20 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



being to send out a jet of air under pressure. The lower end has two 

 iron prongs for stirring the fire and the upper end a curved hook for 

 hanging the implement to a suitable peg. The two prongs on the 

 end of the Spanish fire blower also suggest a survival. 



Early shovels consist of a thin, circular, flat disk at the end of a 

 handle. The cult shovel of the Parsee used to tend the sacred fire and 

 the Spanish shovel for tending the brazier are of this form (see pi. 8,. 

 fig. 2). 



The curved shovel is of comparatively recent invention, while the 

 flat shovel reaches back to the Bronze Age. 



The andiron, as noted in another place, has its fiirst steps in the 

 primitive arrangement of the fireplace, namely, the thi*ee or four 

 stones put in the fire to support the wood, and much later to support 

 cooking vessels. The primitive stone andirons are perpetuated in the 

 three bosses of simple stoves of warm countries, and presumably of 

 tripod vessels under which fire was built. The long metal andirona 

 are perhaps related to the four stones placed in the fire or to the slabs 

 placed at the sides of the fire. They may refer also to the grate bars. 



The study of andirons, with various additions growing out of the 

 needs of the different periods through which this primitive device has 

 passed, would begin and parallel the history of the stove. From the 

 stones in the primitive fire to the elaborate landiers and andirons of the 

 French there were many additions applied at the demands of the cook, 

 until at the later stage the andiron becomes both a support and a stove. 



The trivet is an iron stand with three feet, used for raising vessels 

 above the fire and in this sense a special andiron. It is an introduc- 

 tion of the Iron Age, and morphologically would be represented in 

 earlier stages by the three stone supports set in the fire. 



The name refers to the Iron Age, but the form in wood is doubtlesa 

 far more ancient, and from which the gridiron may have been derived. 

 These structures of wooden rods laid upon crosspieces supported by 

 forked sticks were not designed to resist fire action, but were for 

 preserving food by semicooking, smoke, and drying. Examples are 

 found among native tribes everyw^here. The device need not be 

 considered as acquired, but is likely to be independently invented 

 through necessity. Historically the first description of this gridiron 

 in America was by John Smith concerning the Virginia Indians, and 

 giving a drawing by John White, about 1600. 



