A REMARKABLE CEREMONIAL OBJECT FROM 
MICHIGAN. 
By Hdnry L. Ward. 
The Public Museum has recently purchased a remarkable cere- 
monial object, found some months ago by Charles Buesch in the 
bed of a creek about eight miles northwest of Freesoil, Mason Co., 
Mich. 
It is of a type that would be classed in the vernacular as a 
two-hole gorget, although its real use is, like that of so many cere- 
monials, merely a matter of conjecture. 
The specimen is remarkable both for its shape and size, and 
when obtained we knew of no other as large, but have since seen 
figured in a circular advertising Moorhead's forthcoming work 
on archaeology one that almost duplicates this, both in form and 
dimensions. Nothing is stated about it except that it is made of 
cannel coal and was found in Ohio. 
The Museum's specimen may be cannel coal, but it is so much 
weathered that it is difficult to make certain. A minute fragment 
held in an alcohol flame ignited, giving off a bituminous odor. 
Before seeing Moorhead's figure I had called the material from 
which this is made bituminous shale. The distinction is unim- 
portant in this connection. 
The surface is so altered as to very closely resemble old wood 
in color and weight, and the specimen was, I am given to under- 
stand, considered to be of that material by some local collectors 
to whom it was shown. An end had been broken off and cemented 
before it came to our hands, and from the edges that did not 
join, the color of the interior is seen to be dull black. The 
weathering has produced cracks and emphasized the laminated 
structure which is shown in the drawing. Its original specific 
gravity has evidently been lowered. 
The specimen is 262 mm. ( io}4 inches) long, 17mm. (11-16 
inch) thick at the center between the perforations. The two sur- 
faces of the ends are nearly parallel, the upper very gradually 
swelling to meet the connecting shaft; 8 mm. (5-16 inch) fairly 
represents the average thickness of these wings. The side opposite 
to that figured is flat, but not in the same plane. The shaft is 
160 
