
The so-called “ceremonial stones” are variously subdivided and named by
different writers. They are supposed to have been devoted to religious,
superstitious, medical, emblematic, or ceremonial purposes; to be
badges of authority, insignia of rank, tokens of valorous deeds, or
perhaps some sort of heraldic device; in short, the uses to which they
might, in their different forms, be assigned, are limited only by the
imagination.
According to Nilsson the ancient Scandinavians wore “victory stones”
suspended around their necks,[87] and the Eskimo wear charms and
amulets to bring success in fishing and hunting.[88] Adair (1775)
says that the American Archi-magus wore a breastplate made of a white
conch-shell, with two holes bored in the middle of it, through which
he put the ends of an otter-skin strap and fastened a buck-horn button
to the outside of each.[89] An explanation of the purpose of many of
the smaller perforated stones also may be found in Nilsson’s remark[90]
that the small ovoid or ellipsoid ones were used as buttons; a string
being tied to the robe at one end, run through the hole and tied in a
knot.
The various Indians of Guiana in their leisure hours often fashion
highly ornamental weapons and implements which they never use except
ceremonially, but keep proudly at home for show.[91]
So, too, the Yurok and Hupa Indians of California, as well as some
of the tribes of Oregon, have very large spearheads or knives, which
are not designed for use, but only to be produced on the occasion of
a great dance. The larger weapons are wrapped in skin to protect the
hand; the smaller ones are glued to a handle. Some are said to be 15
inches long.[92] The Oregon Indians believed the possession of a large
obsidian knife brought long life and prosperity to the tribe owning
it.[93]
Some of the wild tribes of the interior have something which they
regard as the Jews did the Ark of the Covenant. Sometimes it is known;
again it is kept secret. The Cheyenne had a bundle of arrows; the Ute
a little stone image, and the Osage a similar stone.[94] The Kiowa had
a carved wooden image, representing a human face; the Ute captured it,
and the Kiowa offered very great rewards for its return; but the Ute,
believing the Kiowa powerless to harm them so long as it was retained,
refused to give it up.[95]
The North Carolina Indians, when they went to war, carried with
them their idol, of which they told incredible stories and asked
counsel;[96] and as a token of rank or authority, the Virginia Indians
suspended on their breasts, by a string of beads about their neck, a
square plate of copper.[97] These were worn as badges of authority.
The native tribes, from our first acquaintance with them, evinced a
fondness for insignia of this kind.[98]
Simply for convenience the ceremonial stones in the Bureau collection
will here be divided into two general classes. The first, comprising
those pierced through the shortest diameter, will be called gorgets,
which name, like that of celt, has no particular meaning, but is in
common use. The second class will comprise all others, which will have
some name that may or may not be suitable to their form, but by which
they are usually called. In this class are included boat-shape stones,
banner stones, picks, spool-shape ornaments, and bird-shape stones, as
well as engraved tablets or stones.[99]
GORGETS.
The relics commonly called gorgets have been found in Europe; they may
be convex on one side, concave on the other, and are supposed to be
for bracers.[100] It is said that the Miami Indians wore similar plates
of stone to protect their wrists from the bowstring.[101] Herndon and
Gibbon remark that a gold ornament in shape like a gorget, but not
pierced, is worn on the forehead by some of the Amazon Indians.[102]
According to Schoolcraft the so-called gorgets were sometimes used as
twine-twisters;[103] but Abbott holds that while some may have been
twine-twisters, or may have been used for condensing sinews or evening
bowstrings (that is, reducing the strings to a uniform diameter), most
were simply ornaments, as they are generally found on the breast of
a buried body.[104] Stevens is even more conservative, holding that
they were neither twine-twisters nor devices for condensing sinews or
evening bowstrings, as they show no marks of wear in the holes.[105]
Some writers suppose the gorgets to have been shuttles; but this
supposition can hardly be entertained, although it is true, according
to Chase, that the Oregon Indians passed thread with a curved bone
needle.[106] As twine-twisters they would be about as awkward as
anything that could be devised. As to evening bowstrings, it would seem
that if a string were too large in places to pass through a hole it
could not be pulled through; pounding and rolling the wet string with
a smooth stone, or some such means, would be the remedy. The bracer
theory is plausible; but no one seems ever to have seen a gorget used
for this purpose.
Few of the gorgets in the Bureau collection show such marks of wear
around the edges of the hole as would be made by a cord; but the
majority are thus worn at the middle, where the hole is smallest. Some
specimens among every lot are not perforated, or only partially so;
the drilling seems to have been the last stage of the work. The hole
is almost always drilled from both sides, and the few in which it goes
entirely through from one side would probably have had it enlarged
later from the other. A number are fragments of larger gorgets, the
pieces having been redrilled.
Some of the specimens have various notches and incised lines, the
latter being sometimes in tolerably regular order; but there is not the
slightest indication that these marks had any meaning or were intended
for any other purpose than to add to the ornamental appearance of the
stone.
If they were to be worn at the belt or on any part of the dress they
could easily have been fastened by a knotted string, or if the wearer
desired he could have an ornamental button of some kind. If suspended
around the neck, in order to make them lie flat against the breast they
probably had a short cord passed through the perforation and tied
above the top of the object, the suspending cord being passed through
the loop thus formed.
[Illustration: FIG. 130.--Gorget.]
The principal division is into group _A_ with one hole and group _B_
with two holes, though in many cases this forms the only difference
between two specimens.
_A._ General outline rectangular, or perhaps slightly elliptical,
sometimes with one end somewhat narrower than the other, or with one
end rounded off, or with the corners slightly rounded. Perforation
commonly near one end. The form is represented by the specimen with two
perforations illustrated in figure 133, which otherwise fully answers
the description. The argillite specimens have the broader ends striated
as though used for rubbing or scraping, but in other respects conform
to those of other materials. The materials are generally the softer
rocks, as shown in the accompanying table:
+-----------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
| District. | A | B | C | D | E |
+-----------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
|Eastern Tennessee | 2 | 3 | 2 | | 3 |
|Wilkes county, North Carolina| | | | 1 | |
|Knox county, Ohio | | 1 | | | |
|Kanawha valley, West Virginia| | 7 | 2 | | |
+-----------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY:
A = Steatite.
B = Slate.
C = Sandstone.
D = Schist.
E = Argillite.
A related type is rectangular or with incurved sides (forming either a
regular or broken curve) and rounded ends, and differs in having the
perforation near the center. The same pattern sometimes has two holes.
It is illustrated in figure 130 (striped slate, from a mound in Kanawha
valley, West Virginia). There are also from the same place one each of
slate, cannel coal, and clay slate, and from eastern Tennessee one each
of slate, shale, and clay slate.
[Illustration: FIG. 131.--Gorget(?).]
There are a number of small pebbles, thin and flat, with a hole
drilled near the edge, from southeastern Tennessee, North Carolina,
and southeastern Arkansas. One of these, from Caldwell county,
North Carolina, is of banded slate; the others are of clay slate or
sandstone. Two of them have straight and zigzag lines on both faces,
and notches around the edge.
Allied to these are a number of pieces of flat stone from southeastern
Tennessee, Kanawha valley, and North Carolina, with the faces partially
rubbed down smooth, the edges being untouched. They are of slate, talc,
or argillite.
From southeastern Tennessee and North Carolina there are several
pieces of steatite, which may have been for sinkers. Some have a hole
near one end, others a hole at each end, while still others are not
perforated. All have been worked over the entire surface, and some of
them are well polished. One of these is represented in figure 131.
_B._ Gorgets with two holes. Of these there are several subdivisions,
differing more or less widely in form. They are as follows: