SPINDLE- WHORLS. 151 



forming the spindle is made of a hard wood, and is 2 i inches long. 

 The greatest diameter of the stick is just below the whorl, which is held 

 in place by the increased size of the spindle, 4 inches from the lower 

 end. The whorl is made of bone 4, of an inch thick, perfectly circular in 

 outline, and about 2£ inches in diameter. The hole through which the 

 spindle passes is ^ of an inch in diameter and perfectly straight. The upper 

 surface of the whorl is ornamented by eight incised lines forming four leaf- 

 shaped rays, which start from the margin of the hole and meet a well-cut 

 circle a quarter of an inch from the outer edge of the whorl. All these 

 lines are filled with a black pigment. This is in every respect a well-made 

 and symmetrical implement, and when set in motion spins well. 



Very much like the disk of bone described above are portions of six 

 perforated disks from a prehistoric station near Santarem, Brazil These 

 are now in the Peabody Museum (7972), and were collected by the late 

 Prof. C F. Hartt Although these specimens are all broken, and now 

 consist of halves and quarters of the original disks, they are of great inter- 

 est, owing to their fine finish and elaborate ornamentation. They are all 

 made of a compact red claystone. The largest shows a disk 3^ inches 

 in diameter, £ of an inch thick in the centre, and a little less at the edge. 

 The smallest is 2^ inches in diameter and ^ of an inch thick. One is orna- 

 mented on both sides and the others only on one. The ornamentation on 

 all consists of well-cut lines forming circles, spirals, and groups of lines 

 crossing each other, all symmetrically arranged. The specimen with incised 

 lines on both surfaces has those on one face more like hieroglyphics than 

 simple ornamentation, and they bear some resemblance to the carvings on 

 rocks in South and Central America. With the ornamented bone disks 

 for comparison, it is almost impossible not to consider them as spindle- 

 whorls. In the same collection also are two perforated disks of terra-cotta 

 (7984). One of these is only ^ of an inch thick and \\ inches in diameter, 

 and is ornamented by a single incised line, making a circle about a quarter 

 of an inch from the margin. The other is 2 inches in diameter, and about 

 twice the thickness of the smaller specimen. The peculiarity of this con- 

 sists in its having a double groove cut on its edge. 



In the large collection of Peruvian antiquities in the Peabody Museum 



