154 PERFORATED STONES. 



p. 381, gives a figure of a fire-drill, consisting of a wooden shaft about 4 

 feet long and an inch in diameter. To the upper end of the shaft there is 

 fastened a string with its bow, and towards the lower end there is " a small 

 wheel" to add to its momentum. As Mr. Morgan states lhat this form of 

 fire-drill is "an Indian invention of great antiquity," it maybe possible 

 that some of the perforated stones which have been found were used as 

 whorls to such fire-drills. The heavy stones with small straight perforations 

 would seem to be the form best adapted for this purpose. 



A disk of sandstone, about 2 J inches in diameter and one-third of an 

 inch thick, with a slightly countersunk perforation of nearly half an inch in 

 width, is probably a spindle-whorl. This stone (P. M. 1583) was found in 

 a mound near Mount Sterling, Ky. It is rudely ornamented by an incised 

 circle on each face about a quarter of an inch from the edge of the stone; 

 and on one face there are four short lines cut from the circle towards the 

 central hole at equal distances apart. The hole is smooth as if from long 

 use ; and if we have any right to draw deductions regarding the use of 

 implements of prehistoric people from the knowledge we have of the use 

 of apparently identical implements among present or recent nations of 

 probably about the same stage of culture, we should consider this perfo- 

 rated stone from Kentucky as a spindle-whorl. There is now sufficient 

 evidence that our Moundbuilders made woven fabrics of comparative fine- 

 ness, and the finding of spin die- whorls in the mounds and ancient graves 

 should not cause surprise. Indeed, the discovery of so few stones that 

 can be so classed may indicate that, like the present Indians of Peru, this 

 ancient people probably commonly used perishable whorls of wood.* 



On Plate X, Fig. 15, is represented a " chungke stone," with a small 

 central perforation. The specimen is made from quartzite, and, while 

 agreeing in other respects with man} r well-made "chungke stones," which 

 are so common in the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, the perforation rather 



* Since the above was written, the Peabody Museum has received ten small perforated stones 

 which were taken from sis different stone graves of the Southern Moundbuilders, near Nashville, Tenn. 

 Several of these stones, from their small size, may possibly have been ornaments; but others which are 

 larger seem to me to be spindle-whorls. Most of them are made with care, generally of limestone, and 

 are smooth and symmetrical. They vary in diameter from 1 inch to 1.7, and in thickness from half an 

 inch to one and a fifth. The hole in some, particularly in the larger specimens, is straight, and is .3 of 

 an inch in diameter ; in others it is countersunk on both faces. 



