Part 6
Perforated stones were used by the southern Indians to drag along the bottoms of streams and frighten fish into their nets and traps.[51] Four disks 4 to 5½ inches in diameter, with handles from 13 to 17 inches long, were found in a cave at Los Angeles, California,[52] and objects of this character were, according to Schumacher, used by the Santa Barbara Indians as weights for wooden spades.[53] According to Abbott many perforated stones are found close to rivers and on shores in such positions as to leave no doubt of their use as sinkers.[54] Similar stones were used as sinkers by the Scandinavians in comparatively recent times; by the Bechuanas for grinding grasshoppers, spiders, etc., and also as weights for digging-sticks; by some savages in the Pacific islands as clubs; by the Icelanders for breaking up salted fish.[55] They were used by the Iroquois as weights for fire drills;[56] by the Eskimo as clubs, having a rawhide handle secured by a knot.[57] According to Dale,[58] Layard,[59] Griesbach,[60] and Gooch,[61] they were used by natives of southern Africa as root-diggers (to remove earth from the roots), as weapons, and to give weight to digging-sticks. They were also used by the Peruvian Indians to be thrown with a stick. Disk-shaped and cylindrical throwing stones, perforated for the stick, are found among the Swiss lake dwellings.[62] According to Evans[63] they were used mostly as hammers or clubs. They are hard and battered on the edges; sinkers would be of softer stone.
The most complete article that has yet been given concerning the forms and uses of perforated stones is that by H. W. Henshaw.[64]
DISCOIDAL STONES.
There are numerous references to discoidal stones by various writers, but a majority of the objects do not fall under any explanation that has so far been given.
The Choctaw Indians used disks two fingers wide and two spans around in playing “chungke,”[65] and the Indians of North Carolina were much addicted to a sport called “chenco,” played with a staff and a bowl made with stone.[66] The same kind of game was, or still is, played with hoops or rings of wood or rawhide by the Iroquois,[67] the Pawnee,[68] the Apache,[69] the Navajo,[70] the Mohave,[71] and the Omaha;[72] also, with rings of stone, by the Arikara,[73] the Mandan,[74] and other tribes.
The game of chungke, however, will account for only a small part of the great number of stones of this form. The Indians of southern California, in manufacturing pottery, make the clay compact and smooth by holding a rounded and smooth stone against the inside.[75] The Fijians, in making pottery, use a small, round flat stone to shape the inside,[76] while the Indians of Guiana use ancient axes or smooth stones for polishing the clay in making their vessels.[77] According to Evans,[78] pitted disks were used as pestles, hammers, or mullers; a thick one with pitted ends was found in a mortar at Holyhead.[79] Under the head of pestles and of perforated stones further references will be found that may apply as well to this form of implements.
No kind of relic is more difficult to classify. From the smooth, symmetrical, highly-polished chungke stone they gradually merge into mullers, pestles, pitted stones, polishers, hammers,[80] ornaments, and the ordinary sinker or club-head, so that no dividing line is possible. Theories constructed on a basis of their use may be far from correct.
They present various forms and degrees of finish; many have the natural surface on both sides with the edge worked off by grinding or pecking, the latter being produced probably by use as a hammer; the sides may be ground down while the edge remains untouched; or the sides may be pecked and the edge ground, being probably of a thick pebble originally. Some of the finer grades, as chalcedony and quartz, that have received the highest finish, appear to have had all the work done by grinding or rubbing, as even those only slightly worked bear no signs of hammering or pecking. When of the harder materials they are generally made of water-worn pebbles as nearly the desired form as can be found; in fact, some specimens which are in their natural state, entirely unworked, require a very close examination to distinguish them from others whose whole surface has been artificially produced. In the jasper conglomerates from Arkansas, however, there is a regular series from a roughly chipped disk to one of the highest polish and symmetry. The larger ones of quartz, particularly those with concavities in the sides, must have been patiently wrought for years before brought to their present state. Many of the smaller ones, especially sandstone, seem to have been designed for grinding or polishing.
The following groups are represented in the collection:
_A._ Sides hollowed out, edge convex; 2 to 6 inches diameter, seven-eighths to 2¾ thick.
1. Edges of concavity sharp.
_a._ Cavity a regular curve from side to side. The type (figure 95) is of quartz, from Cherokee county, Georgia. There are also, from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, one of sandstone, of which one side has been worked out by a flint, the little pits being distinctly visible, while the other side has natural surface; from Loudon county, Tennessee, one of quartzite, 6 inches diameter, which has been used as a mortar, the cavities being roughened, with their edges broken and scarred (the edge of the stone is battered entirely around midway between the sides as though used for a hammer); from McMinn county, Tennessee, one of quartzite, about the same size as last, with a slight pit in the center of each cavity, the edges of the concavity being considerably chipped, and the edge of the implement very smooth; from Polk county, Tennessee, one of quartzite, 3½ inches in diameter, with the edge polished except in one spot, where it shows marks of use as a hammer or pestle--it has been used also as a mortar, the edges of the concavity being much chipped and broken; one each from Craighead county, Arkansas, of novaculite; Randolph county, Illinois, of granite; Cherokee county, Georgia, of quartz; and Obion county, Tennessee, of sandstone. In the four last mentioned the entire surface is quite smooth or even highly polished.
_b._ With a small perforation at the center. The type is shown in figures 96 (of sandstone, from a grave in Union county, Illinois), and 97 (of granite, from Virginia). There is another specimen, of sandstone, from Red River county, Texas.
_c._ With a secondary depression in each cavity. Figure 98 (yellow quartz, highly polished, from Fulton county, Georgia) is typical. There is also one of quartzite, with a secondary depression in one side only, from Roane county, Tennessee, which may be supposed, from this and other imperfections, to be unfinished.
2. Edges of concavity rubbed off blunt. These are grouped simply by form, as the specimens from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, and northeastern Kentucky are nearly all roughly finished, quite different from the smooth or polished ones from farther south. Some are worked out into the form of a ring, and there is every stage between that form and the flat disk whose sides show no trace of pecking. Figure 99 (quartzite, from Sevier county, Tennessee) illustrates a typical example, roughly worked but entirely perforated, and figure 97 shows the same type in another form.
+-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Caldwell county, North Carolina| 1| | | | | | |Crittenden county, Arkansas | | 1| | | | | |Drew county, Arkansas | | | | 1| | | |Randolph county, Illinois | | | 1| 2| | | |Eastern Tennessee | 1| | | 1| | | |Bartow county, Georgia | | | | 1| | | |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | | | | 1| 1| 1| |Northeastern Kentucky | | | | | 22| | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Quartz. B = Novaculite. C = Flint. D = Quartzite. E = Sandstone. F = Granite.
_B._ Flat or slightly concave sides, edges straight and at right angles to the sides; diameter, 1⅝ to 5 inches. The type shown in figure 100 is of sandstone from Lauderdale county, Alabama.
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+ |Lauderdale county, Alabama | 1| | | | | |Mississippi county, Arkansas | | 1| 1| 1| | |McMinn county, Tennessee | 1| | | | 4| |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 1| | | | | +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Sandstone. B = Quartzite. C = Very fine schist. D = Yellow jasper. E = Argillite.
_C._ Sides flat; edges straight, sometimes rounding off into the sides; diameter, 2¼ to 6 inches; thickness, three-quarters to 2¼ inches. A number from southeastern Tennessee, especially the smaller ones, are quite rough, being merely pecked or chipped into shape with no subsequent rubbing. Figure 101 (chalcedony, from a mound in Monroe county, Tennessee) represents the type. The material is variable.
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Southeastern Tennessee | | 5| 5| 1| 3| 1| | | 9| |Western Tennessee | | 1| | | 1| | | | | |Savannah, Georgia | 1| | | | | | 7| | 1| |Mississippi county, Arkansas | | | | | | | | 1| | +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Quartz. B = Sandstone. C = Argillite. D = Chalcedony. E = Limestone. F = Marble. G = Granite. H = Jasper conglomerate. I = Quartzite.
_D._ Like the last, except much smaller. Very few are polished over the entire surface; some are rubbed more or less on the edges or sides, but a majority have the edge rough as it was chipped or pecked out; many have either the edge or sides in the natural state. From those smoothly polished to those very rudely worked the gradation is such that no dividing line can be drawn. This is true, also, of the smaller specimens of other types. Some of the quartzite specimens are very loose in texture. From seven-eighths to 2 inches in diameter and one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch thick.
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Eastern Tennessee | 1| 54| 64| | | 32| 1| 12| 4| | |Bartow county, Georgia | | 1| | 1| 1| 4| | | | | |Savannah, Georgia | | | 2| | | | | | | | |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | | 7| | | | 20| | | | 1| |Northeastern Kentucky | | 14| | | | | | 5| | | +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Marble. B = Sandstone. C = Argillite. D = Granite. E = Red jasper. F = Quartzite. G = Micaceous sandstone. H = Limestone. I = Quartz. J = Cannel coal.
_E._ Convex on both sides, edges straight. One of white quartz from Caldwell county, North Carolina, has the sides much curved, making the stone very thick in proportion to its width; there is a deep pit on each side, the entire surface being highly polished. Diameter, 2 to 3½ inches; thickness, three-fourths to an inch and a half. Illustrated by figure 102 (of porphyry, from a grave in Caldwell county, North Carolina).
+------------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | District. | A| B| C| D| E| F| G| H| I| J| K| L| M| N| O| P| Q| R| S| +------------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |Eastern Arkansas | 3| 1| 1| 1| 4| 7| | 1| | | | 7| 1| | | 1| | | | |Eastern Tennessee | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (many of these | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | rough and | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | entirely | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | without | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | polish) | | | 1| | |88|29| | 1| 1|31|27| 8| 1| 1| 2| | | | |Kanawha valley, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | West Virginia | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (rough) | | | | | | 1| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Savannah, Georgia | | | | | | 1| 3| | | | | | | | | | | | | |Union county, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mississippi | | | | | | | | | | | | 1| | | | | | | | |Caldwell county, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | North Carolina | | | | | | 1|10| | | | | 4| | | 1| 2| 1| 2| 1| +------------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
KEY: A = Yellow jasper. B = Iron ore. C = Mica schist. D = Novaculite. E = Jasper conglomerate. F = Quartzite. G = Quartz. H = Hornblende. I = Marble. J = Clayey limestone. K = Argillite. L = Sandstone. M = Limestone. N = Sienite. O = Granite. P = Chalcedony. Q = Steatite. R = Black flint. S = Porphyry.
_F._ Same form as the above; 1¼ to 2 inches in diameter, one-half to seven-eighths of an inch thick.
+-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Elmore county, Alabama | | | | 2| 1| | | 1| | 1| |Western North Carolina | | | | 1| | | 2| | | | |Eastern Tennessee | | | | 2| | 1| 9| | 1| | |Bartow county, Georgia | 1| 1| 1| 2| | | | | | | |Savannah, Georgia | | | | 3| | | | | | | |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | | | | | | | 4| | | | |Drew county, Arkansas | | | | 1| | | | | | | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Jasper. B = Mica schist. C = Micaceous sandstone. D = Quartzite. E = Quartz. F = Marble. G = Argillite. H = Sandstone. I = Limestone. J = Steatite.
_G._ Flat or slightly convex on one or both sides, edge straight, one side wider than the other. Some have the edge battered or chipped and it is always at the angle of the edge with the wider side. From 1⅝ to 3½ inches in diameter, and three-fourths to an inch and a half thick. The specimen shown in figure 103 (of compact quartzite, from Bartow county, Georgia) is typical. The material is quite diverse.
+-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Eastern Tennessee | 2| 1| 2| | | 2| | 1| | | | |Savannah, Georgia | | | 1| 3| | | | | | | | |Bartow county, Georgia | | | | | | | 1| 1| | | | |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 2| | | | 1| | | | | | | |Caldwell county, North Carolina| | | | | 3| | | | 1| 1| 2| |Mississippi county, Arkansas | | | | | | | | | | | 1| +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Sandstone. B = Marble. C = Quartzite. D = Quartz hornblende. E = Granite. F = Quartz. G = Compact quartzite. H = Sienite. I = Chalcedony. J = Schist. K = Flint.
There are also of this type, one of very hard black stone (not identified) from Red River county, Texas, three-fourths of an inch in diameter; one of barite from Bartow county, Georgia, one inch in diameter, three-fourths inch thick; and one of granite, from Chester county, South Carolina, an inch in diameter. There are also one of quartzite from Drew county, Arkansas, with a shallow pit on each side; one of the same material from southeastern Tennessee, with a deep pit gouged in smaller side; and from the same locality, three of quartzite, one of quartz, and one of sandstone, each with a deep pit in the larger side. All of these are small and none of them polished.
_H._ Convex sides and curved edges; size as in group _G_. The type (figure 104) is of quartz, from Caldwell county, North Carolina.
+--------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | +--------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Catahoula parish, Louisiana | | | | | | 1| |Eastern Tennessee | | 1| 2| 3| | | |Caldwell county, North Carolina | | 2| | | 1| | |Northeastern Arkansas | 1| | 1| | | | +--------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Jasper conglomerate. B = Quartz. C = Limestone. D = Quartzite. E = Sandstone. F = Conglomerate.
_I._ Same form, rough and not polished; 1 to 2¾ inches in diameter, one-half to 1 inch thick.
+-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Eastern Tennessee | 50| | | 3| 11| 10| |Northeastern Arkansas | 1| | 3| | | 3| |Caldwell county, North Carolina| | | | | | 1| |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 36| 1| | | | | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Quartzite. B = Flint. C = Yellow jasper. D = Argillite. E = Quartz. F = Sandstone.
_J._ Sides slightly convex, edge slightly curved; 2¼ to 3½ inches in diameter, three-quarters to an inch and a half thick.
+-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |Kanawha valley, West | 1| | | | | | | | | Virginia (evidently | | | | | | | | | | used for a hammerstone) | | | | | | | | | |Eastern Tennessee | 2| 3| 4| 1| 2| 1| | | |Lauderdale county, Tennessee | | | 1| | | | | | |Caldwell county, North Carolina| | 2| | | | | 1| | |Fulton county, Georgia | | | | | | | | 1| +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Sandstone. B = Quartz. C = Quartzite. D = Chalcedony. E = Argillite. F = Clayey limestone. G = Steatite. H = Sienite.
_K._ Sides flat; edges convex; roughly finished, no polish; 1⅛ to 2¼ inches in diameter, three-eighths to three-fourths of an inch thick.
+-------------------------------+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+ |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 1| | 1| |Eastern Tennessee | 4| 1| 7| +-------------------------------+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Sandstone. B = Quartz. C = Quartzite.
_L._ Not polished; roughly chipped edges; 2 to 3½ inches in diameter.
+-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+ |Mississippi county, Arkansas | 1| 1| 1| 3| |Bartow county, Georgia | | 1| | | |Union county, Mississippi | 3| | | | +-------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Sandstone. B = Quartzite. C = Chalcedony. D = Yellow jasper.
_M._ Edges V-shape; 1¾ to 2½ inches diameter, 1 to 1½ inches thick. The type (figure 105) is of granite, from Randolph county, Illinois, with insunk pecked sides and polished edge. A specimen from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, is of flint, with only the edge worked; apparently a hammer. One from Craighead county, Arkansas, has flat sides and the entire surface polished; another from McMinn county, Tennessee, is also polished entire. A good specimen from Cocke county, Tennessee, is of flint, one side rubbed flat, the other a rounded cone, highly polished.
_N._ Sides hollowed out; edges straight or slightly curved; very thick; used as mortars, hammers, or pestles. This form gradually merges into disk-shaped, pitted, or entire dressed hammers, which in turn run into the ordinary hammerstones. The types are figures 106 (quartzite, from Bradley county, Tennessee) and 107 (quartzite, from Nicholas county, Kentucky). There are in this group from eastern Tennessee three of quartzite, 2¼ by 4½ inches, 4¼ by 5¾ inches, and 1¾ by 3¼ inches, and one of granite, 2¾ by 3 inches; from Caldwell county, North Carolina, one of granite; and from Montgomery county, North Carolina, three of quartzite. The last four are evidently hammers or pestles. In addition there is a specimen from Jackson county, Illinois, of ferruginous sandstone, 3 inches in diameter. On one side there is a pit and on the other a shallow, mortar-like cavity extending entirely across.
_O._ One side flat, the other rounded; of convenient size for grasping. In some the bottom is quite smooth. There is sometimes a pit in one or both sides, more frequently in the bottom. They were used as mullers or pestles; in the latter, either the side or the edge may have been the pounding surface. The line between these implements and the cylindrical, dome-topped pestles can not be drawn (see figure 91).
+------------------------------+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+ |Eastern Tennessee | 1| 2| | | |Southwestern Wisconsin | 2| | 1| 1| |Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 1| | | | |Crittenden county, Arkansas | 1| | | | |Jackson county, North Carolina| 1| | | | |Warren county, Ohio | | | | 1| |Savannah, Georgia | 2| 1| 2| 8| +------------------------------+---+---+---+---+
KEY: A = Quartzite. B = Quartz. C = Sandstone. D = Granite.
_P._ Sides flat; edge convex; same size and use as last.