ABORIGINAL DECOBATIVE ART KRIEGER 547 



eralized parallelisms that prevail practically throughout the entire 

 world where there can be no possibility of migration of j)ooples or 

 even of the art designs themselves. The use of the spiral, in fact of 

 all the elementary forms of incising, the many forms of simple 

 Crosshatch, etched or painted, the many synibols of motion widely 

 known as swastika, and in weaving, the application of certain geo- 

 metrical designs are found wherever a basket is woven or wherever 

 a piece of cloth is produced. The widespread diffusion of geometrical 

 designs on tapa cloth or on bark clotli are purely environmental in 

 their distribution. In a similar way the beginnings of plastic art 

 and of sculpturing in wood and in clay are distril)Uted. 



Hundreds of examj)les might be selected which first appear to 

 show a culture connection. All these must be discarded as examples 

 of pseudo-culture diffusion in that the very arts themselves, of weav- 

 ing, of pottery making, of wood carving, and of many other crafts 

 when perfected, lend themselves readily to a display of similar forms 

 of surface finish and embellishments. 



Such is the beginning of primitive art. Although widespread in its 

 various presentations, it began in a thousand places when the prim- 

 itive craftsman began to realize his power over material. As soon 

 as he began to play with his technic he became a primitive artist 

 as well as a primitive artisan. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES 



Plate 1 

 The god of the east wlud, one of tlie diseiise-benring {^ods of the Irotjuois 

 Indians, tribe of the Onondaga. Cat. No. 248702, U.S.N.M. 



I'late 2 



Wampum belts in tlie United States National Museum. 



Top: Cat. No. 248744, U.S.N.M., Delaware Indians of Ontario. Canada. 

 O. G. Heye collection. This belt resembles the famous Peim treaty belt 

 delivered to William Penu at treaty of 1GS2 at Shackamaxon. 



Middle : Cat. No. 1G5103, U.S.N.M. Iroquois Indians of Canada. W. N. 

 Thompson collection. 



Bottom : Cat. No. 201156. U.S.N.M. Collection of W. H. Tobias. Cylin- 

 drical, drilled beads of wami)um were cut from the shell of the hard- 

 shell clam (Venus tuencnaria) which pave beads of purple and white 

 colors. Woven belts of wampum served as objects of i>ersonal adorn- 

 ment, and had a certain ceremonial value. In western America wampum 

 was replaced by dentalium shell in beaded sashes, belts, and other objects 

 of personal adornment, as earrings and necklaces. 



Pl<\te 3 



Beaded shoulder bags of the Chlpi>e\va and the eastern Canadian Indians. 



Left: Cat. No. 154030, U.S.N.M. From the Hnz<'n collection. Dimen- 

 sions : 9 Inches deep and 9 Inches wide. 



Uight: Cat. No. 328702. U.S.N.M. Collected by B. R. lloss from the 

 Chipi>ewa Indians. Dimensions : 7 inches deep and 7 inches wide. 



