Some aboriginal sites in Louisiana and in Arkansas : Atchafalaya River, Lake Larto, Tensas River, Bayou Maçon, Bayou D'Arbonne, in Louisiana; Saline River, in Arkansas / by Clarance B. Moore ; a report on a collection of crania and bones from Sorrel Bayou, Iberville Parish, Louisiana / by Dr. A. Hrdlička.

Clarence Bloomfield Moore

Date:: 1913

Credit: Some aboriginal sites in Louisiana and in Arkansas : Atchafalaya River, Lake Larto, Tensas River, Bayou Maçon, Bayou D'Arbonne, in Louisiana; Saline River, in Arkansas / by Clarance B. Moore ; a report on a collection of crania and bones from Sorrel Bayou, Iberville Parish, Louisiana / by Dr. A. Hrdlička. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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t.ions which were dug up singly in midden material, those from the surface being also with the debris of fireplaces locally known as “gravel,” above referred to, or, at all events, on ground somewhat higher than the surrounding level and darker than the other ground, which evidently had been places of abode. By consulting this report it will be noted that other objects of this class, found elsewhere by us this season, lay on the surface or in midden debris, with one exception (the Schwing place) where a deposit of them was found near a burial. As the deposit of the objects in this way was so exceptional, it is hardly likely they were ceremonially connected with burials, but presumably were em¬ ployed in the general life of the people. A single deposit proves little. In the great, Rose Mound on St. Francis river, Arkansas, we found with a burial a con¬ siderable deposit of cylindrical, earthenware objects such as were used by the aborigines in some regions as supports for vessels while cooking was in progress; yet nowhere else was such a deposit found by us, though numbers of the supports were discovered in other sites among midden debris. We are greatly indebted to Mr. Charles C. Willoughby, of Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass., who has taken much interest in the probable use made of these clay objects, for his suggestions on the subject, which follow, and for a photograph of the clay objects used by the Paiute Indians, which is reproduced here. Mr. Willoughby writes: “Regarding the three types of burnt clay objects of which you sent me drawings, the first form, that of the double cone, is the only one the use of which is at all clear to me. There are in our museum two similar specimens (Fig. 32) Fig. 32.—Clay cones. Paiute Indians, southern Utah. Collected by Edward Palmer, 1875. (Full size.) of clay, obtained from the Paiute Indians by Dr. Edward Palmer in 1875 and called by him gambling cones. These, of course, were used in the well known and widely distributed ‘ hand game ’ which is commonly played with two bones, one of them being marked. One of the double cones is plain, the other has a series of dots arranged in a spiral on one of its sides. The game, as you know, consists in telling in which of the opponent’s hands the unmarked cone is con¬ cealed. It has occurred to me that the double cones found by you might have been used in this game. One of your specimens [see Fig. 15] has a groove which may have served to distinguish it from its fellow, or one of a pair may have been marked with paint, all traces of which have disappeared.

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