The Swastika Part 26

_Peru._--Plate 23 represents a series of spindles and whorls from Peru.

They were furnished to the U. S. National Museum by I. V. Norton, of Plainville, N. Y. The whorls were originally considered to be beads, and were without further description. The spindles were not inserted in them as at present. The spindles, as well as whorls, are exceedingly small.

Some of the whorls are decorated by incised lines in the clay, and many of the spindles are decorated in the middle with paint in different colors, in lines, scrolls, and chevrons. These are the only whorls from Peru which the U. S. National Museum has, though it possesses an extensive series of the spindles, several of which still have the spun thread wrapped upon them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 23. SERIES OF ABORIGINAL SPINDLES AND WHORLS FROM PERU. Cat. No. 17510, U. S. N. M.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 364. SPINDLE-WHORL OF GRAY CLAY WITH FIGURES OF ANIMALS. Chiriqui. Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, fig.

219.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 365. SPINDLE-WHORL OF DARK CLAY WITH PERFORATIONS AND INCISED ORNAMENTS. Chiriqui. Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 220.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 366. TERRA-COTTA SPINDLE-WHORL. Manizales, Colombia.

Cat. No. 16838, U. S. N. M.]

There are certain distinguishing peculiarities to be remarked when comparing the spindle-whorls from the Western Hemisphere with those from the Eastern Hemisphere. There is greater diversity in size, form, and decoration in the American than in the European whorls. A series of European whorls from any given locality will afford a fair representation of those from almost every other locality. But it is different with the American specimens. Each section in America has a different style, not only different from the European specimens, but different from those of neighboring sections. Among the eighteen thousand whorls found by Dr.

Schliemann on the hill of Hissarlik, there is scarcely one so large as those here shown from Mexico, while, on the other hand, there were only a few as small as the largest of the series from Peru. The difference in size and material in the Pueblo whorls has already been noticed. The ornamentation is also peculiar in that it adopts, not a particular style common to the utensil, but that it adopts the styles of the respective countries. The Mexican whorl has a Mexican style of ornamentation, etc.

The Nicaragua specimens resemble the European more than any other from America in their forms and the almost entire absence of decoration.

The foregoing are the differences; but with all the number and extent of these differences the fact remains that the whorls of the two hemispheres are practically the same, and the differences are insignificant. In style, shape, and manner of use they are so similar in the two hemispheres as to be the same invention. The whorls, when put upon their spindles, form the same machine in both countries. They were intended for and they accomplish the same purpose, and the method of their performance is practically the same. While the similarity of the art of spinning and the mechanism (_i.

e._, the spindle and whorl) by which it is accomplished may not prove conclusively that it migrated from the Eastern Hemisphere, nor yet show positive connection or communication between the two peoples, it goes a long way toward establishing such migration or communication. The similarity in the art and its mechanism appears to the author to show such resemblance with the like culture in the Eastern Hemisphere, and is so harmonious with the theory of migration or contact or communication, that if there shall be other objects found which either by their number or condition would prove to be a well-authenticated instance of migration from or contact or communication between the countries, the evidence of the similarity of the spindle-whorls would form a valuable addition to and largely increase the evidence to establish the main fact. Until that piece of well-authenticated evidence has been obtained, the question must, so far as concerns spindle-whorls, remain only a probability. The differences between them are of manner, and not of matter; in size and degree, but not in kind, and are not other or greater than might easily arise from local adaptation of an imported invention. Compare the Navajo spindle (pl. 22) with that from Wurtemburg, Germany (fig. 356), and these with the spindles and whorls from Peru (pl. 23). These facts are entirely in harmony with the possibility that the spindle and whorl, as a machine for spinning, was a single invention, and that its slight differentiations resulted from its employment by different peoples--the result of its intertribal migrations.

For purposes of comparison, and to show the similarity of these objects in Europe, the author has introduced a series of spindle-whorls from Troy, Hissarlik (pls. 24 and 25). These belong to the U. S. National Museum, and form part of the valuable collection from Mme. Schliemann, the gift by her talented husband to the people of the United States as a token of his remembrance and grateful feelings toward them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 24. SELECTED SPECIMENS OF SPINDLE-WHORLS FROM THE THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH CITIES OF TROY. U. S. National Museum.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 25. SELECTED SPECIMENS OF SPINDLE-WHORLS FROM THE THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH CITIES OF TROY. U. S. National Museum.]

BOBBINS.

EUROPE.

We have already seen how an increase in the number of correspondences between objects from distant countries increases the weight of their evidence in favor of contact or communication between the peoples. If it should be found upon comparison that the bobbins on which thread is to be wound, as well as the spindle-whorls with which it is made, had been in use during prehistoric times in the two hemispheres, it would add to the evidence of contact or communication. The U. S. National Museum possesses a series of these bobbins, as they are believed to have been, running from large to small, comprising about one dozen specimens from Italy, one from Corneto and the others from Bologna, in which places many prehistoric spindle whorls have been found (figs. 367 and 368). These are of the type Villanova. The end as well as the side view is represented. The former is one of the largest, the latter of middle size, with others smaller forming a graduating series. The latter is engraved on the end by dotted incisions in three parallel lines arranged in the form of a Greek cross. A similar bobbin from Bologna bears the sign of the Swastika on its end (fig.

193).[314] It was found by Count Gozzadini and forms part of his collection in Bologna.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 367. BOBBIN OR SPOOL FOR WINDING THREAD (?). Type Villanova. Corneto, Italy. U. S. National Museum.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 368. TERRA-COTTA BOBBIN OR SPOOL FOR WINDING THREAD (?). Type Villanova. Bologna, Italy. Cat. No. 101771, U. S. N. M.]

UNITED STATES.

The three following figures represent clay and stone bobbins, all from the State of Kentucky. Fig. 369 shows a bobbin elaborately decorated, from a mound near Maysville, Ky. It has a hole drilled longitudinally through the center. The end shows a cross of the Greek form with this hole in the center of the cross. Fig. 370 shows a similar object from Lexington, Ky., sent by the Kentucky University. It is of fine-grained sandstone, is drilled longitudinally through the center and decorated as shown. The end view shows a series of concentric circles with rows of dots in the intervals. Fig. 371 shows a similar object of fine-grained sandstone from Lewis County, Ky. It is also drilled longitudinally, and is decorated with rows of zigzag lines as shown. The end view represents four consecutive pentagons laid one on top of the other, which increase in size as they go outward, the hole through the bobbin being in the center of these pentagons, while the outside line is decorated with spikes or rays extending to the periphery of the bobbin, all of which is said to represent the sun. The specimen shown in fig. 372, of fine-grained sandstone, is from Maysville, Ky. The two ends are here represented because of the peculiarity of the decoration. In the center is the hole, next to it is a rude form of Greek cross which on one end is repeated as it goes farther from the center; on the other, the decoration consists of three concentric circles, one interval of which is divided by radiating lines at regular intervals, each forming a rectangle. Between the outer lines and the periphery are four radiating rays which, if completed all around, might form a sun symbol. Bobbins of clay have been lately discovered in Florida by Mr. Clarence B. Moore and noted by Professor Holmes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 369. BOBBIN (?) FROM A MOUND NEAR MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY.

Cat. No. 16748, U. S. N. M.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 370. BOBBIN (?) FROM LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY. Cat. No.

16691, U. S. N. M.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 371. BOBBIN (?) OF FINE-GRAINED SANDSTONE. Lewis County, Kentucky. Cat. No. 59681, U. S. N. M.]

Thus we find some of the same objects which in Europe were made and used by prehistoric man and which bore the Swastika mark have migrated to America, also in prehistoric times, where they were put to the same use and served the same purpose. This is certainly no inconsiderable testimony in favor of the migration of the sign.

VIII.--SIMILAR PREHISTORIC ARTS, INDUSTRIES, AND IMPLEMENTS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA AS EVIDENCE OF THE MIGRATION OF CULTURE.

The prehistoric objects described in the foregoing chapter are not the only ones common to both Europe and America. Related to the spindle-whorls and bobbins is the art of weaving, and it is perfectly susceptible of demonstration that this art was practiced in the two hemispheres in prehistoric times. Woven fabrics have been found in the Swiss lake dwellings, in Scandinavia, and in nearly all parts of Europe. They belonged to the Neolithic and Bronze ages.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 372. VIEW SHOWING BOTH ENDS OF A BOBBIN(?) OF FINE-GRAINED SANDSTONE. Maysville, Kentucky. Cat. No. 16747, U. S. N. M.]

Figs. 373 and 374 ill.u.s.trate textile fabrics in the Bronze Age. Both specimens are from Denmark, and the National Museum possesses another specimen (Cat. No. 136615) in all respects similar. While prehistoric looms may not have been found in Europe to be compared with the looms of modern savages in America, yet these specimens of cloth, with the hundreds of others found in the Swiss lake dwellings, afford the most indubitable proof of the use of the looms in both countries during prehistoric times.

Complementary to this, textile fabrics have been found in America, from the Pueblo country of Utah and Colorado, south through Mexico, Central and South America, and of necessity the looms with which they were made were there also. It is not meant to be said that the looms of the two hemispheres have been found, or that they or the textile fabrics are identical. The prehistoric looms have not been found in Europe, and those in America may have been affected by contact with the white man. Nor is it meant to be said that the textile fabrics of the two hemispheres are alike in thread, st.i.tch, or pattern. But these at best are only details.

The great fact remains that the prehistoric man of the two hemispheres had the knowledge to spin fiber into thread, to wind it on bobbins, and to weave it into fabrics; and whatever differences there may have been in pattern, thread, or cloth, they were finally and substantially the same art, and so are likely to have been the product of the same invention.

While it is not the intention to continue this examination among the prehistoric objects of the two hemispheres in order to show their similarity and thus prove migration, contact, or communication, yet it may be well to mention some of them, leaving the argument or proof to a future occasion.

The polished stone hatchets of the two hemispheres are substantially the same. There are differences of material, of course, for in each country the workman was obliged to use such material as was obtainable. There are differences in form between the polished stone hatchets of the two hemispheres, but so there are differences between different localities in the same hemisphere. Some hatchets are long, others short, some round, others flat, some have a pointed end, others a square or nearly square or unfinished end; some are large, others small. But all these differences are to be found equally well p.r.o.nounced within each hemisphere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 373. WOMAN'S WOOLEN DRESS FOUND IN AN OAK COFFIN AT BORUM-ESHOI, DENMARK. Bronze Age. Report of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution (U. S. National Museum), 1892, pl. CI, fig 2.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 374. DETAIL OF DRESS SHOWN IN THE PRECEDING FIGURE.]

Sc.r.a.pers have also been found in both hemispheres and in all ages. There are the same differences in material, form, and appearance as in the polished stone hatchet. There is one difference to be mentioned of this utensil--_i. e._, in America the sc.r.a.per has been sometimes made with a stem and with notches near the base, after the manner of arrow- and spear-heads, evidently intended to aid, as in the arrow- and spear-head, in fastening the tool in its handle. This peculiarity is not found in Europe, or, if found, is extremely rare. It is considered that this may have been caused by the use of a broken arrow- or spear-head, which seems not to have been done in Europe. But this is still only a difference in detail, a difference slight and insignificant, one which occurs seldom and apparently growing out of peculiar and fortuitous conditions.

The art of drilling in stone was known over an extended area in prehistoric times, and we find innumerable examples which must have been performed in both hemispheres substantially in the same manner and with the same machine.

The art of sawing stone was alike practiced during prehistoric times in the two hemispheres. Many specimens have been found in the prehistoric deposits of both.

The aboriginal art of making pottery was also carried on in the same or a similar manner in both hemispheres. The examples of this art are as numerous as the leaves on the trees. There were differences in the manipulation and treatment, but the princ.i.p.al fact remains that the art was the same in both countries. Not only were the products greatly similar, but the same style of geometric decoration by incised lines is common to both. Greater progress in making pottery was made in the Western than in the Eastern Hemisphere during prehistoric times.

The wheel was unknown in both hemispheres, and in both the manipulation of clay was by hand. True, in the Western Hemisphere there was greater dexterity and a greater number of methods employed. For example, the vase might be built up with clay inside a basket, which served to give both form and decoration; it was coiled, the damp clay being made in a string and so built up by a circular movement, drawing the side in or out as the string of clay was laid thereon, until it reached the top; it may have been decorated by the pressure of a textile fabric, real or simulated, into the damp clay. A few years ago it would have been true to have said that pottery decorated in this manner was peculiar to the Western Hemisphere, and that it had never been found in the Eastern Hemisphere, but Prince Poutjatine has lately found on his property, Bologoje, in the province of Novgorod, midway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, many pieces of prehistoric pottery which bear evidence of having been made in this manner, and while it may be rare in the Eastern Hemisphere, it is similar in these respects to thousands of pieces of prehistoric pottery in North America.

One of the great puzzles for archaeologists has been the prehistoric jade implements found in both countries. The raw material of which these were made has never been found in sufficient quant.i.ties to justify anyone in saying that it is indigenous to one hemisphere and not to the other. It may have been found in either hemisphere and exported to the other. But of this we have no evidence except the discovery in both of implements made of the same material. This material is dense and hard. It is extremely difficult to work, yet the operations of sawing, drilling, carving, and polishing appear to have been conducted in both hemispheres with such similarity as that the result is practically the same.

Prehistoric flint-chipping was also carried on in both hemispheres with such similarity of results, even when performing the most difficult and delicate operations, as to convince one that there must have been some communication between the two peoples who performed them.

The bow and arrow is fairly good evidence of prehistoric migration, because of the singularities of the form and the intricacies of the machinery, and because it is probably the earliest specimen of a machine of two separate parts, by the use of which a missile could be sent at a greater distance and with greater force than if thrown by hand. It is possible that the sling was invented as early as the bow and arrow, although both were prehistoric and their origin unknown.

The bow and arrow was the greatest of all human inventions--greatest in that it marked man's first step in mechanics, greatest in adaptation of means to the end, and as an invented machine it manifested in the most practical and marked manner the intellectual and reasoning power of man and his superiority over the brute creation. It, more than any other weapon, demonstrated the triumph of man over the brute, recognizing the limitations of human physical capacity in contests with the brute. With this machine, man first successfully made up for his deficiency in his contests with his enemies and the capture of his game. It is useless to ask anything of history about the beginnings of the bow and arrow; wherever history appears it records the prior existence, the almost universal presence, and the perfected use of the bow and arrow as a weapon. Yet this machine, so strange and curious, of such intricacy of manufacture and difficulty of successful performance, had with all its similarities and likenesses extended in prehistoric times almost throughout the then inhabited globe. It is useless to specify the time, for the bow and arrow existed earlier than any time of which we know; it is useless for us to specify places, for it was in use throughout the world wherever the world was occupied by neolithic man.

Imitative creature as was man, and slow and painful as were his steps in progress and in invention during his infancy on earth, when he knew nothing and had everything yet to learn, it is sufficiently wonderful that he should have invented the bow and arrow as a projectile machine for his weapons; but it becomes doubly and trebly improbable that he should have made duplicate and independent inventions thereof in the different hemispheres. If we are to suppose this, why should we be restricted to a separate invention for each hemisphere, and why may we not suppose that he made a separate invention for each country or each distant tribe within the hemisphere? Yet we are met with the astonishing but, nevertheless, true proposition that throughout the entire world the bow and arrow existed in the early times mentioned, and was substantially the same machine, made in the same way, and serving the same purpose.

CONCLUSION.