534 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1907. 
I show (fig. 4) for comparison a picture of the canine tooth of a 
wolf (now in the British Museum) from the French paleolithic 
caves of Laugerie Basse and an animal tooth from a shell heap in 
Japan. The figures called ¢ and d are magatama of serpentine or 
rock crystal from Japanese graves of the iron age. The last form is 
the most frequent, and it is this form which is commonly meant when 
magatama are mentioned. 
Donitz thinks that the shape of the magatama indicates a “ sym- 
bol of lascivious meaning.” Others see in it a picture of the wing 
of a certain butterfly. Sometimes they look like a little fish. My 
opinion is that originally they were used as charms, either to protect 
the wearer from the animals from which they came or, in the case 
of the fish-shaped ones, to attract the fish. 
Some special power must have been attributed to them, for their 
value as ornaments alone does not explain why they were used in 
) ( 
Fic. 4.—So-called Magatama, natural size. a is an animal’s tooth from Laugerie Basse, 
in France (paleolithic) ; b is from a Japanese shell heap; ¢ and d@ are from the graves 
of the Japanese iron age (Dolmen period). 
mythical or half mythical times as jewels of the gods, of the Emperor, 
and of other persons of the highest rank. A magatama is even to-day 
one of the three emblems of sovereignty in Japan. Their religious 
significance can be seen also from their use in the Shinto ritual and 
from the further fact that two or three such comma-lke figures form- 
ing a circle appear frequently on religious and ritualistic objects all 
over eastern Asia. The circle, made up of two “ commas,” one red and 
the other green, is the national emblem of Korea. This form repre- 
sents the masculine and feminine principles—Yang and Yin of the 
Chinese—and also heaven and earth. The triply divided circle rep- 
resents heaven, earth, and man (the product of the two). The Swas- 
tika, in my opinion, belongs to the same group of ideas. . 
Horn and bone are found as implements, such as needles, awls, 
arrow points, harpoons, pipes, and also, but much less frequently, 
fashioned into ornaments. The bones occurring most commonly are 
from deer and wild boars, and occasionally from dogs, wolves, and 
