lEWKES] 



CULTURE AREAS IN THE WEST INDIES 



191 



35. — Lateral view of "knob" of the Strube stone 

 collar (Bremen Museum). 



hence the heads of both, even when furnished with limbs, may repre- 

 sent some serpent monster, the iguana, or a reptile with the body and 

 appendages of a turtle. 



The modification in the projection in this collar, although less usual 

 than other features, is not more instructive than the unique figures 

 graven on the border 

 of the decorated pan- 

 els. The surface of 

 the panel is not excep- 

 tionally ornamented, 

 but its border is sculp- 

 tured into the form of 

 a head with lateral ap- 

 pendages much better 

 made than is generally 

 the case. 



The appearance of the head and legs on the panel border of this 

 specimen (fig. 37) are as exceptional in form as the knob, for, unlike 

 the heads cut on the panels of other slender oval collars, the head 

 of this specimen is in high relief. The relation of the head to the 

 collar is here exactly reversed, as compared with that of almost all 

 other collars, for the forehead adjoins the panel instead of being 

 turned away from the decorated panel. The two lateral appendages 

 extending along the bonier on the sides of this head are readily com- 

 parable with similar figures, in the same position, on other collars. 

 A representation of the head and appendages as seen fi'om below 

 shows that the lower jaw is pointed and triangular. 



The form of the decorated panel border of the Strube collar (fig. 

 37) bears directly on our interpretation of this feature in other collars 

 and sheds liirht on the meanine: of certain conventionalized fi<i;ures on 

 other specimens in which the head form is not so evident as in this 



specimen, as may ap- 

 pear from the follow- 

 ing comparisons. 



The decoration on 

 tlie panel bordere of 

 diffei'ent stone collars 

 falls naturally into a 

 series passing from 

 realistic to convention- 

 alized figures, shown 

 in the accompanying figures. In order to interpret these decorations 

 we may pass from the most complicated to tlie simplest form. 



Commencing with the form shown in figure 38, representing a 

 specimen now in the Heye collection, we have a massive collar with 

 a head cut in high relief on the surface of one side. This liead (/,) 



Fig. 36. — Dorsal view of " knob " of the Strube stone 

 collar fUrempn Museum). 



