The Swastika Part 19

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 18. FOLIUM VITUS ("FIG LEAVES"). Terra-cotta covers, "tunga." Aborigines of Brazil. Cat. Nos. 59089 and 36542, U. S. N. M.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF THE SWASTIKA.]

PARAGUAY.

Dr. Schliemann reports that a traveler of the Berlin Ethnological Museum obtained a pumpkin bottle from the tribe of Lenguas in Paraguay which bore the imprint of the Swastika scratched upon its surface, and that he had recently sent it to the Royal Museum at Berlin.

III.--FORMS ALLIED TO THE SWASTIKA.

MEANDERS, OGEES, AND SPIRALS, BENT TO THE LEFT AS WELL AS TO THE RIGHT.

There are certain forms related to the normal Swastika and greatly resembling it--meanders, ogees, the triskelion, tetraskelion, and five and six armed spirals or volutes. This has been mentioned above (page 768), and some of the varieties are shown in fig. 13. These related forms have been found in considerable numbers in America, and this investigation would be incomplete if they were omitted. It has been argued (p. 839) that the Swastika was not evolved from the meander, and this need not be reargued.

The cross with the arms bent or twisted in a spiral is one of these related forms. It is certain that in ancient, if not prehistoric, times the cross with extended spiral arms was frequently employed. This form appeared in intimate a.s.sociation with the square Swastikas which were turned indifferently to the right and left. This a.s.sociation of different yet related forms was so intimate, and they were used so indiscriminately as to justify the contention that the maker or designer recognized or admitted no perceptible or substantial difference between the square and spiral forms, whether they turned to the right or left, or whether they made a single or many turns, and that he cla.s.sed them as the same sign or its equivalent. A Greek vase (fig. 174) shows five Swastikas, four of which are of different form (fig. 262). Curiously enough, the design of this Greek vase is painted maroon on a yellow ground, the style generally adopted in the vases from the mounds of Missouri and Arkansas, which mostly represent the spiral Swastika.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 262. DIFFERENT FORMS OF SWASTIKA FOR COMPARISON.]

In Ireland a standing stone (fig. 215) has two forms of Swastika side by side. In one the arms are bent square at the corners, the other has curved or spiral arms, both turned to the right. These examples are so numerous that they would seem convincing in the absence of any other evidence (figs. 166 to 176).

ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ENGRAVINGS AND PAINTINGS.

These allied forms of Swastika appear on prehistoric objects from mounds and Indian graves in different parts of the country and in times of high antiquity as well as among modern tribes. This paper contains the results of the investigations in this direction.

DESIGNS ON Sh.e.l.l.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 263. Sh.e.l.l GORGET. Cross, circle, sun's rays(?), and heads of four ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.rs(?) arranged to form a Swastika.

Mississippi.]

The Department of Prehistoric Anthropology in the U. S. National Museum, contains a considerable number of large sh.e.l.ls of aboriginal workmanship.

The sh.e.l.l most employed was that of the genus _Fulgur_, a marine sh.e.l.l found on the coast from Florida to the capes. The _Unio_ was employed, as well as others. These marine sh.e.l.ls were transported long distances inland. They have been found in mounds and Indian graves a thousand miles from their original habitat. They served as utensils as well as ornaments.

In many specimens the whorl was cut out, the sh.e.l.ls otherwise left entire, and they served as vessels for holding or carrying liquids. When intended for ornaments, they were cut into the desired form and engraved with the design; if to be used as gorgets, holes were drilled for suspension.

Frequently they were smoothed on the outside and the design engraved thereon. The preference of the aborigines for the _Fulgur_ sh.e.l.l may have been by reason of its larger size. Among the patterns employed for the decoration of these sh.e.l.ls, the Swastika, in the form of spirals, volutes, or otherwise, appeared, although many others, such as the rattlesnake, birds, spiders, and human masks were employed. No detailed description of the patterns of this sh.e.l.lwork will be attempted, because figures will be required to give the needed information for the interpretation of the Swastika. Many of the cuts and some of the descriptions are taken from the annual reports of the Bureau of Ethnology and, so far as relates to sh.e.l.l, mostly from Mr. Holmes's paper on "Art in Sh.e.l.l of the Ancient Americans."

I desire to express my thanks for all cuts obtained from the Bureau publications.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 264. Sh.e.l.l GORGET FROM TENNESSEE. Square figure with ornamental corners and heads of ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r arranged to form a figure resembling the Swastika.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 265. Sh.e.l.l GORGET FROM TENNESSEE. Square figure with ornamental corners and heads of ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r arranged to form a figure resembling the Swastika.]

_Ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r._--A series of gorgets in sh.e.l.l have been found ornamented with designs resembling the Swastika, which should be noticed.

They combine the square and the cross, while the head and bill of the bird form the _gamma_ indicative of the Swastika. Fig. 263, taken from the Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-81 (pl. 58), shows one of these sh.e.l.l gorgets from Mississippi, which "was, in all probability, obtained from one of the mult.i.tude of ancient sepulchres that abound in the State of Mississippi." The design is engraved on the convex side, the perforations are placed near the margin, and show much wear by the cord of suspension. In the center is a nearly symmetrical Greek cross inclosed in a circle of 1-1/4 inches. The s.p.a.ces between the arms are emblazoned with radiating lines. Outside this circle are twelve small pointed or pyramidal rays. A square framework of four continuous parallel lines looped at the corners incloses this symbol; projecting from the center of each side of this square, opposite the arms of the cross, are four heads of birds representing the ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r, the heron, or the swan. The long, slender, and straight mandibles give the Swastika form to the object. Mr. Holmes says (p. 282) that he has been able to find six of these specimens, all of the type described, varying only in detail, workmanship, and finish.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 266. Sh.e.l.l GORGET FROM TENNESSEE. Square figure with ornamental corners and heads of ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r arranged to form a figure resembling the Swastika.]

Figs. 264, 265, and 266,[267] represent three of these sh.e.l.l gorgets. The first was obtained by Professor Putnam from a stone grave, c.u.mberland River, Tennessee. It is about 2-1/2 inches in diameter and, like the former, it has a Greek cross in the center. The second was obtained by Mr.

Cross from a stone grave near Nashville, Tenn. The third is from a stone grave near Oldtown, Tenn. All these have been drilled for suspension and are much worn.

_The triskele, triskelion, or triquetrum._--These are Greek and Latin terms for the spiral volute with three branches or arms. The coins of Lycia were in this form, made originally by the junction of three c.o.c.ks'

heads and necks. The armorial bearings of the island of Sicily, in ancient times, consisted of three human legs joined at the thigh and flexed, sometimes booted and spurred (p. 873).

Aboriginal sh.e.l.l gorgets have been found in the mounds of Tennessee and the adjoining country, which were engraved with this design, though always in spiral form. There seems to have been no distinction in the direction of the volutes, they turning indifferently to the right or to the left.

Because of their possible relation to the Swastika it has been deemed proper to introduce them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 267. SCALLOPED Sh.e.l.l DISK (FULGUR) FROM A MOUND NEAR NASHVILLE, TENN. Three spiral volutes (triskelion).]

Fig. 267[268] shows a _Fulgur_ sh.e.l.l specimen obtained by Major Powell from a mound near Nashville, Tenn. It was found near the head of a skeleton. Its substance is well preserved; the surface was once highly polished, but now is pitted by erosion and discolored by age. The design is engraved on the concave surface as usual, and the lines are accurately drawn and clearly cut. The central circle is three-eighths of an inch in diameter and is surrounded by a zone one-half an inch in width, which contains a triskelion or triquetrum of three voluted lines beginning near the center of the sh.e.l.l on the circ.u.mference of the inner circle of three small equidistant perforations, and sweeping outward spirally to the left as shown in the figure, making upward of half a revolution. These lines are somewhat wider and more deeply engraved than the other lines of the design. In some specimens they are so deeply cut as to penetrate the disk, producing crescent-shaped perforations. Two medium-sized perforations for suspension have been made near the inner margin of one of the bosses next the dotted zone; these show abrasion by the cord of suspension. These perforations, as well as the three near the center, have been bored mainly from the convex side of the disk.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 268. SCALLOPED Sh.e.l.l DISK FROM A MOUND NEAR NASHVILLE, TENN. Circles and dots and four spiral volutes (tetraskelion).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 269. Sh.e.l.l DISK FROM BRAKEBILL MOUND, NEAR KNOXVILLE, TENN. Dot and circle in center and ogee Swastika (tetraskelion) marked but not completed.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figs. 270 and 271. ENGRAVED Sh.e.l.l DISK. Obverse and reverse. Three-armed volute (triskelion).]

Fig. 268[269] represents a well-preserved disk with four volute arms forming the tetraskelion, and thus allied to the Swastika. The volutes (to the right) are deeply cut and for about one-third their length penetrate the sh.e.l.l, producing four crescent-shaped perforations which show on the opposite side. This specimen is from a stone grave near Nashville, Tenn., and the original is in the Peabody Museum. Fig. 269[270] shows a specimen from the Brakebill mound, near Knoxville, Tenn. It has a dot in the center, with a circle five-eighths of an inch in diameter. There are four volute arms which start from the opposite sides of this circle, and in their spiral form extend to the right across the field, increasing in size as they approach the periphery. This is an interesting specimen of the tetraskelion or spiral Swastika, in that it is unfinished, the outline having been cut in the sh.e.l.l sufficient to indicate the form, but not perfected. Figs. 270 and 271 show obverse and reverse sides of the same sh.e.l.l. It comes from one of the stone graves of Tennessee, and is thus described by Dr. Joseph Jones, of New Orleans,[271] as a specimen of the deposit and original condition of these objects:

In a carefully constructed stone sarcophagus in which the face of the skeleton was looking toward the setting sun, a beautiful sh.e.l.l ornament was found resting upon the breastbone of the skeleton. This sh.e.l.l ornament is 4.4 inches in diameter, and it is ornamented on its concave surface with a small circle in the center and four concentric bands, differently figured, in relief. The first band is filled up by a triple volute; the second is plain, while the third is dotted and has nine small round bosses carved at unequal distances upon it. The outer band is made up of fourteen small elliptical bosses, the outer edges of which give to the object a scalloped rim. This ornament, on its concave figured surface, has been covered with red paint, much of which is still visible. The convex smooth surface is highly polished and plain, with the exception of the three concentric marks. The material out of which it is formed was evidently derived from a large flat seash.e.l.l. * * * The form of the circles or "suns" carved upon the concave surface is similar to that of the paintings on the high rocky cliffs on the banks of the c.u.mberland and Harpeth rivers. * * * This ornament when found lay upon the breastbone with the concave surface uppermost, as if it had been worn in this position suspended around the neck, as the two holes for the thong or string were in that portion of the border which pointed directly to the chin or central portion of the jaw of the skeleton. The marks of the thong by which it was suspended are manifest upon both the anterior and posterior surfaces, and, in addition to this, the paint is worn off from the circular s.p.a.ce bounded below by the two holes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 272. ENGRAVED Sh.e.l.l DISK. Tennessee. Three-armed volute (triskelion).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 273. ENGRAVED Sh.e.l.l DISK. Tennessee. Three-armed volute (triskelion).]

Fig. 271 represents the back or convex side of the disk shown in fig. 270.

The long curved lines indicate the laminations of the sh.e.l.l, and the three crescent-shaped figures near the center are perforations resulting from the deep engraving of the three lines of the volute on the concave side.

The stone grave in which this ornament was found occupied the summit of a mound on the banks of the c.u.mberland River, opposite Nashville, Tenn.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 274. ENGRAVED Sh.e.l.l DISK. Tennessee. Three-armed volute (triskelion).]

Figs. 272, 273, and 274 are other representations of sh.e.l.l carved in spirals, and may have greater or less relation to the Swastika.[272] They are inserted for comparison and without any expression of opinion. They are drawn in outline, and the spiral form is thus more easily seen.

Mr. Holmes[273] makes some observations upon these designs and gives his theory concerning their use:

I do not a.s.sume to interpret these designs; they are not to be interpreted. All I desire is to elevate these works from the category of trinkets to what I believe is their rightful place--the serious art of a people with great capacity for loftier works. What the gorgets themselves were, or of what particular value to their possessor, aside from simple ornaments, must be, in a measure, a matter of conjecture.

They were hardly less than the totems of clans, the insignia of rulers, or the potent charms of the priesthood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 275. ENGRAVED Sh.e.l.l GORGET. Figure representing a spider; circles and Greek crosses.]

_The spider._--The spider was represented on the sh.e.l.l gorgets. Figs. 275 to 278[274] present four of these gorgets, of which figs. 275 to 277 display the Greek cross in the center, surrounded by two concentric incised lines forming a circle which is the body of a spider. Fig. 276 shows the same spider and circle, and inside of it a cross much resembling the Swastika, in that the arms are turned at their extremities to the right and form, in an inchoate manner, the gamma. Fig. 278 represents the sh.e.l.l with the spider, and, though it contains no cross nor semblance of the Swastika, derives its value from having been taken from the same mound on Fains Island, Tennessee, as was the true Swastika. (See fig. 237.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 276. ENGRAVED Sh.e.l.l GORGET.]

_The rattlesnake._--The rattlesnake was a favorite design on these gorgets, affording, as it did, an opportunity for the aborigines to make a display of elegance of design, and of accuracy and fineness in execution.

Fig. 279 is a specimen in which the snake is represented coiled, the head in the center, the mouth [V]-shaped in strong lines, the body in volute fashion; on the outside of the circle the tail is shown by its rattle.

This specimen is represented three-fourths size, and comes from McMahon mound, Tennessee. Four others of similar design are also from Tennessee and the adjoining States, but the locality is more restricted than is the case with other sh.e.l.l disk ornaments.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 277. ENGRAVED Sh.e.l.l GORGET.]