The natives of the California coast were not slow in taking advantage of natural forms to aid their art or to save labor. The shells of the Fissurellidæ as well as of the Haliotidæ have been in great favor. They have been used as beads and pendants in their natural state or the natural perforations have been enlarged until only a ring has been left, or the margin and sides have been ground down until nothing of the original form or surface remained. Two of these forms are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. They are from graves on San Miguel Island, and are made from the Lucupina crenulata; others come from Santa Cruz Island; and probably also from the adjoining islands as well as from the main-land. Rings are also made from other shells. Examples made from the Acmæa mitra and Cyprea spadicea are shown in Figs. 9, 10, and 11. They come from San Miguel.
PL. XLIX—PLAIN PENDANTS—PACIFIC COAST FORMS.
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PERFORATED PLATES.
We find that pendant gorgets grade imperceptibly into another group of objects, the use or significance of which have not be fully determined. These objects are more frequently made of stone or copper, but good examples in shell have been found. As a rule they take the form of thin oblong plates which exhibit great variety of outline. The perforations are peculiar, and have not been designed for ordinary suspension, but are placed near the middle of the specimen as if for fixing it to the person or costume by means of cords. Many theories have been advanced in attempting to determine their use. They have been classed as gorgets, badges of authority, shuttles, armor plates, wrist protectors, and as implements for sizing sinews and twisting cords.
Objects of this class in stone have been frequently illustrated and described. They are made of many varieties of stone, some of which seem to have been selected on account of their beauty. They have been neatly shaped and often well-polished. The edges are occasionally notched and the surfaces ornamented with patterns of incised lines. The perforations vary from one to four, the greater number of specimens, however, having only two. In the early days of mound exploration objects of this class were even greater enigmas, if possible, than they are to-day. Even the material of which a number of them were formed remained for a long time undetermined. Schoolcraft has published an illustration of a large specimen from the Grave Creek Mound, Va. This drawing is reproduced in Fig. 3, Plate L. The original was six inches long, one and three-tenths inches wide, and three-tenths of an inch in thickness. He expresses the opinion that it was one of those ancient badges of authority formerly in such general use among the Indians.[129]
Another specimen, very much like the last in size and shape, but made of shell, supposed at the time of discovery to be ivory, was found associated with human remains in the Grave Creek Mound. It is described by Mr. Tomlinson in the American Pioneer,[130] and the cut given in Plate L, Fig. 4, is copied from that work.
A remarkable specimen of this class is given in Fig. 5. It is made from the body of a large Busycon perversum, and is nine and a half inches long by three inches in width at the widest part. The concave surface has been highly polished, but is now somewhat roughened by weathering; the back has been slightly ground to take off the rougher ridges of growth; the edges are even and rounded and in many places quite thin. The peculiarity of its shape is such as to give it very much the appearance of the sole of a sandal. The perforations are three in number, one being near the middle and the others near the broader end, about one and a half inches apart; they are very neatly made and are slightly bi-conical and a little countersunk. There appears to be no evidence whatever of abrasion by use. It was found associated with human remains in a mound at Sharpsburg, Mercer County, Ohio. A similar specimen from the same locality is nearly nine inches in length, and lacks but a little of three and a half inches in width. As in the specimen illustrated, one perforation is placed near the middle and two others near the broader end. This specimen is highly polished on the broader part of the back, and is evenly smoothed on the concave side. It bears evidence of considerable use, and the two holes are much worn by a string or cord, which, passing from one hole to the other on the concave side of the plate, gradually worked a deep groove between them. On the back or convex side, the perforations show no evidence of wear. The central perforation is not worn on either side. The letter of Mr. Whitney, transmitting this relic to the National Museum, states that there were in the mound "about ten pairs of the shell sandals of different sizes, and made to fit the right and left feet." From the latter remark I should infer that some were made from dextral and others from sinistral shells; the two described are made from the Busycon perversum.
An extremely fine specimen, much like the preceding, was exhumed from an ancient mound in Hardin County, Ohio. It was found on the head of a skeleton which occupied a sitting posture near the center of the mound. It is nine inches in length by three and one-half inches in width, and in shape resembles the sole of a moccasin, being somewhat broader and less pointed than the specimen presented in Fig. 5. It had been placed upon the skull with the wider end toward the back, but whether laid there as a burial offering simply or as constituting a part of the head-dress of the dead savage we have no means of determining. The perforations are three in number, and are placed similarly to those in the specimen illustrated in Fig. 5. Two other skeletons had similar plates associated with them, which differed from the one described in size only, the smaller one being less than six inches in length. Lithographs of two of these specimens are given by Mr. Matson, in whose very excellent report they were first described.[131]