holmes] 



SHELL ORNAMENTS 



99 



vices occupying the space beneath the human figure are carefully 

 drawn but are so crowded together as to make interpretation difficult. 



These objects are presented here not that any discussion is to be 

 based upon them but rather for the convenience of students engaged 

 in comparative studies of the native art of the various regions. A 

 comparison of these with two other recently described specimens will 

 prove interesting.^ 



It may not be amiss to present in 

 this place a somewhat remarkable de- 

 sign engraved on a thin piece of dark 

 wood or bark which is about three and 

 one-half inches in width and five and 

 one-half inches in length (figure 2). 

 It was obtained from " a mound seven 

 miles inland, opposite Sheffield, Ala- 

 bama," and belongs to a collection 

 obtained by the Field Columbian Mu- 

 seum from Mr. C. W. Riggs. The 

 excellent state of preservation shown 

 by this fragile specimen is due to asso- 

 ciation with objects of copper. The 

 design includes a border three-fourths 

 of an inch in width filled in with 

 obliquely placed oval figures with cen- 

 tral depressions, alternating with ob- 

 liquely placed straight lines — the 

 whole combination suggesting a cur- 

 rent scroll. Within this border is the 

 boldly drawn figure of a giant spider, the spaces on the ground being 

 filled in with incised lines running at various angles. The treat- 

 ment of the insect is highly conventional, but the character is well 

 preserved. The resemblance of this example to certain delineations 

 of spiders engraved on shell gorgets found in various parts of the 

 same general region is very marked. 



Fig. 2. — Spider engraved on 

 a bark tablet from an ancient 

 grave near Florence, Alabama. 

 (Length sVi in.) 



' M. H. Saville: "A Shell Gorget from Huasteca, Mexico"; Bulletin 

 American Museum, vol. xni, p. 99. F. Starr, "A Shell Gorget from Mexico"; 

 Proceedings Davenport Academy, vol. vi, p. 173. 



