146 



Hopewell Mound Group 



their original condition, before they were buried, were worth at least 

 one million dollars. Some of the pearls are shown in Plate LXXX. 

 Many of the specimens were drilled very carefully. There is no evidence 

 that they were perforated by means of a strip of heated copper wire, as 

 has been suggested. A portion of a small drill or meteoric iron was found 

 in one specimen. The drilling of these thousands of beads was certainly 

 a long and laborious process. Willoughby's study of how pearls were 

 drilled is presented in Fig. 44. He makes the following comments: — 

 "The diagramatic drawings shown in Fig. 44 illustrate the various 



ways in which the pearls were perforated : 

 a, b, c, and d have single perforations. 

 In a, the hole is low upon the side, and 

 the pearl was probably sewn to some 

 object, not strung as a bead. E and / 

 have a single perforation made by two 

 holes drilled at angles, meeting in the 

 interior of the pearl; g has two oblique 

 perforations; h has a lateral perforation, 

 and meeting it at right angles is another 

 hole drilled from the bottom of the speci- 

 men; i, /, and k have two perforations 

 intersecting almost at right angles. The 

 pearls represented in /, m, n, 0, and p, 

 have cut surfaces which are indicated 

 by dotted lines. In n and p the bottom 

 is flat, and the edges carefully beveled as 

 though for insertion into a corresponding 

 cavity in some object. Pearls inlaid in 

 bear's teeth occasionally have the lower 

 side cut to fit the cavity in the tooth. 

 Many of the pearls are perforated by 

 drilling from opposite sides, as indicated 

 by the countersunk holes which usually meet near the centre of the 

 bead. It is evident that a large number of the small and medium- 

 sized beads were penetrated from one side only by a slender drill of 

 copper or meteoric iron, for the holes in many instances are so small 

 and regular they could not have been made with a flint point." 



A complete study of this interesting subject has been published by 

 G. F. Kunz, 1 from whose book the following is quoted: — 



Fig. 43. 

 An Ornament of 



Shell from Altar 2 



!The Book of the Pearl, pp. 485-489 (New York, 1908). 



