MATERIAL CULTURE OF THE INDIANS OF SAMANA 59 



ball court or a zemi house. Schomburgk describes earthworks from 

 several sites in Santo Domingo other than Samana. 



The carving of minor objects of stone devoted to ceremonial use 

 surpass in elaboration of design corresponding Mexican forms which 

 are entirely lacking in South American Arawakan art. The stone 

 collars, 3-pointed stones, and stone masks are the most interesting 

 forms of Tainoan art in stone sculptures. A small example of a 

 3-pointed stone (Cat. No. 341049, U.S.N.M.), was recovered by the 

 Museum expedition from San Juan, but no other examples of these 

 forms were found in Ciguayan territory. A large scone collar of the 

 massive type has recently been found near Macoris, in southeastern 

 Santo Domingo. Stone collars are oval in shape, while Mexican 

 analogues are mostly open and at the same time display unrelated 

 phases of symbolic art. Haitian forms are skillfully fashioned and 

 incorporate in their larger examples decorative panels of anthropo- 

 morphic figurines which appear as rim decorations and handle lugs 

 of Ciguayan earthenware vessels (pi. 19, Nos. 1 and 2). 



Zemis, or personal totems, are carved from stone in the form of 

 anthropomorphic figurines, are more rare from Samana than from 

 other Provinces of aboriginal Haiti, although the worked standstone 

 3-pointed figure from San Juan is a typical example. Zemis of shell 

 from Samana sites are of small dimensions and have perforations at 

 the back for suspension. This arrangement shows their former use 

 as pendants and not as frontal amulets. Large columnar stone carv- 

 ings etched on the rounded upper surfaces of stalagmites in the caves 

 are more numerous but are less well made. 



Columnar stone zemi carvings are uniformly inferior to the 

 petroglyphs and etched inscriptions on the walls of caves in the San 

 Lorenzo Bay island keys. Rounded and smooth surfaces of the lime- 

 stone walls of the caves of this region have been artistically carved by 

 some unknown native stoneworker. These petroglyphs in some in- 

 stances have unusual artistic merit, but usually are quite crudely 

 executed anthropomorphic figures. It is safe to affirm that such 

 anthropomorphic carvings are to be considered as zemis, although 

 many of the stone carvings found on the cave walls represent birds, 

 fish, or mammals, and depict hunting or fishing scenes of no particu- 

 lar significance. The realism with which such animal figures are 

 either painted or carved gives to them a certain significance as an 

 index to the natural history of Samana in pre-Columbian times and 

 is in striking contrast with the more formal and conventional designs 

 appearing on native pottery. 



The more utilitarian objects shaped from stone are less skillfully 

 fashioned. Decorative pestle heads of stone are not characteristic of 

 the area, while undecorated stone pestles were recovered by the expe- 

 dition in considerable numbers, as were also undecorated triturating 



