Chapter I: Part 1

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

Words that were printed in italics are marked with _ _. Printing and spelling errors have been corrected. A list of these corrections can be found at the end of the document. Inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation and between the List of Illustrations and the actual titles of Plates have not been corrected.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION----BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

ART IN SHELL

OF THE

ANCIENT AMERICANS.

BY

WILLIAM H. HOLMES.

CONTENTS.

Page.
Introductory 185

Implements and utensils 189
Unworked shells 189
Vessels 192
Spoons 198
Knives 201
Celts 203
Scrapers 205
Agricultural implements 207
Fishing appliances 207
Weapons 210
Tweezers 211

Ornaments 213
Pins 213
Beads 219
Perforated shells 219
Discoidal beads 221
Massive beads 223
Tubular beads 226
Runtees 228
Beads as ornaments 230
Beads as currency 234
Mnemonic use of beads 240
Pendants 255
Perforated plates 264
Engraved gorgets 267
The cross 268
The scalloped disk 273
The bird 280
The spider 286
The serpent 289
The human face 293
The human figure 297

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.
PLATE XXI.--Natural shells as vessels 192
XXII.--Vessels artificially shaped 194
XXIII.--Vessel with engraved surface 196
XXIV.--Spoons 200
XXV.--Celts 204
XXVI.--Cutting and scraping implements 206
XXVII.--Weapons, agricultural implements, etc. 208
XXVIII.--Fishing appliances 210
XXIX.--Manufacture of pins and beads 214
XXX.--Pins, Atlantic coast forms 216
XXXI.--Pins, Pacific coast forms 218
XXXII.--Beads, perforated shells 220
XXXIII.--Beads, discoidal in form 222
XXXIV.--Beads, massive in form 224
XXXV.--Beads, tubular in form 226
XXXVI.--Beads, "Runtees" 228
XXXVII.--The wampum belt in treaties 240
XXXVIII.--Wampum belts 242
XXXIX.--Wampum belts 244
XL.--Wampum belt 246
XLI.--Wampum belt 248
XLII.--Wampum belt 250
XLIII.--The Penn belt 252
XLIV.--Strings of wampum 254
XLV.--Ancient pendant ornaments 256
XLVI.--Plain pendants, Atlantic coast forms 258
XLVII.--Plain pendants, Pacific coast forms 260
XLVIII.--Plain pendants, Pacific coast forms 262
XLIX.--Plain pendants, Pacific coast forms 264
L.--Perforated plates 266
LI.--Engraved gorgets, the cross 268
LII.--Engraved gorgets, the cross 270
LIII.--Engraved gorgets, the cross 272
LIV.--Engraved gorgets, scalloped disks 274
LV.--Engraved gorgets, scalloped disks 276
LVI.--Engraved gorgets, scalloped disks 278
LVII.--Scalloped disks, etc. 280
LVIII.--Engraved gorgets, the bird, etc. 282
LIX.--Engraved gorgets, the bird, etc. 284
LX.--Engraved gorgets, the bird 286
LXI.--Engraved gorgets, the spider 288
LXII.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 290
LXIII.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 290
LXIV.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 292
LXV.--Engraved gorgets, the rattlesnake 292
LXVI.--The serpent 292
LXVII.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 294
LXVIII.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 294
LXIX.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 296
LXX.--Engraved gorgets, the human face 296
LXXI.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 298
LXXII.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 298
LXXIII.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 300
LXXIV.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 300
LXXV.--Engraved gorgets, the human figure 302
LXXVI.--The human figure 302
LXXVII.--Sculptured frogs 304

ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS.

BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES.

INTRODUCTORY.

The student will find scattered throughout a wide range of archæologic literature frequent but casual mention of works of art in shell. Individual uses of shell have been dwelt upon at considerable length by a few authors, but up to this time no one has undertaken the task of bringing together in one view the works of primitive man in this material.

Works of ancient peoples in stone, clay, and bronze, in all countries, have been pretty thoroughly studied, described, and illustrated.

Stone would seem to have the widest range, as it is employed with almost equal readiness in all the arts.

Clay is widely used and takes a foremost place in works of utility and taste.

Metals are too intractable to be readily employed by primitive peoples, and until a high grade of culture is attained are but little used.

Animal substances of compact character, such as bone, horn, ivory, and shell, are also restricted in their use, and the more destructible substances, both animal and vegetable, however extensively employed, have comparatively little archæologic importance.

All materials, however, are made subservient to man and in one way or another become the agents of culture; under the magic influence of his genius they are moulded into new forms which remain after his disappearance as the only records of his existence.

Each material, in the form of convenient natural objects, is applied to such uses as it is by nature best fitted, and when artificial modifications are finally made, they follow the suggestions of nature, improvements being carried forward in lines harmonious with the initiatory steps of nature.

Had the materials placed at the disposal of primitive peoples been as uniform as are their wants and capacities, there would have been but little variation in the art products of the world; but the utilization of a particular material in the natural state gives a strong bias to artificial products, and its forms and functions impress themselves upon art products in other materials. Thus unusual resources engender unique arts and unique cultures. Such a result, I apprehend, has in a measure been achieved in North America.

In a broad region at one time occupied by the mound-building tribes we observe a peculiar and an original effort--an art distinctive in the material employed, in the forms developed, and to some extent in the ideas represented. It is an age of shell, a sort of supplement to the age of stone.

It is not my intention here to attempt at extended discussion of the bearings of this art upon the various interesting questions of anthropologic science, but rather to present certain of its phases in the concrete, to study the embodiment of the art of the ancient American in this one material, and to present the results in a tangible manner, not as a catalogue of objects, but as an elementary part of the whole body of human art, illustrating a particular phase of the evolution of culture.

This paper is to be regarded simply as an outline of the subject, to be followed by a more exhaustive monograph of the art in shell of all the ancient American peoples.

Art had its beginning when man first gathered clubs from the woods, stones from the river bed, and shells from the sea-shore for weapons and utensils. In his hands these simple objects became modified by use into new forms, or were intentionally altered to increase their convenience. This was the infancy, the inception of culture--a period from which a tedious but steady advance has been made until the remarkable achievements of the present have been reached.

Rude clubs have become weapons of curious construction and machinery of marvelous complication, and the pebbles and shells are the prototypes of numerous works in all materials. Rude rafts which served to cross primeval rivers have become huge ships, and the original house of bark and leaves is represented by palaces and temples, glittering with light and glowing with color.

The steps which led up to these results are by no means clear to us; they have not been built in any one place or by any one people. Nations have risen and fallen, and have given place to others that in turn have left a heap of ruins. We find it impossible to trace back through the historic ages into and beyond the prehistoric shadows, the pathway to culture followed by any one people. The necessity for groping increases with every backward step, and we pick up one by one the scattered links of a chain that has a thousand times been broken. So far our information is meager and fragmentary, and centuries of research will be required to round up our knowledge to such a fullness as to enable us to rehabilitate the ancient races, a result to be reached only by an exhaustive comparative study of the art products of all peoples and of all ages.

By collecting the various relics of art in shell I shall be able to add a fragment to this great work. Destructible in their character these relics are seldom preserved from remote periods, and it is only by reason of their inhumation with the dead that they appear among antiquities at all. A majority of such objects, taken from graves and tumuli, known to post-date even the advent of the white race in North America, are so far decayed that unless most carefully handled they crumble to powder.

It is impossible to demonstrate the great antiquity of any of these relics. Many of those obtained from the shell heaps of the Atlantic coast are doubtless very ancient, but we cannot say with certainty that they antedate the discovery more than a few hundred years.

Specimens obtained from the mounds of the Mississippi Valley have the appearance of great antiquity, but beyond the internal evidence of the specimens themselves we have no reliable data upon which to base an estimate of time. The age of these relics is rendered still less certain by the presence of intrusive interments, which place side by side works of very widely separated periods.

The antiquity of the relics themselves is not, however, of first importance; the art ideas embodied in them have a much deeper interest. The tablets upon which the designs are engraved may be never so recent, yet the conceptions themselves have their origin far back in the forgotten ages. Deified ancestors and mythical creatures that were in the earlier stages rudely depicted on bark and skins and rocks were, after a certain mastery over materials had been achieved, engraved on tablets of flinty shell; and it is probable that in these rare objects we have, if not a full representation of the art of the ancient peoples, at least a large number of their most important works, in point of execution as well as of conception.

Man in his most primitive condition must have resorted to the sea-shore for the food which it affords. Weapons or other appliances were not necessary in the capture of mollusks; a stone to break the shell, or one of the massive valves of the shells themselves, sufficed for all purposes.

The shells of mollusks probably came into use as utensils at a very early date, and mutually with products of the vegetable world afforded natural vessels for food and water.

For a long period the idea of modifying the form to increase the convenience may not have been suggested and the natural shells were used for whatever purpose they were best fitted. In time, however, by accidental suggestions it would be found that modifications would enhance their usefulness, and the breaking away of useless parts and the sharpening of edges and points would be resorted to. Farther on, as it became necessary to carry them from point to point, changes would be made for convenience of transportation. Perforations which occur naturally in some species of shell, would be produced artificially, and the shells would be strung on vines or cords and suspended about the neck; in this way, in time, may have originated the custom of wearing pendants for personal ornament. Following this would be the transportation of such articles to distant places by wandering tribes, exchanges would take place with other tribes, and finally a trade would be developed and a future commerce of nations be inaugurated.

Results similar to the foregoing would spring doubtless from the employment of substances other than shell, but that material most closely associated with the acquisition of food would come first prominently into use.

The farther these useful articles were carried from the source of supply the greater the value that would attach to them, and far inland the shell of the sea might easily become an object of unusual consideration. Having an origin more or less shrouded in mystery, it would in time become doubly dear to the heart of the superstitious savage, perhaps an object of actual veneration, or at least one of such high esteem that it would be treasured by the living and buried with the dead.

The material so plentiful on the sea-shore that it was thought of only as it proved useful for vessels and implements, became a valued treasure in the interior; its functions were gradually enlarged and differentiated; it was worked into varied shapes, such as pendants for the ears, beads for the neck, pins for the hair, and elaborate gorgets for the breast; it served its turn as fetich and charm; and was frequently used in the ceremonial jugglery of the mystic dance.

The slightest modification of these relics by the hand of man attracts our attention, and from that infant stage of the art until the highest and most elaborate forms are reached they have the deepest interest to the student of human progress.

IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS.

UNWORKED SHELLS.

Some writers have suggested that the ancient peoples of the interior districts must have held shells from the sea in especial esteem, not only on account of their rarity, but also by reason of some sacred properties that had, from the mystery of their origin, become attached to them. It would appear, however, that shells were valued chiefly for their utility and beauty, and that fresh water as well as marine varieties were constantly employed. In their unworked state, for their beauty alone, they are treasured by peoples in all grades of culture, from the savage up through the barbarian stages to the most civilized state. As they are most conveniently shaped for utensils and implements, they have been of great service in the arts, and were thus of the greatest importance to primitive peoples.

It must not be supposed that the natural shells found in graves were always destined for use in an unworked state, but they should doubtless in many cases be regarded as highly-valued raw material intended for use in the manufacture of articles of utility and taste, in the tempering of potter's clay, or in effecting exchanges with neighboring tribes.

As vessels for food and drink, and as cups for paint, many species are most conveniently shaped. Good examples may be found in the _Haliotis_, so plentiful on the Pacific coast, the _Helcioniscus_ of the Pacific islands, the _Pattelidæ_ of Central and South America, or the _Pecten_ of many seas.

In their natural state they have a twofold interest to us--as utensils they are the forerunners of many more elaborate forms that have been evolved in more advanced stages of culture, and in their distribution they give us important insight into the commerce and migrations of their aboriginal owners.

_Pectens._--The Pectens are very widely distributed, and on account of their beauty of form and color have been in great favor with all peoples. They figure in the heraldic devices of the Middle Ages and in the symbolic paintings of the ancient Mexicans. They have been employed extensively by the ancient inhabitants of America as ornaments and rattles, and many examples exhumed from graves, mounds, and refuse heaps appear to have been used as utensils, cups for paint, and vessels for food and drink. They are especially plentiful in the cemeteries of the ancient Californians, from which Schumacher and Bowers have made excellent collections, and specimens may be found in the great museums of the country. A very good example of this shell (_Janira dentata_)[1] is shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXI, which represents a paint cup from Santa Barbara, Cal. This cup is still partially filled with dark, purplish, indurated paint. Some were receptacles for asphaltum, while others, which are quite empty, were employed probably for domestic purposes. The species chiefly used on the Atlantic coast are the _Pecten irradians_ and _P. concentricus_. On the Pacific coast the _Pecten caurinus_ and _P. hastatus_ are employed by the Makah and other Indians for rattles, and it is probable that some of the rudely perforated specimens found in our collections were intended for the same purpose.

_Clams._--Clams formed a very important part of the food of the ancient seaboard tribes, and the emptied shells have been utilized in a great variety of ways. The valves of many species are large and deep, and are available for cups and dishes, and as such are not scorned even by the modern clam-baker, who, like the ancient inhabitant, makes periodical visits to the sea-shore to fish and feast. They were also used as knives, scrapers, and hoes, and in historic times have been extensively used in the manufacture of wampum. The hard-shell clam, _Venus mercenaria_, on account of the purplish color of portions of the valves, has been most extensively used for this purpose. A southern variety, the _Mercenaria præparca_, is much larger and furnishes excellent dishes. The soft-shell clam, _Mya arenaria_, has been an important article of food, but the valves are not serviceable in the arts. The hen clam, _Mactra ponderosa_, which has large handsome valves, has also been used to some extent for utensils. On the Pacific coast the large clam, _Pachydesma crassatelloides_, is known also to be similarly used.

_Unios._--Shells of the great family of the _Unios_ have always held an important place in the domestic and mechanical arts of the savages of North America. Their chalky remains are among the most plentiful relics of the mounds and other ancient burial-places, and they come from kitchen middens and the more recent graves with all the pearly delicacy of the freshly emptied shell.

The valves of many varieties of these shells are well adapted to the use of man. Not large enough for food vessels, they make most satisfactory spoons and cups, and are frequently found to retain portions of the pigments left from the last toilet of the primeval warrior and destined for use in the spirit land. It is probable, however, that they were much more frequently employed as knives and scrapers, and as such have played their part in the barbaric feast of the primitive village, or have assisted in the bloody work of scalp-taking and torture. They are pretty generally distributed over the country, and their occurrence in the mounds will probably have but little importance in the study of artificial distribution. Very little trouble has been taken by explorers and writers to identify the numerous species collected.

_Haliotis._--The _Haliotis_ affords one of the best examples of the varied uses to which the natural shell has been applied by savage peoples. Recent explorations conducted by the government exploring parties in California have brought to the notice of archæologists and the world the existence of a new field of research--the burial-places of the ancient tribes of the Pacific coast. Many of the interments of this region are probably post-Columbian. Several species of this beautiful shell were used and are taken from the graves in great numbers, the pearly lusters being almost perfectly preserved. Many were used as paint-cups, and still retain dark pigments, probably ochers; one of these, a fine example of the _Haliotis californianus_, is shown in Fig. 4, Plate XXI. Some had contained food, and in a few cases still retained the much-esteemed _chia_ seed, while in others were found asphaltum, which was employed by these peoples in a variety of arts, the rows of eyes in the _Haliotis_ usually being stopped with it, and in one case, as shown in a specimen in the National Museum, it has been used to deepen a cup by building up a rim around the edge of a shallow shell. Many others are quite empty, and doubtless served as bowls, dishes, and spoons, or were ready at hand for the manufacture of implements and ornaments. Buried with the dead, they were designed to serve the purposes for which they were used in life.

This shell probably formed as important a factor in the commerce of these tribes as did the large conchs of the Atlantic coast in that of the mound-builders and their neighbors. In recent times they are known to have a high value attached to them, and Professor Putnam states[2] that a few years ago a horse could be had in exchange for a single shell of the _Haliotis rufescens_. This species is a great favorite toward the south, and the _Haliotis Kamschatkana_, which furnishes a dark greenish nacre, is much used farther north.

The rougher and more homely oyster-shell has also enjoyed the favor of the mound-building tribes, and has probably served many useful purposes, such as would only be suggested to peoples unacquainted with the use of metal. Many species of the _Fissurella_ and _Dentalium_ shells were in common use, advantage being taken of the natural perforations for stringing, the latter being quite extensively used for money on the Pacific slope.

In Fig. 2, Plate XXI, a cut is given of a _Mytilus_ shell paint-cup from an ancient Peruvian grave. It is copied from Plate 83 of the Necropolis of Ancon.[3] It is represented as still containing red paint, probably cinnabar.

A great variety of the larger univalve sea-shells were used in the unaltered state, the _Busycons_ probably taking the most important place, species of the _Strombus_, the _Cassis_, the _Nautilus_ and _Fasciolaria_ following in about the order named.

The _Busycon perversum_ has been more extensively used than any other shell, and consequently its distribution in one form or other is very wide. It is obtained along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Mexico, and within the United States it is artificially distributed over the greater part of the Atlantic slope. The uses to which this shell has been put by the ancient Americans are so numerous and varied that I shall not attempt to enumerate them here. They are, however, pretty thoroughly brought out in the subsequent pages of this paper.

From the employment of shells in their complete state their modification for convenience is but a slight step, and when once suggested is easily accomplished--holes are bored, handles are carved or added, margins are ground down, useless parts are broken away, and surfaces are polished. The columellæ are removed from the large univalves, and the parts used for a great variety of purposes. The mechanical devices employed have been very simple, such as flint implements for cutting, and rough stones for breaking and grinding. Hand-drills were at first used for perforating; but later mechanically revolving drills were devised.

VESSELS.

I shall not attempt to take up the various classes of objects in shell in the order of their development, as it would be hard to say whether food utensils, weapons, or ornaments were first used. It is also difficult to distinguish weapons proper from implements employed in the arts, such as celts, knives, hammers, etc., as it is probable they were all variously used according to the needs of their possessors.

Having briefly treated of natural vessels, it seems convenient to go on with vessels shaped by art. Early explorers in many portions of the American continent record, in their writing, the use by the natives of shells of various kinds as vessels. We have in this case historic evidence which bears directly upon prehistoric customs. Indeed, it is not impossible that the very shells used by the natives first encountered by Europeans, are the identical ones exhumed so recently from burial places, as many of the finer specimens of shell objects have associated with them articles of undoubted European manufacture. A notice of the earliest recorded use of these objects naturally introduces the prehistoric use.

With many nations that were bountifully supplied with convenient earthen and stone vessels, as well perhaps as others of the hard shells of fruits, the sea-shell was nevertheless a favorite vessel for drinking. Herrera describes the use of silver, gold, shell, and gourd cups at the banquets of the elegant monarch Montezuma II, who "sometimes drank out of cocoas and natural shells richly set with jewels." Other authors make similar statements. Clavigero says that "beautiful sea-shells or naturally formed vessels, curiously varnished, were used." In many of the periodical feasts of the Florida Indians shells were in high favor, and it is related how at a certain stage of one of the dances two men came in, each bearing very large conch-shells full of black drink, which was an infusion of the young leaves of the _cassine_ (probably _Ilex Cassine_, L.). After prolonged ceremonies, this drink was offered to the king, to the whites present, and then to the entire assembly.[4] It is a remarkable fact that a similar custom has been noticed among the Moquis of Arizona. Lieutenant Bourke witnessed the snake dance of that tribe a few years ago, and states that in front of the altar containing the snakes was a covered earthen vessel, which contained four large sea-shells and a liquid of some unknown composition, of which the men who handled the snakes freely drank. Vessels thus associated with important ceremonial customs of savages would naturally be of first importance in their sepulchral rites. De Bry, in the remarkable plates of his "Brevis Narratio," furnishes two instances of such use. Plate 19 shows a procession of nude females who scatter locks of their hair upon a row of graves, on each of which has been placed a large univalve shell, probably containing food or drink for the dead, and in Plate 40 we have another illustration of this custom, the shell being placed on the heap of earth raised above the grave of a departed chieftain. In Plate XXI, Fig. 1, an outline of the shell represented is given; it resembles most nearly the pearly nautilus, but, being drawn by the artist from memory or description, we are at liberty to suppose the shell actually used was a large _Busycon_ from the neighboring coast, probably more or less altered by art. Haywood, Hakluyt, Tonti, Bartram, Adair, and others mention the use of shells for drinking vessels, and in much more recent times Indians are known to have put them to a similar use.

On account of the rapidity with which they decay, we can know nothing of surface deposits of shells by prehistoric or even by comparatively recent peoples. It is only through the custom of burying valued articles with the dead that any of these relics are preserved to us. When we consider the quantity of such objects necessarily destroyed by time, exposure, and use, we marvel at the vast numbers that must have been, within a limited period of years, carried inland. In the more recent mounds there may be found specimens obtained by the Indians through the agency of white traders, but the vast majority were derived doubtless from purely aboriginal sources. Many instances could be cited to show that the whites have engaged in the trade in shells. Kohl, in speaking of early trade with the Ojibways of Lake Superior, states that when the traders "exhibited a fine large shell and held it to the ears of the Indians, these latter were astonished, saying they heard the roaring of the ocean in it, and paid for such a marvelous shell furs to the value of $30 or $40, and even more."[5]

Cabeça de Vaca[6] traded in sea-shells and "hearts" of sea-shells among the Charruco Indians of the Gulf coast nearly three hundred and fifty years ago.

The form of vessel of most frequent occurrence is made by removing the whorl, columella, and about one-half of the outer shell of the large univalves. The body of the lower whorl is cut longitudinally, nearly opposite the lip and parallel with it. The spire is divided on the same plane, a little above the apex, giving a result well illustrated in Fig. 1, Plate XXII. A very convenient and capacious bowl is thus obtained, the larger specimens having a capacity of a gallon or more. The work of dividing the shell and removing neatly the interior parts must have been one of no little difficulty, considering the compactness of the shell and the rudeness of the tools.

For nomadic peoples these vessels would have a great superiority over those of any other material, as they were not heavy and could be transported without danger of breaking.

In the manufacture of these vessels the _Busycon perversum_ seems to have been a great favorite; this may be the result of the less massive character of the shell, which permits more ready manipulation. The spines are less prominent and the walls more uniform in thickness than in shells of most other varieties found along the Atlantic seaboard. Specimens of the _Strombus_, _Cassis_, and _Fasciolaria_ were occasionally used. The specimen illustrated in Fig. 1, Plate XXII, is from a mound at Ritcherville, Ind., and is now in the National Museum at Washington. It is made from a _Busycon perversum_, and is ten and one-half inches in length by six and one-half in width at the most distended part. The body and spire have been cut in the manner described above, and the interior whorl and columella have been skillfully taken out. The rim is not very evenly cut, but is quite smooth. The outer surface of the shell has been well polished, but is now worn and scarred by use. The substance of the shell is very well preserved. A second example, now in the national collection, is from an ancient mound at Naples, Ill. It is very similar to the preceding, being made from the same species of shell. It is eleven inches in length by seven in width. The body of the shell is well preserved, the apex, however, being broken away. A small specimen, also in the National Museum, was obtained from a mound at Nashville, Tenn., by Professor Powell. It is three and a half inches in length, and very shallow, being but a small portion of the lower whorl of a _Busycon_.

Among the more recent acquisitions to the national collection are two very fine specimens of these _Busycon_ vessels. One of these was obtained from a mound at East Dubuque, Ill. It is eleven inches in length by seven in width at the widest part; the exterior surface is highly polished; the interior is less so, having suffered somewhat from decay; the beak is very long and slender, and has been used as a handle. The whole vessel has a dipper-like appearance.

The finest example of these vessels yet brought to my notice was obtained from a mound at Harrisburg, Ark., by Dr. Palmer, in October, 1882. It differs from the other specimens described in having an elaborate ornamental design engraved on the exterior surface. In shape it corresponds pretty closely to the first specimen figured, no part of the spire, however, being cut away; the interior parts have been removed, as usual. The surface is quite smooth, and the ridges on the inner surface of the spire are neatly rounded and polished. Its length is eleven inches, and its width seven. Plate XXIII is devoted to the illustration of this specimen. The entire exterior surface, from apex to base, is covered with a design of engraved lines and figures, which are applied in such a manner as to accord remarkably well with the expanding spiral of the shell. The upper surface of the spire is unusually flat, and has been ground quite smooth. It will be seen by reference to Fig. 2, Plate XXIII, that a series of lines, interrupted at nearly regular intervals by short cross lines and rectangular intaglio figures, has been carried from the apex outward toward the lip. Another series of lines begins on the upper margin next the inner lip of the shell, passes around the circumference of the upper surface, and extends downward over the carina, covering, as shown in the other figure, the entire body of the vessel, excepting the extreme point of the handle. The base of the shell, which is perforated, has a small additional group of lines. The lines of the principal series are, on the more expanded portion of the body of the shell, about eight inches long, and are interrupted by two rows of short lines and two rows of incised rectangular figures. The space between the latter contains the most interesting feature of the design. Three arrow-head shaped figures, two inches in length by one and one-half in width, are placed, one near the outer lip, another near the inner lip, and the third in the middle of the body, a little below the center. These figures are neatly cut and symmetrical, and resemble a barbed and blunt-pointed arrow-head. Near the center of each is a small circle, which gives the figure a close resemblance to a variety of perforated stone implements, one specimen of which has been found near Osceola, Ark. Whatever may be the significance of this design, and it is undoubtedly significant, it is at least a very remarkable piece of work and a highly successful effort at decoration. The pottery of this region which is generally highly decorated with painted and incised lines, contains nothing of a character similar to this, and it is probable that what I have come to consider a rule in such matters applies in this case; the design on the shell is significant or ideographic, that on the pottery is purely ornamental.

For the purpose of showing the very wide distribution of vessels made from large seashells, especially the _Busycon perversum_, I introduce here descriptions of most of the specimens heretofore reported.

Dr. Rau, in his paper on ancient aboriginal trade in North America, states that in the collection of Colonel Jones, of Brooklyn, there is a vessel formed from a _Cassis_ which is eight and a half inches long, and has a diameter of seven inches where its periphery is widest. It was obtained from a stone grave near Clarksville, Habersham County, Georgia.[7]

Two fine specimens of the _Cassis flammea_ were taken from mounds in Nacoochee Valley, Georgia. They were nearly ten inches in length and about seven inches in diameter. The interior whorls and columellæ had been removed, so that they answered the purpose of drinking cups or receptacles of some sort.[8]

From a stone grave mound near Franklin, on the Big Harpeth River, Prof. Joseph Jones took two large sea-shells, one of which was much decayed. The interior surface of these shells had been painted red, and the exterior had been marked with three large circular spots.[9]

In the grave of a child, near the grave just mentioned, the following relics were found: "Four large sea-shells, one on each side of the skeleton, another at the foot, and the fourth, a large specimen, with the interior apartments cut out and the exterior surface carved, covered the face and forehead of the skull."[10]

In a small mound opposite the city of Nashville, Tenn., Professor Jones found "a large sea-conch." The interior portion or spiral of which had been carefully cut out; it was probably used as a drinking vessel, or as the shrine of an idol as in a case observed by Dr. Troost.[11]

Two large shells of _Busycon_, from which the columellæ had been removed, were obtained from the Lindsley mounds, sixty miles east of Nashville, by Professor Putnam.[12]

Professor Wyman, writing of the mounds of Eastern Tennessee, says that "among the implements are well-preserved cups or dishes, made of the same species of shell [_Busycon perversum_] as the preceding, but of much more gigantic size than those now found. One of them measures a foot in length, though the beak has been broken off. When entire its length could not have been less than fourteen or fifteen inches. These shells probably came from the Gulf of Mexico, and found their way into Tennessee as articles of traffic. The dishes are made in the same way, and not to be distinguished from those found in Florida at the time of the first visit of the Europeans, or from those, as will be seen further, found in the ancient burial mounds. The great similarity in the style and make of these dishes renders it quite probable that they were manufactured in Florida."[13] A number of similar dishes, made from the same shell, were obtained from mounds at Cedar Keys, Florida, by Professor Wyman.[14]

Francis Cleveland, C. E., who, in 1828, had charge of the excavation known as the "deep cut" on the Ohio Canal, informed Colonel Whittlesey that at the depth of twenty-five feet in the alluvium several shells belonging to the species _Busycon perversum_ were taken out.[15]

Dr. Drake, writing of the Cincinnati mounds, mentions "several large marine shells, belonging, perhaps, to the genus _Buccinum_, cut in such a way as to serve for domestic utensils, and nearly converted into a state of chalk."[16]

Mr. Atwater states that "several marine shells, probably _Buccinum_, cut in such a manner as to be used for domestic utensils, were found in a mound on the Little Miami River, Warren County, Ohio."[17]

A _Cassis_ of large size, from which the inner whorls and columella had been removed to adapt it for use as a vessel, was found in Clark's mound, on Paint Creek, Scioto Valley, Ohio.[18] This specimen is eleven and a half inches in length by twenty-four in circumference at the largest part. It is further stated that fragments of these and other shells are found in the tumuli and upon the altars of the mound-builders. In digging the Ohio and Erie Canal, there was found, near Portsmouth, its southern terminus on the Ohio River, a cluster of five or six large shells, which appeared to have been thus carefully deposited by the hand of man. They were about three feet beneath the surface. The columellæ of some large shells, probably the _Strombus gigas_, were also discovered.[19]

Several large marine shells were found in a mound near Grand Rapids, Mich. They were all hollowed out, apparently for carrying or storing water, and in one case perforated at the upper edge on opposite sides for suspension by a cord or thong.[20]

Mr. Farquharson mentions a vessel made from a _Busycon perversum_, obtained from a mound near Davenport, Iowa. The shell has been cut through about an inch above the center; it is thirteen inches in length by seven in width, and has a capacity of nearly two pints.[21] He also describes a large specimen of _Cassis_ from a mound in Muscatine County, Iowa.[22]

Long, in his expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains in 1819, speaks of a large shell which seems to have been reverenced as a kind of oracle. This may have been one of the large, brilliantly-colored fossil _Baculites_ so common in the upper Missouri region. His description will be given in full in treating of the sacerdotal uses of shells.

In the Naturalist for October, 1879, Mr. Frey describes a sea-shell drinking vessel, somewhat modified by art, having a length of four and one-half inches. This, with other relics, among which were many shell beads, was found in an ancient grave in eastern New York, probably in the Mohawk Valley.

These vessels of shell have also served as models for the primitive potter. The ancient peoples of the middle Mississippi district were extremely skillful in the reproduction of natural objects in clay, and it is not surprising that they should imitate the form of the shell.

In the Peabody Museum is an earthen vessel copied from a shell vessel of the class just described, the characteristic features being all well imitated. It is about nine inches wide, eleven long and four deep. It is neatly made, and ornamented with the red and white designs peculiar to the pottery of this region. It was taken from one of the Stanley mounds, Saint Francis River, Ark.

A small earthen vessel made in imitation of these shell vessels is illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XXII. It is of the ordinary blackish ware so common in the middle Mississippi district. The general shape of the shell is well represented; the sides, however, are nearly symmetrical and the spire is represented by a central node, surrounded by four inferior nodes. It is four inches wide and five and one-half long. Three others represent shell vessels, somewhat less closely, the spires and beaks being added to the opposite sides of ordinary cups.

SPOONS.

As domestic utensils bivalve shells have held a place hardly inferior in importance to that of the large univalves. Marine and fluviatile varieties have been used indiscriminately, and generally in the natural state, but occasionally altered by art to enhance their beauty or add to their convenience. The artificial utensils do not, however, present a very great variety of form, the alteration consisting chiefly in the carving out of a kind of handle, by which device hot food could be eaten without danger of burning the fingers. The handle, which may be seen in all stages of development, is produced by cutting away portions of the anterior and basal margins of the shell, leaving the salient angle projecting; this angle is then undercut from the opposite sides so that it is connected with the body of the valve by a more or less restricted neck. The outer edge of the handle is frequently ornamented with notches, and in a few cases a round perforation has been made near the anterior tip for the purpose of suspension. In one case a rude design of small circular depressions has been added to the upper surface. In the finished implement the hinge, ligament, and teeth have been cut away, the thick dorsal margin carefully ground down, leaving a smooth, neat edge, and the anterior point, which was presented to the lips in eating or drinking, was well rounded and polished. The whole surface of the shell in the more finished specimens has been most carefully dressed. Altogether, the fashioning of these spoons must be regarded as a very ingenious performance for savages, and has cost much more labor than would the attachment of a handle, for which purpose it is not improbable the lateral notches may at times have been used. Our collections furnish no examples of marine univalves worked in this manner; a few slightly altered specimens, however, have been reported. Nearly all the specimens of carved spoons that have come to my notice are made from a few species of _Unio_.

It is a curious fact that most of these utensils have been made from the left valve of the shell, which gives such a position to the handle that they are most conveniently used by the right hand, thus indicating right-handedness on the part of these peoples. In the national collection there are two left-handed specimens, one from Nashville, Tenn., and one from Union County, Ky.

Professor Putnam states that he has "examined over thirty of these shell-spoons now in the museum [Peabody], and all are made from the right [left] valves of _Unionidæ_, and so shaped as to be most conveniently used with the right hand."[23]

By reference to Fig. 1, Plate XXIV, the probable manner of grasping and using the spoon will be seen. It will also be observed that the left valve of the shell is used to make the right-handed spoon, supposing of course that the point of the spoon is presented to the lips, the hinge corner being much less convenient for that purpose.

In regard to the use of these objects, which have occasionally been taken for ornaments, it should be mentioned that very many of them have been found within earthen vessels placed in the graves with the dead. The vessels, in all probability, were the receptacles of food, the spoons being so placed that they could be used by the dead as they had been used by the living.

The specimen shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXIV, was obtained by Professor Powell, from a mound near Nashville, Tenn. It is made from the left valve of a very delicate specimen of the _Unio ovatus_,[24] and has been finished with more than usual care. The entire rim is artificially shaped, the natural shell being much reduced, and six notches ornament the outside of the handle. The bowl of the spoon is nearly four inches in length and two and one-half in width. Eight other specimens were obtained from the same locality by Professor Powell. All are made from the _Unio ovatus_, one only being left-handed. All are inferior in finish to the specimen illustrated. The handles of a number are rudimentary, and the margins and surfaces are but slightly worked.

The spoon illustrated in Fig. 4, Plate XXIV, is made from the left valve of a _Unio alatus_ (?) and was obtained from a mound at Madisonville, Ohio. It is an unusually well-finished and handsome specimen, and notwithstanding its fragile character, is well preserved. A portion of the point has, unfortunately, been broken away. The handle is ornamented with four shallow notches, the anterior point being neatly rounded and perforated for suspension. The edges of the utensil have been carefully finished, and both the inner and outer surfaces have been ground down and polished so that all the natural markings are obliterated, and the surface shows the pearly marbling of the foliation. This specimen is figured in an interesting paper,[25] prepared by Mr. Charles F. Low, as an ornament, this use being suggested by its finish and decoration; but as it was found in what was presumably a food vessel, and at the same time resembles so closely the spoons of other localities, I take the liberty of classifying it with them.

One of the most interesting collections of these utensils was made in Union County, Ky., by S. S. Lyon. Our information in regard to this lot of specimens is, unfortunately, quite meager, as Mr. Lyon's report gives them but casual mention.

Fig. 2, Plate XXIV, illustrates the finest of these specimens on a scale of one-half. The shell used is a large specimen of _Unio ovatus_, the bowl of the spoon being about four inches long and three wide. As the right valve has been used, the utensil is left-handed. The handle is ornamented with two marginal notches; the basal point is long and spine-like, and is deeply undercut. The anterior point is beak-like in shape, the nicely made perforation holding, in relation to it, the position of an eye, which, together with the comb-like notches above, gives a pretty close resemblance to a bird's head. The point of the spoon is broken away.

The seven remaining spoons from this locality have a variety of handles, all of which are notched on the outer margin, while a few only are deeply undercut; all have been made from the left valve of the _Unio ovatus_ (?) and are of medium size and ordinary finish.

Another specimen in the national collection comes from Henderson County, Ky. The shell used is the _Unio ovatus_; the handle is notched on the outer margin, but is only slightly under-cut; the thick margin of the shell about the hinge has not been removed.

A spoon made from the left valve of a _Unio silignoidens_ (?) has recently been obtained from a mound at Osceola, Ark.; it is but slightly worked, having a series of small notches cut in the basal margin, toward the front.

The Natural History Museum of New York contains a specimen of this class, labeled as coming from Georgia. It has a rounded handle, without either perforation or notches.

The Peabody Museum contains a very superior collection, consisting of specimens from several localities. Six of these, made from _Unionidæ_, mostly from the _Unio ovatus_, were obtained from one of the Bowling mounds near Nashville, Tenn.; others crumbled on being handled and were lost. Several others were obtained in the same region.[26] Two more were found in an earthen vessel between two skeletons, in one of the Lindsley mounds at Lebanon, sixty miles east of Nashville.[27]

In a stone-cist mound on the Big Harpeth River, Prof. Joseph Jones found "a few large fresh-water mussel-shells, which were much altered by time. These mussel-shells appeared from their shape to have been artificially carved, and to have been used as ornaments and also as spoons or cups for dipping up food and drink."[28]

Three fine specimens have recently been obtained from graves at Harrisburg, Ark. They are but slightly worked as compared with the more elaborate specimens. The hinge, teeth, and ligaments have been ground down and a portion of the postero-dorsal margin removed, leaving the posterior point and basal margin projecting for a handle. The surfaces are well smoothed. The general outline of the shell is subtriangular; it is three inches wide by four and one-half in length and is probably made from the _Unio cuneatus_.

Beverly gives a plate illustrating two Virginia Indians, man and wife, at dinner; on the mat by the woman is "a Cockle-Shell, which they sometimes use instead of a Spoon." "The Spoons which they eat with, do generally hold half a Pint; and they laugh at the English for using small ones, which they must be forc'd to carry so often to their Mouths, that their Arms are in Danger of being tir'd, before their Belly."[29]

KNIVES.

From a very early date shells must have been employed quite extensively by the ancient Americans as implements, as weapons for war and the chase, as appliances for fishing, as agricultural implements, and as knives, gougers, scrapers, perforators, etc., in a variety of arts. It is a noteworthy fact, however, that our collections do not abound in objects of these classes, and our literature furnishes but little information on the subject. Our interest lies chiefly in such of these objects as have been shaped by the hand of man, but to illustrate their use we will find it instructive to study the various ways in which the natural shells have been employed. In this manner we may trace the origin and development of artificial forms.

As we have seen in the early modification of food utensils the beginning of the art of cutting and shaping shell, which in time led to the manufacture of objects of taste, and probably proved an important step in the evolution of native American art, so in this convenient and workable material, as employed in the mechanical arts, we witness the inception of many important human industries, and in the rude machines constructed from shell probably behold the prototypes of numerous works in stone and metal. It cannot be supposed that such of these objects as we do possess are of very ancient date, as the material is not sufficiently enduring. It is also improbable that such objects would, as a rule, be so frequently deposited in graves, as food vessels or objects of personal display, and objects not so deposited must soon have disappeared.

The early explorers of the American coast make occasional mention of the employment of shells in the various arts. As many of these notices are interesting, and have an important bearing upon the subject under consideration, I will present a number of them here. Among a majority of the American Indians, knives of stone, obsidian, jasper, and flint were in general use, but it would seem that shells artificially shaped and sharpened were also sometimes used for shaping objects in wood and clay, in preparing food, in dressing game, and in human butchery.

Strachey informs us, in volume VI of the Hakluyt Society, that when the omnipotent Powhatan "would punish any notorious enemy or trespasser, he causeth him to be tyed to a tree, and with muscle shells or reedes the executioner cutteth off his joints one after another, ever casting what is cutt off into the fier; then doth he proceede with shells and reedes to case the skyn from his head and face."[30]

Such knives were also used by Powhatan's women for cutting off their hair.[31]

A number of authors mention the use of shells as scalping-knives.

Kalm, speaking of the Indians of New Jersey, says that "instead of knives, they were satisfied with little sharp pieces of flint or quartz, or else some other hard kind of a stone, or with a sharp shell, or with a piece of bone, which they had sharpened."[32]

The Indians encountered by Henry Hudson during his first voyage, in making him welcome, "killed a fat dog, and skinned it in great haste with shells which they had."[33]

Beverly asserts that before the English supplied the Virginia Indians with metallic tools, "their Knives were either sharpen'd Reeds, or Shells, and their Axes sharp Stones bound to the end of a Stick, and glued in with Turpentine. By the help of these they made their Bows of the Locust Tree."[34]

Drake, in his "World Encompassed," speaking of some of the southern tribes of South America, probably the Patagonians, says that "their hatchetts and knives are made of mussel-shells, being great and a foot in length, the brickle part whereof being broken off, they grind them by great labor to a fine edge and very sharpe, and as it seemeth, very durable.[35] * * * Their working tools, which they use in cutting these things and such other, are knives made of most huge and monstrous mussell shells (the like whereof have not been seen or heard of lightly by any travelers, the meate thereof being very savourie and good in eating), which, after they have broken off the thinne and brittle substance of the edge, they rub and grind them upon stones had for the purpose, till they have tempered and set such an edge upon them, that no wood is so hard but they will cut it at pleasure with the same."[36]

According to Sproat, shell knives were used by the Indians of Vancouver's Island in carving the curious wooden images placed over graves.[37]

Ancient shell knives are very rarely found in collections. Such specimens as have come to my notice could as well be classed as scrapers or celts. We will probably not be far wrong in concluding that such implements were used for scraping and digging as well as for cutting. As a rule, knives proper were simply sharpened bivalve shells. The scrapers so frequently mentioned were doubtless often the same, but probably more frequently portions of the lower whorl of the large univalves.

CELTS.