264 AKT IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. 



and 8. They are from graves on San Miguel Island, and are made from 

 the Lucupina crenulata; others come from Santa Cruz Island, and proba- 

 bly also from the adjoining islands as well as from the main land. Eings 

 are also made from other shells. Examples made from the Aemcea mitra 

 and Gyprea spadicea .ire shown in Figs. 9, 10, and 11. They come from 

 San Miguel. 



PERFORATED PLATES. 



We find that pendant gorgets grade imperceptibly into another group 

 of objects, the use or significance of which have not be fully determined. 

 These objects are more frequently made of stone or copper, but good 

 examples in shell have been found. As a rule they take the form of 

 thin oblong plates which exhibit great variety of outline. The perfora- 

 tions are peculiar, and have not been designed for ordinary suspension, 

 but are placed near the middle of the specimen as if for fixing it to the 

 person or costume by means of cords. Many theories have been ad- 

 vanced in attempting to determine their use. They have been classed 

 as gorgets, badges of authority, shuttles, armor plates, wrist protectors, 

 and as implements for sizing sinews and twisting cords. 



Objects of this class in stone have been frequently illustrated and 

 described. They are made of many varieties of stone, some of which 

 seem to have been selected on account of their beauty. They have 

 been neatly shaped and often well-polished. The edges are occasionally 

 notched and the surfaces ornamented with patterns of incised lines. 

 The perforations vary from one to four, the greater number of speci- 

 mens, however, having only two. In the early days of mound explora- 

 tion objects of this class were even greater enigmas, if possible, than 

 they are to-day. Even the material of wliich a number of them were 

 formed remained for a long time undetermined. Schoolcrait has 

 published an illustration of a large specimen from the Grave Creek 

 Mound, Ya, This drawing is reproduced in Fig. 3, Plate L. The original 

 was six inches long, one and three-tenths inches wide, and three-tenths 

 of an inch in thickness. He expresses the opinion that it was one of 

 those ancient badges of authority formerly in such general use among 

 the Indians.' 



Another specimen, very much like the last in size and shape, but made 

 of shell, supposed at the time of discovery to be ivory, was found asso- 

 ciated with human remains in the Grave Creek Mound. It is described 

 by Mr. Tomlinson in the American Pioneer,^ and the cut given in Plate 

 L, Fig. 4, is copied from that work. 



A remarkable specimen of this class is given in Fig. 5. It is made 



' Sclioolcraft, in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc, Vol. II, Plate 1. 

 ♦Tomlinson, in The American Pioneer, Vol. II, p. 200. 



