OP THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. XXXV 



Shells, and the objects made from them, are so destructible 

 that they have not often been preserved from antiquity to tell 

 the stories of a prehistoric world more enduringly impressed 

 in stone. Had not the practice prevailed of burying them 

 with the dead in the repose of protected graves or tumuli, they 

 would rarely appear as articles of archseologic instruction. 

 But in the great region in North America which is filled with 

 artificial mounds, exploration discloses deposits of shells of 

 so great a number and in such a variety as to form an impor- 

 tant division supplementary to the age of stone. It is shown 

 from these discoveries that the nature of the material has civen 

 a bias to artificial products, and has impressed its forms and 

 functions upon art products in other materials. The shell art 

 of the people who built the mounds records a noteworthy and 

 unwonted effort of the human mind, distinctive in the forms 

 developed as in the material, and so unprecedented in some 

 of the ideas represented as not yet to be fully comprehended. 

 What is already ascertained, however, constitutes an essential 

 chapter in the evolution of human culture. 



Although Mr. Holmes enjoys high repute as an artist, his 

 pursuits have also been scientific, by which combination of 

 training he is exceptionally fitted for the work undertaken. 

 The artist appreciates beauty of execution and idea, can detect 

 resemblances and ruling motives in art, and can provide the 

 requisite graphic illustrations, in which the paper now pub- 

 lished excels. The examination and discussion of the objects, 

 with relegation to categories, demanded scientific methods. 

 Severe study was also devoted to the comparison and applica- 

 tion of all that can be gleaned from literature bearing upon 

 the subject. 



With equal caution and modesty Mr. Holmes, while offering 

 suggestions with force and penetration, has announced no the- 

 ories. In the most original and individual part of his work — 

 that discussing the engravings upon gorgets — he simply con- 

 tends for their significance and for their elevation from the 

 category of trinkets into a serious art, leaving for others the 

 interpretation. A deduction not made by the author may per- 

 haps be suggested by the comparisons from art and literature 



