Certain specimens in Figs. 389 and 391 have a second small but prominent depression exactly in the centre. Usually about this depression is a little rim.
Fig. 392 is a photogravure plate from the collection of Mr. F. P. Graves of Doe Run, Missouri.
Here we have all of the discs and bicaves present. In the lower row is a large polished disc with flat base, which is not concave on either side. To the left of it, one in which the concavity is slightly marked. The others range from this type to those that are perforated through the centre. In Fig. 390, Colonel Young’s collection, there is a bicave of unusual form, being high instead of broad, with slight concavities, yet having the central depression clearly indicated. These have been called “chunky” stones by those who have written regarding the famous Southern game played by various Indians in the South and which has been described so frequently that I dismiss it with the statement that round discs similar to those illustrated in this chapter were rolled along the ground and a spear or lance shot after them, and the stone when it fell over on the side was supposed to be transfixed by one of these projectiles. Or, the nearness of a projectile to the hole in the stone counted in various ways. There is an early historical reference to this game cited in the Conclusions, Volume II.
Fig. 387. (S. 1–4.) This series of fourteen circular stones, with depressed centres, and most of them perforated, is from the Andover collection. They represent the smaller bicave or discoidal stones. All of them are fine and interesting specimens. Materials: sandstone, clay, and granite. Localities: Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio.
Fig. 388. (S. 1–4.) Discoidal stones from Kentucky; valley of the Cumberland River. The central one is of slate. B. H. Young’s collection, Louisville, Kentucky.
Discoidals may be common, circular discs with flat polished sides, or circular with concave sides and perforated through the centre, or with the centre rimmed out, as certain specimens in Fig. 387. In this figure all are bicaves save three. That all of these small ones were used in playing chunky games I do not believe. They may have served as gaming-stones in other events. Some of the ruder ones, of the small stones I mean, may have been spindle-whorls.
Fig. 389. (S. 1–3.) Phillips Academy collection. Locality: Tennessee. Material: quartz and quartzite.