HOLMES.] ORIGIN OF THE MISSOURI GORGET. 305 



In the first place, gorgets of shell are a marked characteristic of the 

 personal embellishment of the northern peoples. They may have been 

 in use among the Aztecs, but do not appear among southern antiquities, 

 and no evidence can be derived from history. This gorget belongs, in 

 its general character as an ornament, to the North. It is circular in 

 form, it has two small perforations near the margin for suspension, and 

 is made from the wall of a large univalve. The design occupies the 

 central jiortion of the convex side of the disk and is inclosed by a 

 number of incised lines. In all of these features, together with its 

 technical execution and its manner of inhumation, it is identical with 

 the well-known work of the mound-builders. These analogies could 

 hardly occur if it were an exotic. It is true, however, as we have al- 

 ready seen, that the design itself has a closer affinity to Mexican art 

 than to that of the North. It represents a sacrificial scene, and has 

 many parallels in the paintings and sculpture of the South, whereas 

 no such design is known in the art of any nation north of Mexico. 



The engravings of the mouud-builders represent legendary creatures 

 derived from the myths of the fathers, and in this respect have their 

 parallels in the bird-man of the Haidahs, the war-god of the Zuiiis, and 

 the mythical deities of other countries; but they are never illustrative 

 of the customs or ceremonies of the peoples themselves. As an orna- 

 ment this Missouri gorget is a member of a great family that is pecu- 

 liarly northern, but the design engraved upon it affiliates with the art 

 of Mexico, and so close and striking are the resemblances, that acci- 

 dent cannot account for them, and we are forced to the conclusion that 

 it must be the offspring of the same beliefs and customs and the same 

 culture as the art of Mexico. 



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