Pectens.—The Pectens are very widely distributed, and on account of their beauty of form and color have been in great favor with all peoples. They figure in the heraldic devices of the Middle Ages and in the symbolic paintings of the ancient Mexicans. They have been employed extensively by the ancient inhabitants of America as ornaments and rattles, and many examples exhumed from graves, mounds, and refuse heaps appear to have been used as utensils, cups for paint, and vessels for food and drink. They are especially plentiful in the cemeteries of the ancient Californians, from which Schumacher and Bowers have made excellent collections, and specimens may be found in the great museums of the country. A very good example of this shell (Janira dentata)[1] is shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXI, which represents a paint cup from Santa Barbara, Cal. This cup is still partially filled with dark, purplish, indurated paint. Some were receptacles for asphaltum, while others, which are quite empty, were employed probably for domestic purposes. The species chiefly used on the Atlantic coast are the Pecten irradians and P. concentricus. On the Pacific coast the Pecten caurinus and P. hastatus are employed by the Makah and other Indians for rattles, and it is probable that some of the rudely perforated specimens found in our collections were intended for the same purpose.
Clams.—Clams formed a very important part of the food of the ancient seaboard tribes, and the emptied shells have been utilized in a great variety of ways. The valves of many species are large and deep, and are available for cups and dishes, and as such are not scorned even by the modern clam-baker, who, like the ancient inhabitant, makes periodical visits to the sea-shore to fish and feast. They were also used as knives, scrapers, and hoes, and in historic times have been extensively used in the manufacture of wampum. The hard-shell clam, Venus mercenaria, on account of the purplish color of portions of the valves, has been most extensively used for this purpose. A southern variety, the Mercenaria præparca, is much larger and furnishes excellent dishes. The soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria, has been an important article of food, but the valves are not serviceable in the arts. The hen clam, Mactra ponderosa, which has large handsome valves, has also been used to some extent for utensils. On the Pacific coast the large clam, Pachydesma crassatelloides, is known also to be similarly used.
Unios.—Shells of the great family of the Unios have always held an important place in the domestic and mechanical arts of the savages of North America. Their chalky remains are among the most plentiful relics of the mounds and other ancient burial-places, and they come from kitchen middens and the more recent graves with all the pearly delicacy of the freshly emptied shell.
The valves of many varieties of these shells are well adapted to the use of man. Not large enough for food vessels, they make most satisfactory spoons and cups, and are frequently found to retain portions of the pigments left from the last toilet of the primeval warrior and destined for use in the spirit land. It is probable, however, that they were much more frequently employed as knives and scrapers, and as such have played their part in the barbaric feast of the primitive village, or have assisted in the bloody work of scalp-taking and torture. They are pretty generally distributed over the country, and their occurrence in the mounds will probably have but little importance in the study of artificial distribution. Very little trouble has been taken by explorers and writers to identify the numerous species collected.
Haliotis.—The Haliotis affords one of the best examples of the varied uses to which the natural shell has been applied by savage peoples. Recent explorations conducted by the government exploring parties in California have brought to the notice of archæologists and the world the existence of a new field of research—the burial-places of the ancient tribes of the Pacific coast. Many of the interments of this region are probably post-Columbian. Several species of this beautiful shell were used and are taken from the graves in great numbers, the pearly lusters being almost perfectly preserved. Many were used as paint-cups, and still retain dark pigments, probably ochers; one of these, a fine example of the Haliotis californianus, is shown in Fig. 4, Plate XXI. Some had contained food, and in a few cases still retained the much-esteemed chia seed, while in others were found asphaltum, which was employed by these peoples in a variety of arts, the rows of eyes in the Haliotis usually being stopped with it, and in one case, as shown in a specimen in the National Museum, it has been used to deepen a cup by building up a rim around the edge of a shallow shell. Many others are quite empty, and doubtless served as bowls, dishes, and spoons, or were ready at hand for the manufacture of implements and ornaments. Buried with the dead, they were designed to serve the purposes for which they were used in life.
This shell probably formed as important a factor in the commerce of these tribes as did the large conchs of the Atlantic coast in that of the mound-builders and their neighbors. In recent times they are known to have a high value attached to them, and Professor Putnam states[2] that a few years ago a horse could be had in exchange for a single shell of the Haliotis rufescens. This species is a great favorite toward the south, and the Haliotis Kamschatkana, which furnishes a dark greenish nacre, is much used farther north.
The rougher and more homely oyster-shell has also enjoyed the favor of the mound-building tribes, and has probably served many useful purposes, such as would only be suggested to peoples unacquainted with the use of metal. Many species of the Fissurella and Dentalium shells were in common use, advantage being taken of the natural perforations for stringing, the latter being quite extensively used for money on the Pacific slope.
In Fig. 2, Plate XXI, a cut is given of a Mytilus shell paint-cup from an ancient Peruvian grave. It is copied from Plate 83 of the Necropolis of Ancon.[3] It is represented as still containing red paint, probably cinnabar.
A great variety of the larger univalve sea-shells were used in the unaltered state, the Busycons probably taking the most important place, species of the Strombus, the Cassis, the Nautilus and Fasciolaria following in about the order named.
The Busycon perversum has been more extensively used than any other shell, and consequently its distribution in one form or other is very wide. It is obtained along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massachusetts to Mexico, and within the United States it is artificially distributed over the greater part of the Atlantic slope. The uses to which this shell has been put by the ancient Americans are so numerous and varied that I shall not attempt to enumerate them here. They are, however, pretty thoroughly brought out in the subsequent pages of this paper.