Fig. 130.—Gorget.
Fig. 130.—Gorget.
The principal division is into groupAwith one hole and groupBwith 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 infigure 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:
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 infigure 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.
Fig. 131.—Gorget(?).
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 holenear 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 infigure 131.
B.Gorgets with two holes. Of these there are several subdivisions, differing more or less widely in form. They are as follows:
1. Thick, with both the sides and the ends incurved or reel-shape; faces flat or slightly convex. This form is represented by the specimen shown infigure 132, from a mound, Knox county, Ohio. There is another from the same place, a third from Kanawha valley, and a fourth from Butler county, Ohio; all of green slate.
Fig. 132.—Gorget, reel-shape.
Fig. 132.—Gorget, reel-shape.
2. Rectangular, or with sides or ends, or both, slightly curved, either convex or concave; faces flat. Shown infigure 133(green slate, from a grave in Kanawha valley, West Virginia).
Fig. 133.—Gorget.
Fig. 133.—Gorget.
3. Widest at middle, with single or double curve from end to end; very thin; both sides flat.
4. Same outline but thicker; one face flat, the other convex. Represented byfigure 134(shale, from Jackson county, Illinois). The distribution of the form is as follows:
Fig. 134.—Gorget.
Fig. 134.—Gorget.
5. Same outline, but quite thick, approaching the “boat-shape” stones in form. In some the flat side is slightly hollowed out. A majority of them are not perforated. The type (figure 135) is of sandstone, from a mound at Adelphi, Ohio.
There are also, from Butler county, Ohio, Kanawha valley, West Virginia, and Savannah, Georgia, one each of slate; from Ross county, Ohio, two, and from Kanawha valley, and Cocke county, Tennessee, one each, all of sandstone. There are two (of sandstone and slate) from Kanawha valley, which differ from the others in having the sides parallel, giving them a semicylindrical form.
The pattern of the specimen illustrated infigure 136(striped slate, from Butler county, Ohio, of which a number have been found in that state), may be classed between the gorgets and the boat-shape stones. The shorter end of the object has, sometimes, a projection or enlargement at the top, apparently for suspension, although no perforated examples have been found.
Under the head of “banner stones” are placed ornaments having the ends at right angles to the perforation. The hole is drilled in a midrib, from which the faces slope by either straight or curved lines to the edges. The two halves of the stone are symmetrical. In most specimens one face is flatter than the other, even plane in some cases. Some specimens are finished to a highpolish, before the hole is started; others have the hole completed with the exterior more or less unfinished. The specimens in the Bureau collection may be classified as follows:
A.Rectangular or trapezoidal, with sides and ends sometimes slightly curved inward or outward.
B.Reel-shape.
C.Crescentic.
D.Butterfly pattern.
Fig. 135.—Gorget, boat-shape.Fig. 136.—Gorget resembling boat-shape stone.
Fig. 135.—Gorget, boat-shape.Fig. 136.—Gorget resembling boat-shape stone.
Fig. 135.—Gorget, boat-shape.
Fig. 135.—Gorget, boat-shape.
Fig. 136.—Gorget resembling boat-shape stone.
Fig. 136.—Gorget resembling boat-shape stone.
The last three varieties may be considered as only modifications of the simple rectangular banner stones. By rounding off the corners of the articles or dressing them to sharp points, by cutting away portions from the sides or by trimming away the central portions at either or both ends of the perforations, all these different forms may be produced.
Fig. 137.—Banner stone.Fig. 138.—Banner stone.
Fig. 137.—Banner stone.Fig. 138.—Banner stone.
Fig. 137.—Banner stone.
Fig. 137.—Banner stone.
Fig. 138.—Banner stone.
Fig. 138.—Banner stone.
A.A typical specimen is illustrated infigure 137. It is of slate, and was taken from a mound in Kanawha valley, West Virginia. Another good example, shown infigure 138, is of sandy slate, from a grave in Monroe county, Tennessee. The geographic range of this type is wide, though the objects are not abundant.
B.The reel-shape banner stones are somewhat variable, but are fairly illustrated infigure 139, representing a specimen of argillite from Sevier county, Tennessee.
A related form has the middle cut from one end, leaving two horn-like projections extending parallel with the hole. An example of this form, shown infigure 140, is of banded slate, from a mound in Kanawha valley, West Virginia.
Fig. 139.—Banner stone, reel-shape.Fig. 140.—Banner stone, with horn-like projections.Fig. 141.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.
Fig. 139.—Banner stone, reel-shape.Fig. 140.—Banner stone, with horn-like projections.Fig. 141.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.
Fig. 139.—Banner stone, reel-shape.
Fig. 139.—Banner stone, reel-shape.
Fig. 140.—Banner stone, with horn-like projections.
Fig. 140.—Banner stone, with horn-like projections.
Fig. 141.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.
Fig. 141.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.
Fig. 142.—Banner stone, crescent-shape
Fig. 142.—Banner stone, crescent-shape
C.The crescentic banner stones might better be termed “semilunar,” since most of them are flat at one end and curved at the other. Occasionally one has both ends curved and parallel, the sides also slightly curved, making the article reniform. Others have the ends straight and parallel, with the sides curved or like the zone of a circle. Two have a midrib for the hole, with the sides dressed down quite thin, as with the butterfly gorgets. All were finished in form before the drilling was done, though some had not received their final polish. The type is illustrated in figures 141 (steatite, from northwestern North Carolina), 142 (pagodite, from Rhea county, Tennessee), and 143 (sandstone,from Jefferson county, Tennessee). The last form is sometimes called a perforated ax, but the material and fragile make exclude it from every class except the ceremonial stones.
D.The “butterfly” gorgets are so named from their resemblance to a butterfly with expanded wings. The sides or wings are usually quite thin, either semicircular or like a spherical triangle in outline. The perforated mid-rib is shorter than the wings and carefully worked. A good example, shown infigure 144, is of ferruginous quartz from Monongahela, Pennsylvania, and that illustrated infigure 145is of banded slate from Kanawha valley. There is also one of the latter material from Lewis county, Kentucky.
Fig. 143.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.Fig. 144.—Butterfly banner stone.
Fig. 143.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.Fig. 144.—Butterfly banner stone.
Fig. 143.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.
Fig. 143.—Banner stone, crescent-shape.
Fig. 144.—Butterfly banner stone.
Fig. 144.—Butterfly banner stone.
Fig. 145.—Butterfly banner stone.Fig. 146.—Banner stone.
Fig. 145.—Butterfly banner stone.Fig. 146.—Banner stone.
Fig. 145.—Butterfly banner stone.
Fig. 145.—Butterfly banner stone.
Fig. 146.—Banner stone.
Fig. 146.—Banner stone.
An aberrant form is elliptical in section at the middle, round or nearly so at the ends, the sides expanding rapidly from end to middle bydouble curves. It is represented byfigure 146(ferruginous quartz, from Kanawha valley, West Virginia), and by a specimen of quartzite from Union county, Mississippi.
There are two types of relics, perhaps ceremonial, for which no use has been determined, and which are named from their general resemblance to the form of a boat. They are as follows:107
A.With flat face more or less hollowed, sides triangular and parallel. A number are not perforated. The type is shown infigure 147(striped slate, from Davidson county, North Carolina).
Fig. 147.—Boat-shape stone.Fig. 148.—Boat-shape stone.
Fig. 147.—Boat-shape stone.Fig. 148.—Boat-shape stone.
Fig. 147.—Boat-shape stone.
Fig. 147.—Boat-shape stone.
Fig. 148.—Boat-shape stone.
Fig. 148.—Boat-shape stone.
B.Coming to a point at each end; flat side, deeply hollowed; perforations near the ends, with a groove between them in which the suspending cord rested. Some have a flattened projection in which the groove is made. The type (figure 148) is of steatite, from a grave in Sullivan county, Tennessee. The distribution is as follows:
Fig. 149.—Pendant.
Fig. 149.—Pendant.
Fig. 150.—Pick.
Fig. 150.—Pick.
The relics known as picks from their form and not at all from their function vary considerably in size. Not all are perforated. A good example, shown infigure 150, is of striped slate, from Knox county, Ohio. There are also in the collection, from Union county, Mississippi, one specimen of greenstone; from Jackson county, North Carolina, one of slate, and from Montgomery county, North Carolina, one each of steatite and slate. The last named is the half of a larger one that was broken at the part drilled, and has had a hole drilled near the larger end of this fragment, which has not been reworked.
Fig. 151.—Spool-shape ornament.
Fig. 151.—Spool-shape ornament.
Relics of spool shape, probably ornamental rather than industrially useful, are not uncommon in copper, though very rare in stone. The specimen shown infigure 151is of sandstone, from Jackson county, Arkansas. There are also, from Prairie and Lonoke counties, one each of sandstone, and from Jackson county two of the same material; from Clark county there is one of pinkish slate, with the stem drilled between and parallel to the faces, the others with stems drilled lengthwise.
Stone relics of bird form are quite common north of the Ohio river, but are exceedingly rare south of that stream. A good example, showninfigure 152, is of granite, from Vernon county, Wisconsin, and the collection embraces another specimen, of sandstone, from Kanawha valley, West Virginia.
Fig. 152.—Bird-shape stone.
Fig. 152.—Bird-shape stone.
According to Gillman, bird-shape stones were worn on the head by the Indian women, but only after marriage.108Abbott109quotes Col. Charles Whittlesey to the effect that they were worn by Indian women to denote pregnancy, and from William Penn that when squaws were ready to marry they wore something on their heads to indicate the fact. Jones110quotes from De Bry that the conjurers among the Virginia Indians wore a small, black bird above one of their ears as a badge of their office.
The shaft of an arrow is straightened by wetting and immersing it in hot sand and ashes, and bringing into shape by the hand and eye. To reduce the short crooks and knobs it is drawn between two rough grit stones, each of which has a slight groove in it; coarse sand is also used to increase the friction.111
Again, a rock has a groove cut into it as wide as the shaft and two or three times as deep. Into this the crooked part of the shaft is forced, and by heating or steaming becomes flexible and can be easily made straight, which shape it will retain when dry.112
A somewhat different device for the same purpose appears in the Bureau collection. It is illustrated infigure 153(of fine sandstone); there was another part to correspond with that shown. The specimen is from Monongahela, Pennsylvania.
As the use of stone tubes by the Indians has given rise to considerable discussion, the following references to the various ways in which they have been employed may help to settle it.
Schoolcraft observed that the Dakota Indians used a horn tube in bleeding; one end was set over the cut, and the other vigorously sucked.113Powers says that the Klamath Indians use tubes for smoking,114while H. H. Bancroft says that the Acaxees of Mexico employ “blowing through a hollow tube” for the cure of disease,115and also that the Indians of southern California inhale smoke of certain herbs through a tube to produce intoxication.116According to C. C. Jones the Florida and Virginia Indians used reeds in treating diseases by sucking or blowing through them, and also used them in cauterizing; and he observes that the Indians of Lower California employed similar processes, using stone tubes117instead of reeds. Hoffman illustrates the removal of disease through the agency of a tube of bone by a Jĕs´sakīd´ or medicine-man of the Ojibwa.118Read calls attention to the fact that the old Spanish writers describe a forked wooden tube, the prongs being inserted in the nostrils, while the other end was held over smoldering herbs, and suggests that the Indians may have used stone tubes in the same way.119
Fig. 153.—Shaft rubber.
Fig. 153.—Shaft rubber.
The Indian mode of inhaling smoke would produce the same result, whether drawn through the mouth or into the nostrils.
The use of stone tubes for astronomical purposes, which has been discovered by some imaginative writers, is, of course, absurd; nevertheless they are useful in viewing distant objects on a bright day, especially when looking toward the sun.
Nearly all of the tubes made of soft material with tapering perforation seem to have been gouged rather than drilled. Schumacher observes that the California Indians drilled their tubes from both ends and enlarged the hole from one end by scraping, the mouthpiece being made of a bird bone stuck on with asphaltum.120
There are five classes of stone tubes in the collection of the Bureau, as follows:
A.One end flattened and expanding into a wing on either side. This class is illustrated byfigure 154(from Kanawha valley, West Virginia). The corners of this specimen have been trimmed off; the typical form is indicated by the dotted lines. There are also from thesame locality one of quartzite, and from Ross county, Ohio, one of sandstone.
B.Conical; the bore more tapering than the exterior. Represented by the specimen shown infigure 155, of sandstone, from a mound in Kanawha valley, West Virginia.
C.Hour-glass shape, usually but not always with a narrow ring or projection around the smallest part. Exterior with gently curving outlines; the perforation is usually in the form of a double cone, with the points at the smallest part of the tube, which may or may not be midway between the ends. A good specimen, illustrated infigure 156, is of steatite, from Sevier county, Tennessee.
D.Of nearly uniform diameter inside and out; section circular, elliptical, or flattened on one side. This form is exemplified byfigure 157, a specimen from North Carolina. There are also one each from Caldwell, Haywood, and Montgomery counties, North Carolina, all of slate.
Fig. 154.—Tube, one end flattened.Fig. 155.—Tube, conical.
Fig. 154.—Tube, one end flattened.Fig. 155.—Tube, conical.
Fig. 154.—Tube, one end flattened.
Fig. 154.—Tube, one end flattened.
Fig. 155.—Tube, conical.
Fig. 155.—Tube, conical.
E.Round or elliptical in section, ¾ to 2½ inches long; probably beads. The collection includes specimens from Bradley county, Tennessee, of steatite; from Savannah, Georgia, of ferruginous sandstone; and from Union county, Mississippi, of jasper.
So much has been written concerning pipes that few references seem necessary, and none will be given except from Col. R. I. Dodge, who, after an experience of many years among the Plains Indians, says that the latter have different pipes for different occasions, as the medicinepipe, peace pipe, council pipe, and a pipe for common use. Each is sacred to its own purpose.121
Fig. 156.—Tube, hour-glass form.
Fig. 156.—Tube, hour-glass form.
In an article so highly prized by its owner, great pains would be expended to give an ornamental appearance to one which would be used on important ceremonial occasions; and it would be carved or worked in a manner gratifying to its maker or the one for whom it was intended. This fact, and the statement quoted above, will explain the great variety in form from a limited area. Still, in some sections of the country there are certain types that prevail, and may be in some cases peculiar to these localities; such, for instance, are the long stemmed pipes from western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
In many pipes of soft stone the bowl is gouged out instead of drilled.
Fig. 157.—Tube, cylindrical.
Fig. 157.—Tube, cylindrical.
The pipes in the Bureau collection embrace the following classes:
A.Stem with an elliptical or somewhat triangular section; the bowl near one end, leaving a projection in front; stem hole in long end. The form is shown infigure 158. From Caldwell county, North Carolina there are two similar pipes of steatite. Another, from Preston county, West Virginia, differs only in having the stem hole in the short end.
Fig. 158.—Pipe, flat base.
Fig. 158.—Pipe, flat base.
B.Same form of stem; no projection in front, the bottom of the stem curving up gradually into the front of the bowl. This type is represented byfigure 159(of steatite, from a mound in Loudon county, Tennessee). There are also, from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, an example of talcose slate, and from Caldwell county, North Carolina, one of steatite.
C.Stem having a midrib in which the hole is bored. One of steatite, from Caldwell county, North Carolina, has a prow; the others have not. Another of steatite from Loudon county, Tennessee, has a slender projection below the bowl, as if for a handle. The axis of thebowl and that of the stem meet at any angle between 100° and 170°.Figure 160represents a typical specimen, of steatite, from a mound in Sullivan county, Tennessee. There are also, from Caldwell county, North Carolina, and Kanawha and Preston counties, West Virginia, one each, and from Sullivan county, Tennessee, two, all of steatite; and there is an example from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, of material not identified.
Fig. 159.—Pipe.
Fig. 159.—Pipe.
Fig. 160.—Pipe.
Fig. 160.—Pipe.
D.With bowls and stems either round or square; very large. A good example (figure 161) is of red sandstone, from southeastern Missouri; it is the only pipe in the entire collection of the Bureau on which is shown any attempt at ornamentation. From Jefferson county, Tennessee, and Savannah, Georgia, there are one each, of steatite.
Fig. 161.—Pipe, ornamented.Fig. 162.—Pipe.
Fig. 161.—Pipe, ornamented.Fig. 162.—Pipe.
Fig. 161.—Pipe, ornamented.
Fig. 161.—Pipe, ornamented.
Fig. 162.—Pipe.
Fig. 162.—Pipe.
E.Cylindrical bowl, with a square-edged groove around it near the middle, below which the bottom has a somewhat celt like form, with stem hole in one side. A small hole is drilled near the edge at thebottom, probably for the purpose of suspending feathers or other ornaments. The type is represented byfigure 162(of limestone, from Crawford county, Wisconsin). Pipes of the same form are found also in central Ohio.
Fig.163.—Pipe, long-stemmed.
Fig.163.—Pipe, long-stemmed.
F.Round stem from one-half inch to 10 inches long; bowl at extreme end, set on at various angles from nearly a right angle to almost a straight line. Good examples are illustrated infigure 163(steatite, from Caldwell county, North Carolina) and 164 (also of steatite, from a mound in Monroe county, Tennessee). The other specimens in the collection are distributed as shown in the table:
Fig. 164.—Pipe, short-stemmed.
Fig. 164.—Pipe, short-stemmed.
G.Same form of stem, short, with flange around the top of the bowl. Represented by one of sandstone, from a mound in Monroe county, Tennessee (figure 165), and three of sandstone and two of marble from eastern Tennessee.
Fig. 165.—Pipe.Fig. 166.—Pipe.
Fig. 165.—Pipe.Fig. 166.—Pipe.
Fig. 165.—Pipe.
Fig. 165.—Pipe.
Fig. 166.—Pipe.
Fig. 166.—Pipe.
H.Small, stem more or less squared, bowl upright. There are two examples of this class from Monroe county, Tennessee, each having a flat projection or ridge on top of the stem, which is perforated for attachment of ornaments. The type, represented in figure166, is of clay slate, from Monroe county, Tennessee. It will appear from the following table that the distribution of this form is limited:
I.Egg-shape bowl, stem hole in the side. One from Bradley county, Tennessee, of argillaceous limestone, has a hole drilled from end to end, but no stem hole. It may have been made so intentionally, or the drilling may have been carried too far and the specimen left unfinished. The type is of barite, from Sevier county, Tennessee (shown infigure 167). Another specimen, from McMinn county, Tennessee, is of argillaceous limestone.
Fig. 167.—Pipe.
Fig. 167.—Pipe.
J.Form like last, with a flange around the top of the bowl. A typical specimen, shown infigure 168, is of steatite, from Loudon county, Tennessee. There are, also, from Preston county, West Virginia, one of sandstone, and from Caldwell county, North Carolina, two of steatite.
K.Bowls egg-shape, but quite long and sometimes rather pointed at the bottom; stem hole in the side. This class includes the following: From Savannah, Georgia; Roane county, Tennessee; and Adams county, Ohio, one each of sandstone; from Holt county, Missouri, one of micaceous sandstone; from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, one of indurated red clay, possibly catlinite; and from Caldwell county, North Carolina, three of steatite.
Fig. 168.—Pipe.
Fig. 168.—Pipe.
The chipped implements in the Bureau collection, are nearly always made of some form of flint or similar chalcedonic rock, as it is easily chipped and can be brought to a keen edge or point. Sometimes quartz, quartzite, argillite, or even a more granular rock is used; but this is infrequent, and is due to the scarcity of the more desirable material.
In the spades and hoes first to be considered the flaking seems to have been by percussion mainly, if not entirely; the same method appears to have been employed in obtaining flakes from blocks, to work into the smaller implements. Some of the processes used in making them will be hereinafter described.
It must be admitted that most Indians depended largely on agriculture for subsistence; some historical works that represent them as barbarous hunters, depending entirely on the chase, will, on the same page perhaps, relate how Virginia and New England pioneers were saved from starvation by supplies of corn, beans, and pumpkins obtained from the Indians. This being the case, some method of cultivation was necessary.
It is not to be inferred that “cultivation” implies all that is now meant by the term; the Indian seems merely to have worked the hill in which his corn was planted and not the whole surface of the field, a shallow hole being scooped out in which the grain was dropped, and as the stalk became larger the dirt was heaped up around it. The remains of many “Indian old fields” in various parts of the country show this, there being no long ridges as in cornfields of the present day, but only a great number of these detached hills. The great scarcity of implements suitable for such work argues nothing, for in most parts of the country stone easily worked and adapted to the purpose is unobtainable.
There are a few flint deposits found in southern Illinois in which the material occurs in nodules that can be made with even less work than a piece of wood into suitable implements; and in the country which may be considered as belonging to this archeologic district the flint hoes and spades are tolerably abundant. In other portions of the country, wood, the shoulder blades of large animals, and musselshells perforated for attachment to a handle, were formerly used; the shells are frequently found, but the other materials have long since disappeared.
Early observations on the industries of the aborigines are significant. Thus, according to De Forest, the Connecticut Indians used spades rudely constructed of wood, or of a large shell fastened to a wooden handle;122and Palmer123figures a hoe made of horn, 14 by 5 by one-fourth inches, in a wooden handle 5 feet long, which is split and slipped over the smaller end; such, with others of wood and stone, were used among the Utah Indians before iron was introduced. Dawson holds that they were probably prepared in large numbers for the planting time, when the whole tribe mustered to till the fields, and that when the work was over they were gathered and hidden in some safe place until the nextseason.124This may have been the case to some extent, but the specimens found in these hiding places seldom have marks of use, and it is more probable that they were the property either of persons living at a distance or of an individual manufacturer in some particular village, being thus concealed for safe-keeping until there was a demand for them or, perhaps, to await a convenient time for transportation. A sedentary tribe would have no more reason for hiding this than any other kind of property.