24 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1915. 



A collection from the Lower Mimbres Valley, N. Mex., transferred 

 by the Bureau of American Ethnology, contains a quantity of pottery 

 displajdng a distinct type of decoration and therefore constituting a 

 valuable addition. A bannerstone of rose quartz, a very remarkable 

 Indian relic and probably one of the finest examples of its kind yet 

 brought to light, found on the farm of Mr. W. E. Trice, Woodruff 

 County, Ark., was obtained by purchase, as were three metal objects, 

 one of gold and two of gilded copper, from Chiriqui, Province of 

 Panama, the first a bird image, the other two consisting of two figures 

 connected by wire scroll work and a winged figure also with wire 

 scroll work. There were two principal gifts. The first consisted of 

 a remarkable jade ax, one of the largest pieces of worked jade so far 

 received by the Museum, from Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, a small 

 stone celt from Ahuachapan, San Salvador, and a clay figurine from 

 Tepecoyo, in the same country, presented by Mr. Emilio Mosonyi, of 

 San Salvador. The other was a large potterj^^ vase from a mound in 

 Marion County, Tenn., donated by Mr. Clarence B. Moore, of Phila- 

 delphia, Pa. 



The condition of the display and study collections was much im- 

 proved. A number of new acquisitions and many specimens selected 

 from the reserve series were added to the exhibition series and 

 several new cases were installed. Three groups illustrating aborigi- 

 nal quarry and mining methods, namely, a soapstone quarry group, 

 an iron-paint mining group, and a copper mining group, were com- 

 pleted. They are shown in large floor cases and not only make an 

 attractive display but are of much educational value. 



The head curator, Mr. William H. Holmes, who retains personal 

 charge of the American archeological collections, continued his 

 study of the stone implements, with the view of embodying the re- 

 sults in the Handbook of American Antiquities in preparation for 

 publication by the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



Old World archeology. — Of 8 accessions, the most important were 

 an exchange and a gift. The former, from Dr. A. Eutot, of the 

 Royal Museum of Natural History at Brussels, consisted of 90 

 Neolithic stone implements from Belgium, representing the first 

 epoch of polished stone culture in Europe, laiown as the " Spien- 

 nian," and serving to round out the prehistoric series from that coun- 

 try. The latter, from Mr. Herbert E. Clark, of Jerusalem, was 

 cornposed of 19 stone implements, hand axes of the Acheulean type, 

 chisels, etc., forming a valuable addition to the present collection 

 from Palestine. 



The routine work consisted mainly in perfecting the exhibition 

 collections and preparing labels. The latter included especially a 

 series descriptive of the various groups which, with the aid of the 

 exhibits, serves to convey to the visitor a good idea of the character 



