“The shell gorget from Lincoln County, Kentucky, is exceptionally large, being six inches in diameter. The design is engraved on the concave surface and represents a double-headed eagle treated in a very conventional manner. The heads are well drawn, but the bodies are simplified so that two legs only with characteristic talons are shown. The tail is single. The work corresponds in style to similar delineations on clay and other materials throughout a large part of the Gulf States, as shown fully in the works of Mr. Clarence B. Moore. It is not possible to say whether or not the duplication of the heads had any significance, or whether it is the result simply of the common practice in primitive art of employing modified natural forms to accommodate the spaces to be embellished. That the eagle, however, had some special significance with the peoples concerned, may be taken for granted.”
Fig. 531. (S. 2–3.)
Collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton, Michigan. The upper figure is from a mound on Long Island, Tennessee River, Jackson County, Alabama. The lower figure is from a mound at the mouth of Chickamauga Creek, Hamilton County, Tennessee.
Fig. 532. (S. 2–3.)
Collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton, Michigan. The upper figure is from a mound at Citico Furnace, Chattanooga, Tennessee. The lower figure is from a mound at Long Island, near Bridgeport, Jackson County, Alabama.
Fig. 533. (S. 1–3.) Shell gorgets from Kentucky. Bennett H. Young’s collection.
Fig. 534. (S. 2–3.) Shell gorget from Lyon County, Kentucky. United States National Museum collection.
Fig. 533 presents six beautiful engraved gorgets from Colonel Young’s collection, who has in his exhibit as many engraved shells as any other collector in this country. For many years he has interested himself in the archæology of Kentucky and has preserved thousands of specimens. No. 3 in this plate is shown in a larger form in Fig. 535. No. 4 is one of the rare gorgets with the design of the cross worked out by cutting entirely through the shell. No. 6 is practically the same as the right-hand specimen in Fig. 530, only that it is worked in higher relief. The exact meaning of these carvings is unknown at the present time.
Fig. 535. (S. 2–3.) Collection of Bennett H. Young, Louisville, Kentucky.