Porto Rican stone collars and tripointed idols / by J. Walter Fewkes.

  • Jesse Walter Fewkes
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Porto Rican stone collars and tripointed idols / by J. Walter Fewkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/44 page 168
    panel border; dpg, decorated panel ridge; dpbp, decorated panel border perforation; up, undecorated panel; wpg, undecorated panel pit; wpb, undecorated panel border; wpr, undecorated panel ridge. These regions occur in reversed positions in right- and left-handed collars, and vary in form according to the simple or elaborate charac- ter of the ornamentation. b. Boss.—The so-called boss is a rounded, generally unpolished, prominence or swelling, well marked in slender but absent in massive collars, being generally undecorated, and so situated that it separates the two panels. In massive forms the boss is confluent with the undecorated panel, but in the slender it is evidently a continuation of the decorated panel. p. ProyEction.—The projection, which is a significant feature of the collar, has the form of a slight swelling or a rounded elevation, closely appressed to the body of the collar, to which it appears to be bound by an encircling shoulder ridge or fillet. In massive collars there are generally two protuberances, which may be called projec- tions, one on each side of the ridge; but in slender collars there is only one, which emerges from under the shoulder fillet on the side opposite the boss. Sometimes the projection is ferruled, often with pits like eyes, and in one collar the prominence is said to have the form of a snake’s head.* sb. SHOULDER RIDGE.—The shoulder ridge is a raised band, cut in low relief, partly encircling the collar near the base of the projection, which it appears to bind to the body of the collar. It is sometimes broad and flat, but more commonly is a narrow bead, and in massive forms where there are two projections it fills the interval between them. Rarely absent, it is seldom in very high relief. dp. DECORATED PANEL.—This term is applied to that region of the collar which lies adjacent to the boss, and on the side opposite the projection. Although the name is a useful one for dis- tinguishing this part in many specimens, this panel, although gener- ally smooth, is not ornamented. The general outline of the decorated panel of oblique ovate collars is quadrate or trapezoidal, with or with- out a marginal panel ridge formed by a shallow groove. In the massive forms the outline of this panel is often triangular. The superficial decoration of the panels of massive collars, when present, is less elaborate than that of the slender ones, and consists mainly of pits, incised circles, triangles, or parallel lines. Figures of faces * This specimen is owned by Mr. Leopold B. Strube, of Arecibo, who has sent to me a drawing which shows the knob in the form of a snake’s head.
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