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.
Fig. 112.—Plummet, grooved near one end.
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.