Art in shell of the ancient Americans / by William H. Holmes.

  • William Henry Holmes
Date:
[1883]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Art in shell of the ancient Americans / by William H. Holmes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of small circular depressions has been added to the upper surface. In the finished implement the hinge, ligament, and teeth. have been cut away, the thick dorsal margin carefully ground down, leaving a smooth, neat edge, and the anterior point, which was presented to the lips in eating or drinking, was well rounded and polished. The whole surface of the shell in the more finished specimens has been most carefully dressed. Altogether, the fashioning of these spoons must be regarded as a very ingenious performance for savages, and has cost much more labor than would the attachment of a handle, for which purpose it is not im- probable the lateral notches may at times have been used. Our col- lections furnish no examples of marine univalves worked in this man- ner; a few slightly altered specimens, however, have been reported. Nearly all the specimens of carved spoons that have come to my notice are made from a few species of JJnio. It is a curious fact that most of these utensils have been made from the left valve of the shell, which gives such a position to the handle that they are most conveniently used by the right hand, thus indicating right-handedness on the part of these peoples. In the national collec- tion there are two left-handed specimens, one from Nashville, Tenn., and one from Union County, Ky. Professor Putnam states that he has “ examined over thirty of these shell-spoons now in the museum [Peabody], and aU are made from the right [left] valves of UiiionidcB, and so shaped as to be most conven- iently used with the right hand.”' By reference to Fig. I, Plate XXIV, the probable manner of grasp- ing and using the spoon will be seen. It will also be observed that the left valve of the shell is used to make the right-handed spoon, suppos- ing of course that the point of the spoon is presented to the lips, the hinge corner being much less convenient for that purpose. In regard to the use of these objects, which have occasionally been taken for ornaments, it should be mentioned that very many of them have been found within earthen vessels placed in the graves with the dead. The vessels, in all probability, were the receptacles of food, the spoons being so placed that they could be used by the dead as they had been used by the living. The specimen shown in Fig. 3, Plate XXIV, was obtained by Pro- fessor Powell, from a mound near Nashville, Tenn. It is made from the left valve of a very delicate specimen'of the Vnio ovatus,^ and has been finished with more than usual care. The entire rim is arti- ficially shaped, the natural shell being much reduced, and six notches ornament the outside of the handle. The bowl of the spoon is nearly four inches in length and two and one-half in width. Eight other speci- mens were obtained from the same locality by Professor Powell. All are made from the Unio ovatus, one only being left-handed. All are * Putnam, in Eleventh Annual Report, Peabody Museum, p. 235. ® I am indebted to Dr. Charles A. White, of the Geological Survey, for the identifi- cation of the numerous specimens of Unionidee mentioned in this paper.