176 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



been published in 1887 when this shell gorget was discovered. The curious 

 complicated head-dress and long hair-tie, also suggest the Georgia figures, 

 as does the long implement or object under the right arm, which appears to 

 to be a duplicate of the object held in the right hand of the copper-plate 

 figure. The fan-shaped scarf hanging from the waist, appears in several of 

 these designs. The ear-ring, the breast ornament, the large beads upon the 

 wrists and legs, the half-circles on the arms and lips, all suggest analogies." 



With the pictures of these gorgets before him, anyone at all ac- 

 quainted with Mexican art must notice curious analogies. Holmes 

 recognized similarity. Of the scalloped disks he says : 



"The student will hardly fail to notice the resemblance of these disks to 

 the calendars of Mexico and other southern nations of antiquity. There is, 

 however, no absolute identity with southern examples. The involute design 

 in the centre resembles the Aztec symbol of day, but is peculiar in its divi- 

 sion into three parts, four being the number almost universally used." 

 Holmes, 1. c. p. 279. 



Of the bird pattern and loop pattern he remarks: 



"A similar looped rectangle occurs several times in the ancient Mexican 

 manuscripts. * * * * It is not a little remarkable that a cross occupies 

 the enclosed area in all these examples." Holmes, 1. c. p. 285. 



" * * Gorgets of shell are a marked characteristic of the personal em- 

 bellishment of the northern peoples. They may have been in use among 

 the Aztecs, but do not appear among southern antiquities, and no evidence 

 can be derived from history. This gorget belongs, in its general character 

 as an ornament, to the north. * * * * * In all these features, together 

 with its technical execution and its manner of inhumation, it is identical 

 with the well-known work of the mound-builders. These analogies could 

 hardly occur if it were an exotic. It is true, however, * * * * th^t the 

 design itself has a closer affinity to Mexican art than to that of the north. 

 * * * * * As an ornament, this Missouri gorget is a member of a great 

 family that is peculiarly northern, but the design engraved upon it affiliates 

 with the art of Mexico, and so close and striking are the resemblances, that 

 accident cannot account for them, and we are forced to the conclusion that 

 It must be the offspring of the same beliefs and customs and the same cul- 

 ture as the art of Mexico." Holmes, 1. c. 305. 



We have now to describe another engraved gorget of shell on 

 which a human figure is represented. The specimen is part of the 

 Ryerson collection, now at the University of Chicago. It was col- 

 lected near Morelia, in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, by Abadiano, 

 probably in the year 1882. It is remarkably well preserved and has 

 been somewhat cleaned, but of its authenticity there is absolutely no 

 question. As the United States specimens it is a thin, concavo-con 

 vex plate. The inner, concave face, is the one carved. The gorget is 

 nearly circular measuring 106 ™™- in height and loo'"™- in breadth. 



