86 



NOTCHED PLATES 



[b. a. 



Clark, and by Putnam and Willoughby; 

 the Hurst tablet, found in Pike co., 

 Ohio; the Berlin tablet, found in Jack- 

 wju CO., Ohio, and a number of other 

 decorated specimens from Southern 

 mounds, described by Ran, ]\Ioore, and 

 others. Interestin": examples of the dis- 

 coitlal plates are the Naples, 111., speci- 



Tablet, Ohio; Length 5 



men, described by Henderson, and the 

 Arkansas Post specimen, described by 

 Stoddard. These two disks are without 

 marginal notches. Numerous discoidal 

 tablets obtained from mounds in Missis- 

 sii)pi and Alabama are described by Moore 

 and Holmes. The feathered serpent tab- 

 let from Issaquena CO., Miss., the knotted 

 serpent tablet froui Mound ville, Ala., 

 ami other pictured specimens from the 

 latter locality, de- 

 scribed by the 

 same authors, are 

 deserving of spe- 

 cial mention. 



It is observed 

 that these plates 

 are made of sand- 

 stone and kindred 

 gritty materials, 

 and this fact con- 

 firms INIoore' s con- 

 clusi<m that they 

 were used in grinding pigments. That 

 they were held in exceptional esteem 

 by their owners is shown by their 

 burial with the dead. These facts in- 

 dicate clearly that the plates were not 

 intended to serve an ordinary purpose, 

 but rather that they tilled some impor- 

 tant sacred or ceremonial office, as in 

 preparing colors for shamanistic use or 

 for religious ceremonies. The engraved 

 designs on these plates naturally give rise 

 to speculation, and it is not surprising 



Stoddard Pl 



that the very general presence of notched 

 and scalloped margins should suggest the 

 theory that the plates were sun symbols. 

 But a critical examination of the various 

 markings and figures leads to the convic- 

 tion that all are representative, in a more 

 or less conventional fashion, of animal 

 originals and that all were proljably em- 

 ployed because of their peculiar esoteric 

 significance and relationship with the 

 functions of the tablets. It is observed 

 that the notches cut in the edges of the 

 plates are in many instances carried in- 

 ward over the plate 

 in such a way as to 

 suggest feathers, as 

 these are often form- 

 ally treated in native 

 art, and this leads to 

 tlie surmise that the 

 animal original might 

 have been a duck — a 

 synd)ol of wide dis- 

 tribution among the knotted serpent^ plate, ala- 

 Indian tribes in the TVr^Z IZll) 



VERS1TY OF Alabama; 



b. ; but recalhng the 

 occurrence of the feathered-serpent de- 

 sign engraved on the obverse of the 

 Mississippi tablet, the idea is suggested 

 that the original concept in the mind of 

 the makers of these plates was, at least 

 in some cases, the feathered serpent, a 

 northern form of Quetzalcoatl, a chief 

 deity of the middle American peoples. 



A noteworthy feature of the engravings 

 of the serpents and other figures on these 

 mound tablets is the apparent maturity 



THFRED Serpent Plate, Mississipi 



ARCH/COLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



(ohiO STATE 



of the art, the intricate forms being skil- 

 fully disposed and drawn with a certain 

 hand. The designs are not mere ran- 

 dom products, but, like the copper orna- 

 ments, the earthenware decorations, and 

 the shell engravings of the (iulf states, 

 were evidently made by skilled artists 

 practising a well-matured art which dis- 



