280 



AN ANALYSIS OF THE 



They are for the most part, expressive of an anthropotized deity, or of himself in 

 heroic action. 



With such simple factors many secondary figures may ai'ise by specialization of 

 the details of the more complex. The human figure yields the head, and its separate 

 parts, the eye, mouth, ear and limbs, particularly the hands and feet. The house 

 with the gable and door is appropriated, each with its special significance ; and as 

 the use of weapons and household utensils become gi'adually adopted, a system of 

 picture-signs is elaborated sufficient for the purposes of the people inventing it. 



The difficulty of identifying the objects of such a system is apparent. Apart 

 from the rudeness of the execution, we find objects closely resembling one another 

 having diversive significances. Many figures, for example, are circular in form, which 

 we cannot, fi-om that fact alone, place together. Upon the monuments of Central 

 America the circle is often used to designate both the human eye and the ear drum 

 of reptiles. It also represents the moon,* mammae, and a variety of other things. 



Section II. The Inventive. But many designs can by no force of ingenuity 

 be included in the list, either of organic objects, of implements, or their derivatives. 

 Some of these are inventions. This is a natural result of human effort. As earthen 

 pottery could easily have been suggested by the gourd, or holloAV stone, so the 

 designs upon fictile implements may have arisen from the minor accidents oc- 

 curing diu-ing manufixcture. The unintentional imprint of the finger tip may have 

 passed into the ornament adopted in the pottery of the stone age of Europe.f In the 

 same manner the stamp made by the end of a hollow reedj may have originated the 

 circular ornament, as the impress of a fibrous cord created the almost universal si)ir"al 

 border. 



Excluding this group of objects, there yet remain many markings such 

 as those seen upon early potteiy, which cannot be so explained, and are probably 

 examples of inventive design. Such are the herring-bone patterns and chevrons, and 

 the numerous crossed lines, which do not form determinate figures. What the 

 ultimate shapes would have been, originating from a basis so meagre, it is difficult to 

 surmise. There are many elaborate examples of carvings among the South Sea 

 Islanders in which the simple repetition of the lines above mentioned is never de- 

 parted from. The result is pleasing, but without other interest. 



* According to Lt. Simpson (Reconnoissances in New Mexico, Texas, etc , 1850), the circle, among the Pueblo 

 Indians, means the sun and moon, — the half-circle, clouds, — the zigzag, lightning, etc. 



f Prehistoric Times, Sir John Lubbock, p. 4G9. It is asserted by Wm. Chaffers (Keramic Gallery, II, 1872, 

 185), that the gourd, pumpkin, or the fruits with a hard rind or shell, were in England the most primitive vessels. 



± Antiquity of the Southern Indians, particularly of the Georgian Tribes, Charles C. Jones, Jr., New York, 

 1878, 459. 



