SINKEKS. 



181 



Ohio. This mound and its contents have been minutely described by Dr. S. P. 

 Hildrcth in a letter addressed to Mr. Caleb Atwater.* The full-size figure is 

 made after the original, which belongs to the collection of the American Anti- 

 quarian Society, at Worcester, Massachusetts, but was kindly loaned to me 

 through the mediation of Mr. Stephen Salisbury, Jr., of the same place.t 



i 



Fio. 324. Fio. 325. (0827). 



FIGS. 324 and 325. Copper sinkers. Mounds in Ohio. 



Fig. 325. This sinker, presented by General J. H. Devereux, is carefully 

 hammered from a solid piece of native copper, of good, though not entirely 

 symmetrical, shape, and smooth on the surface, which shows some slight cavities. 

 The upper part terminates in a compressed knob, sufficiently projecting to afford 

 a firm hold to the line, and the lower end, without forming a knob, shows a some- 

 what similar shape. The object is not round, but flattened throughout, measur- 

 ing about half an inch in thickness. A cross-section through the middle would 

 almost resemble a rectangle with strongly rounded angles. 



* Archaeologia Americana; Vol. I, 1820; p. 108, etc. The wood-cut on p. 173 (Pig. 5) bears only a distant 

 resemblance to the object. 



f Since the above was written, Professor F. W. Putnam has published in the " Proceedings of the American 

 Antiquarian Society " (New Series, Vol. II ; p. 349-363) an article relating to the objects discovered in the mound 

 at Marietta. He thinks the specimen, which I call a sinker, has been made by pounding together an arborescent 

 mass of native copper containing native silver. The peculiar occurrence of these two virgin metals in the Lake 

 Superior district is well known, and before having examined the specimen in question, I entertained the view 

 expressed by Professor Putnam. But upon close inspection it appeared to me as though the piece of silver in the 

 sinker showed traces of beating, and hence my statement. After all, the matter is not of great importance. 



