It seems to me that the uses assigned under V and VI are more probable. I am of the opinion that we can set aside the proposal under IV, that plummets served as hand-pestles, they being too small for that purpose. All the paint-pestles I have ever observed were miniature hand-pestles, or “mullers,” and not grooved.
Fig. 379. (S. 1–4.) This figure shows a series of plummet-shaped stones from California. These are in the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. Quite a number of these are not grooved. More highly specialized plummets from California are shown in Fig. 383. Nobody has ever satisfactorily explained the anchor-shaped stones from along the Pacific Coast, some of which are illustrated in this figure.
There is presented by Dr. Peabody on page 25 of his paper, the opinion that these might be worn about the neck by a man when fishing or hunting, rather than that they were in actual use as a part of fishing or hunting paraphernalia. Here we have what seems to me to be the solution of the mystery. The charm-stone brought luck to the man in his pursuits of game on land and fish in the sea. But it was entirely too valuable a stone to attach to the cord and risk losing during the fishing operations. Pursuing our study of aboriginal traits, we may, at last, come to an understanding of the workings of the Indian mind, and we may learn that the man placed greater faith in the potency of his medicine, or of his charms, than he did in his actual implements made use of in capturing game or defeating the enemy. Such things as these plummets and other problematical forms served as charms, amulets, and medicine-stones. But ruder things were made use of in the actual workings necessary to achieve the desired results.
We have already seen (page [26]) under which classification the Committee places plummets. Plummets do not cover a wide range, and yet the plummet form is doubtless an early development.
Fig. 380. (S. 1–2.) Ornament and plummet. W. H. Foster collection, Andover.
It was natural for man to select a bit of shell, oval in form, and perforate it, and make of it a pendant just as he did in bright-colored flat stones. It is quite likely that he next grooved a soft stone and wore it as a plummet-shaped ornament. Becoming proficient in the working of stone, he was able to groove harder materials and make of them the plummets we find so frequently in some portions of America. I have not attempted to subdivide plummets, although they may be long and slender, short and thick, oval, flat on one side; or the body large, and the neck somewhat lengthened. Plummets may also be grooved at either end, and instead of being grooved may be perforated, as is seen in California types.
It is well for readers and students alike to consult the large folder of outlines (Fig. 292) which presents plummets as well as other forms.
The plummet may not only be plain, but also almost effigy-like in character. Some of the sandstone plummets of the South, and of southern Ohio as well, are decorated with incised lines as indicated in Fig. 360, in which one is shown.