152 PEEFOEATED STONES. 



are numerous examples of spindle- whorls with and without the spindle. 

 One of them (8594), taken from a grave in Pisagua, Southern Peru, is 

 made of bone, and is about | of an inch thick and 2 inches in diame- 

 ter. Another of about an inch in diameter is of terra-cotta. This is 

 conical, with a fiat, smooth base, and is J an inch in thickness. The conical 

 portion is ornamented by two circular depressions and a waved line in relief 

 near the apex. Another specimen of terra-cotta, in the shape of a trun- 

 cated cone, is 1 inch in diameter and about ^ of an inch thick. This is 

 without ornamentation, except that it has been coated with red pig- 

 ment. This whorl was found in a grave in Southern Peru, still attached 

 to its spindle, which is a slender stick 9 inches in length. A figure of 

 this is given in the Eleventh Report of the Peabody Museum. In con- 

 nection with these Peruvian spindle-whorls should be mentioned many 

 small bead-like articles of various shapes, and made of dark baked clay, 

 nearly all of which are elaborately ornamented with deeply-cut lines, 

 forming circles, frets, and numerous other figures, which are generally 

 painted white or red. With these are other specimens made of stone. If 

 these peculiar relics had been found by themselves probably all archaeol- 

 ogists would have classed them as beads. They are all small, being a half 

 inch in diameter and from a quarter to an inch in length. They have, 

 however, been found in such numbers mounted on the central portion 

 of slender and pointed pieces of wood about eight to ten inches in length 

 as to prove that they were made for that purpose, and as many of the sticks, 

 with such bead-like articles, have more or less fine-spun thread wound over 

 them, I believe them to be spools for thread. 



There is also in the Peabody Museum a spindle-whorl of terra-cotta 

 collected by Mr. Derby at the prehistoric burial-place on the island of Pac- 

 coval in the Amazon. This is spherical in shape, about 1 inch in height, 

 measured through the hole, and 1| in transverse diameter. It is orna- 

 mented by incised lines over its whole surface.* 



*Dr. Rau lias given figures of two highly ornamented spindle- whorls of terra-cotta from Mexico, 

 on page 87 of his important volume on the Archaeological Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and there has recently heen received at the Peabody Museum a collection of similar whorls from 

 Mexico. These are of various sizes ; some are ornamented by carefully-carved lines and are well fin- 

 ished, while others were made in c,lay moulds, in which the ornaments had been cut and stamped, as 

 shown by several moulds found with the whorls. 



