Fig. 311. (S. 1–1.) J. A. Rayner’s collection. Material: fine sandstone, dark brown color. An unusual flat tablet, in that there are four concave sides. Yet this specimen must not be considered of the winged type. It is a flat tablet with the sides cut out into this fanciful form. It seems to me that the intention of the workman was to cut lines or designs upon the surfaces as he did in Figs. 309 and 312.
A study of the distribution and character of problematical forms acquaints one with the significant fact that the quarried slate or shale was worked into forms more or less specialized. The specimens from Martin’s Creek are of the winged or crescent or expanded winged type; and they can be recognized as from that site. The flat ornaments seem to have been manufactured out of ordinary water-worn fragments, or thin slabs of shale.
Fig. 312. (S. 1–1.) Brown fine-grained sandstone. J. A. Rayner’s collection, Piqua, Ohio. Found in a mound one half mile north of Piqua. The original was sent me for examination. It bears a close resemblance to the “Cincinnati tablet” in treatment and form. The designs are not hieroglyphic, but are of that peculiar serpentine character noted on so many of the engraved shells, pottery, etc. Only half of it was found, and as the break appears to be old, the specimen is of unquestioned genuineness.
Up to the present, with few exceptions, I have considered the manufacture and use of these objects in prehistoric times. Now, I wish to present a number of pages with reference to the ornaments in use among Indians between the years 1600 and 1800.
I said in the introduction of “The Stone Age” that wherever I found a valuable paper dealing with certain subjects along the lines followed in this book, such paper would in whole, or in part, be quoted.
Fig. 313. (S. 1–2.) Engraved tablets of fine sandstone. Collection of J. A. Rayner, Piqua, Ohio. These may or may not be genuine. At any rate, they are two very interesting tablets, but they have to me a suggestion of the school slate, as if the person who made them was familiar with our modern slates. However, I do not wish to do the specimens an injustice, although they bear written characters, and of course these are always viewed with suspicion, since so few have been found in this country. Whether the tablets are the work of prehistoric man, I leave for others to decide. Mr. Rayner, who owns these tablets, states that they were both found in a mound near Piqua, Ohio. He sent me at the time a blue-print picture of the mound and gave a complete account of the exploration.
