USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Madisonville > Indian Village Site and Cemetery Near Madisonville, Ohio > Part 21
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In size and shape the fragment differs little from corresponding parts of the atlatls described above. The side grooves under the missing finger-loops are shallower; and there are a pair of notches just forward of these, which once held the fastenings of the front ends of the loops. Of the attached " weights," the lowest is a small triangular chipped point, 1f inches long and { of an inch wide; its lower side is flat, so that it fits snugly against the stick, the upper side is somewhat rounded. The sinew wrappings which hold it pass about the shallow finger notches. Two and three- quarters inches above the chipped point there is a flat oval piece of white limestone, 11 inches long, } inch wide, and } of an inch thick;
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 33
=
&
WHITE DOG CAVA Atlatis or dart-throwers. (About }.)
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it is very neatly made and is well polished. Almost touching this is a polished, loaf-shaped piece of dark green satin spar, 2 inches long. Pushed under the sinew binding that holds the latter in place is a section, 1 inch long, broken from a round skewer-like bone object, perhaps from a pin such as was used in making hair ornaments (plate 18, b). A dark, pitchy stain covers that portion of the shaft to which the objects just described are attached, and is smeared over the sinew wrappings of the two forward ones. Adhering to the stick when found were some downy feathers, but it is not certain that they had not become stuck to it accidentally.
The two remaining figures of the plate show pieces of broken atlatls. The butt fragment has two narrow notches on one side below the finger-grooves, a feature not observed in any other specimen. Ligature prints of the finger-loop attachments, and also of a " weight " binding may be seen. The broken distal end is the heaviest and broadest one in the collection; it measures 1{ inches across; the groove is 2} inches long.
Darts. The darts cast with the aid of the atlatl consisted nor- mally of two parts: a long main-shaft, feathered at the proximal or butt end; and a short foreshaft set into the tip or distal end of the main-shaft. Heretofore there has been little accurate knowledge as to the main-shafts, the material recovered having been very fragmentary. The expedition of 1916, however, yielded three nearly perfect specimens, as well as a number of less com- plete ones, from which additional details can be learned. These were all found with burials, and had, on account of their length, been broken before being placed in the cists.
The three entire shafts referred to above were in halves when discovered; mended they measure exclusive of foreshafts, 52}, 55, and 55} inches long. The tips or distal ends are the heaviest parts averaging { inch in thickness; from this maximum diameter there is a gradual taper to the butts or proximal ends, which average } of an inch through. They are made of straight, slender branches of some light wood with a small pithy heart; the bark has been care- fully removed, the twigs trimmed close, and in some cases the knots have been further eliminated by rubbing. The large ends of some shafts have a very slight terminal taper (plate 34, h), and the edges of the butts are rounded. One specimen has marks on
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its surface such as might have been caused by using a shaft- straightener of the wrench type.1
In the distal or large end of the shaft is drilled a cone-shaped hole fs of an inch in diameter at the mouth and 1 inch to 12 inches in depth; into this socket was fitted the butt of the foreshaft as in j. In order to prevent the socket from being split open when the fore- shaft was driven back into it on impact, it is reinforced by outer ferrule-like wrappings of stout flat sinew as shown in the drawing. The proximal or butt end of the main-shaft is provided with a shallow cup, b, to engage the spur of the throwing stick, and here again there is sometimes applied a band of sinew to prevent splitting.
The method of winging the shafts can be accurately recon- structed from the material at hand. As shown in a, b, three feathers possibly somewhat trimmed, but with unsplit quills, were laid along the shaft and seized to it at both ends with flat sinew.' The average length of the feathers on five specimens is 7} inches; the average distance from the end of the feathering to the butt is 4 inches. The feathers themselves were prepared for attachment as follows: the end of the quill was cut off and into its hollow body there was introduced a tight fitting plug, 1 inch to 1} inches long, either of wood or of the sharp, hard tip of a yucca leaf. The end of the quill was further solidified by wrapping it about with sinew. Both these features are illustrated in b.3 Heavy flat seizing of sinew secures the thus prepared lower end of the feather to the shaft; the light tip end has no extra strengthening and is merely bound to the shaft with a few turns of thin sinew. The purpose of this careful plugging and binding of the quill was un- doubtedly to render it so firm and solid that it could be tightly bound to the shaft at exactly the correct angle; an unplugged quill would have been crushed by the ligatures, and the feather
1 Though not uncommon in cliff-dwellings, we have found no such implement among Basket- maker remains. The Cliff-dweller wrenches are made of mountain-sheep horn, are 9 to 10 inches long, and have a hole, or a series of holes of different sizes, in one end; through these the shaft was drawn and then straightened by leverage on the other end (see Kidder-Guernsey, 1919, plate 46, s, e). See also Hough, 1919, plate 46, figure 4.
" We are now able to rectify an error in our previous report. In our restoration of the feather- ing of atlatl darts there given (figure 89) we were misled by the presence of some extra seizing bands not really connected with the feathering, and postulated a triple attachment like that on lower Yukon shafts. This is incorrect.
" Although we have not seen the specimens, we think it likely that the loose ends of cords bound under the seising of the feathers on darts described by Pepper (1905, p. 121) represent the remains of feather-butt reinforcements similar to those just described.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 34
C
f
g
c
b
d
h
f
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WHITE DOG CAVE a, b, d, Lower portion of darts showing method of feathering; e, Point of dart; e, Upper portion of dart showing bunt-head; h, Upper portion of shaft showing socket for foreshaft; f. g. i, Foreshafts with chipped stone points; j, Foreshaft in position, and upper portion of shaft. (About }.)
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would not have held rigidly to its intended position. The arrange- ment just described is, as far as we know, unique in shaft feather- ing, but is found in the feather hair ornaments of the Mohave (P. M. catalogue number 10091).
So little of the pile of the feathers has resisted decay and the ravages of insects that it is impossible to identify the species of birds from which they were obtained. Plumes of corresponding length and weight, tied into bundles and perhaps intended for the winging of darts, were found in Cave 1, Kinboko, in 1915 (Kidder- Guernsey 1919, plate 81; a, b); these belonged to Hutchin's (?) wild goose (Branta canadensis hutchinsi) and the western red-tailed hawk (Buteo borealis calurus).
A non-functional feature of the main-shafts remains to be de- scribed, namely, decoration. All the darts are painted or stained on the shaftment under the feathering, and also for a short dis- tance back from the socket end; some, we judge from fragments, were colored their entire length. The most elaborately decorated shaftment (plate 34, a) is painted black with a spiral line of red; a second (d) was painted black over a temporary wrapping, which when removed left a spiral ornament in the light natural color of the wood. Another, on which the paint shows but faintly, seems to bear four broad longitudinal lines separated from each other by narrow stripes of natural surface. Most of the socket ends were painted black as shown in h, two, however, are red; and one socket end 25 inches long is stained black for 15 inches, thence to the break it is light red.
In the collection are a few broken main-shafts that have been put to secondary uses. The flint-flaker shown in figure 15, b, c, is mounted on such a fragment; another piece, from the butt-end of a dart, was whittled to a sharp point and served as a skewer-like pin for fastening together the wrappings of a mummy.
Foreshafts, complete with points, are represented by five perfect specimens from White Dog Cave. All of these are tapered at one end to fit into the socket of the spear shaft, and are notched at the other to provide a seat for the stone tip. The one shown in i, plate 34, formed part of a bundle resting in the lap of a mummy in Cist 31; it is the largest in the collection.1 It is made from a peeled stick unworked except at the ends. The point is of red
1 See table of measurements at end of description.
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jasper and is secured to the stick by a seizing of heavy sinew. The one illustrated in f, found near the right hand of mummy 2, Cist 27, is slightly tapered at the notched end. The red jasper point is firmly wedged in the notch; the sinew bindings were in place when the specimen was found, but crumbled away on exposure to the air. Specimens g, and j, lay at the foot of mummy 1, Cist 24. The latter is flattened on either side at the notched end; its head is of yellow jasper and is secured to the shaft by a neat seizing of fine flat sinew applied very tightly. The body of the shaft is painted with a thin grey wash; at the notched end on either side are daubs of thick dark red paint put on over the wrappings and also discoloring the base of the chipped point. The head of g, is worked from a thin spall of dark flint, the original surface of the flake showing on one side. It is fastened to the shaft with flat sinew. The shaft itself is colored with dark red paint which ends where the taper begins, showing that it was tinted after it had been inserted in the main-shaft of the dart.
MEASUREMENTS OF FORESHAFTS IN INCHES
A
B
C D
Total length
6ª
55
6
5}
Length of shaft
4ª
41
4}
41
Diameter of shaft
Length of head
2}
1}
1f
14
Width of head at base
1
f
Comparing these with the dimensions of foreshafts from south- eastern Utah given by Pepper (1905, p. 127), it will be seen that the latter average considerably larger.
On plate 34, e, is shown a wooden bunt head tightly wedged into the socket of the main-shaft, beyond the end of which it protrudes for 1} inches. The rounded end is } of an inch in diameter. It is roughly finished and is much like a specimen figured in our first report, which we thought might possibly be a bunt head for an atlatl dart.1
Pepper,' illustrates several foreshafts with bunt heads of bone fitted down over them. Nothing of this sort is in the collection, but there is a main-shaft, c, whose distal end, instead of being pro- vided with the usual socket, is brought to a plain tapering point.
1 Kidder-Guernsey, 1919, figure 92 and p. 185. * 1905, plate III.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 35
a
f
g
h
a, b, Unfinished foreshaft points; c, Foreshaft point; d, Chipped knife blade; e, Hafted pipe-drill; f. Chipped atlatl stone; [. Chipped flint graver; h, i, Unfinished flint diso; J, k, Chipped knife bladen; I, Flint knife (blade broken). a, f, h, i, j, k, I, White Dog Cave; b, c, d, g, Burial cave, Sayodneechee Canyon; e, Cave 6. (About }.)
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It is possible that a bone head was slipped on over this, and the foreshaft dispensed with.
Dart Points.1 All the chipped atlatl dart heads which were found attached to foreshafts were of the tanged variety. From a skeleton in Sayodneechee Cave (1914), however, and in a little skin sack from Cist 6, White Dog Cave, were recovered a number of points similar in size and shape to the tanged specimens but with unnotched bases (plate 35, a, b). We believe these are dart heads completed up to the final step of flaking out the deep notches on the lower sides, a step deferred until just before mounting them in the foreshafts, because of the danger in an unmounted condition of breakage of the long and delicate flanges. Almost all our finished points are notched at right angles to their long axes, the notches having a depth equal to about one-third of the total width of the base. The notches of the large chipped knives, on the other hand, instead of being set at right angles to the long axes of the specimens, run in at an acute angle (compare the specimens illus- trated in the two plates, 34 and 35).
Atlatl Stones. On plate 35, f, is illustrated & chipped object thought to have been originally fastened to the back of the atlatl shown in f, plate 33, which was found in the same cist with it (Cist 24, White Dog Cave). The material is translucent quartz; in shape it resembles a diminutive " turtle-back " with one flat surface. On the upper, or convex, side are faint marks that appear to have been made by wrappings.
Four small loaf-shaped stones were taken from the bottom of Cist 27. Though somewhat smaller than those fastened to atlatls b and d, plate 33, they are of about the same shape and were with- out much doubt atlatl stones. Each of them has one side flattened to fit snugly against the atlatl shaft. Three are made of a green stone somewhat the color of, but less hard than, jade; the surface of one is polished, the other two are roughened as if by some chemi- cal action, but retain traces of an original polish. The fourth stone (plate 17, f, g) has rather more pointed ends and differs further from the others in having a deep concavity cut in the under side; it is made from an unidentified fossil and the surface is un- polished.
1 These and the following specimens (atlat] stones) are treated here, rather than under their proper place among the stone objects, because they are really integral parts of the atlati.
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Another specimen is perhaps an unfinished atlatl stone; parts of its surface show chipping, others grinding. The material is the same as in the group of three described above.
Grooved Clubs. On plate 36, f, g, are shown two of these objects. The collection contains four complete specimens and one fragment. The former are from burial cists in White Dog Cave, and the frag- ment is from a looted and partly burned-out burial cist in Cave 6. The best preserved of these is one of a pair found with the mummy of an adult male in Cist 27. It is 20} inches in length, 2 inches wide at the broad end, and tapers to 1} inches in width at the small end; the average thickness is { of an inch. The warping of the stick may be partly accidental as it will be noted that the two specimens figured are not bent in the same direction. The edges and broad surfaces are rounded (see cross-section of the one illustrated in g). On each side are four deep parallel longitudinal grooves 17 inches long, with a break at one point as shown in the drawing. These grooves are neatly made, evenly spaced, V-shaped cuts. Two inches from the small end the club is ringed by a deep groove, set at a slight angle and widened at one edge to a broad curved notch; in the groove are traces of cord or sinew wrapping. A cement-like substance, thickest about the edge of the notch, still adheres to one side of the stick, and seems to have been put on over the wrappings. It is possible that the groove and notch may represent a seat for a wrist cord. There are two other much shallower en- circling grooves, one 4 inches, the other 5 inches from the small end; in these also are marks of wrappings. All surfaces of the club show careful finish, but no traces of paint, the only color being a thin red line in one of the grooves which is probably a print from a wrapping cord. The edges and ends of the stick are not bruised or battered. Because of age and partial decay the club now weighs but 2} ounces, but an undecayed fragment from Cave 6 shows the original wood to have been dense and heavy.
The foregoing description will answer for all the clubs in the collection, as they show little individual variation. While we can assign no specific use to these objects, we do not think they are rabbit-sticks such as those used among the Pueblo tribes.1 Most of the latter differ from these in some details, particularly the
1 Mr. C. C. Willoughby has suggested that they may have been used to ward off spears after the manner in which the natives of one of the Solomon Islands use an odd-shaped club for fending off spears, and also as a weapon of defense.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 36
a
0
b
C
f
a, Wooden implement; b, Wooden gaming ball; c, Ceremonial stick; d, e, Opposite ends of wooden device; f, g, Grooved clubs accompanying atlatis. All from White Dog Cave except a, which is from Cave 14. (b, about }; s, c-g, about 1/5.)
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familiar type used by the Hopi, which in addition to having a hand grip cut at one end, is as a rule decorated by a painting with a pre- scribed design, one element of which is a pair of black markings symbolizing rabbit ears or rabbit feet. An ungrooved rabbit-stick, 6 inches longer than our grooved clubs but somewhat resembling them in shape, is in the Peabody Museum. It was collected by Dr. Edward Palmer in 1875 from the Diegueno Indians and is cata- logued as a "boomerang." Clubs identical with our specimens were found in a pit-shrine near Laguna, New Mexico, by Mrs. Parsons,1 and Hough figures one from a cave near Lava, New Mexico.' In the Peabody Museum are fragments of two grooved clubs from Yucatan which differ from ours only in that the broad surfaces and the edges are flat instead of rounded, and that there are a greater number of the parallel grooves. The sculptures of Chichen Itza frequently depict these clubs, usually in the hands of warriors who also carry atlatls and atlatl spears. One is figured most real- istically on the sculptured top of an altar in the outer chamber or vestibule of the Temple of the Tigers, where it is shown in the left hand of a warrior, who bears as well an atlatl and sheaf of spears.
In company with all the grooved clubs noted either atlatls or some adjunct of the atlatl were found. The significance of this is two-fold; first, that it aids in establishing the identity of the Laguna pit-shrine and Lava cave specimens as Basket-maker; second, that it shows these clubs to be a distinct type used by a people who also used the atlatl. That the Laguna clubs were found with other offerings most of which were feather sticks of relatively recent make does not, to our minds, affect the question of their antiquity; the probable explanation of their presence in the shrine being that they were found in a Basket-maker cave by some Pueblo Indian who regarded them as appropriate offerings for the same reason that ancient arrow points are still prized by the Pueblos as fetishes. This seems all the more likely as the Zuni are said by Mr. Cushing to have recovered baskets from prehistoric deposits."
Planting Sticks. In plate 37 is a series of planting sticks: num- bers a, c, d, and g were found in Cist 24, White Dog Cave; e and f are from Cave 9.
The one shown in g, we regard as a type specimen of Basket- maker planting stick; it is 45 inches in length and is made from a 1 Parsons, 1918, figures 36, 38, 39. * Hough, 1914, p. 19, figure 21. * Ibid., 1919, p. 267.
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BASKET-MAKER CAVES
root of some hardwood tree, possibly oak. The whole surface has been smoothed by grinding, but very little altered in shape. The smoothing process has removed all bark except that in the deep depressions such as occur in roots. One end has been worked down to a thin blade having a rounded point and one sharp edge. The ·blade is 2 inches in width and begins 17 inches from the end of the stick. It has a smooth, almost polished surface. The crook at the proximal end is natural, but it gives the implement a nice balance when held in position for use. This specimen shows long service.
The sticks represented in e, f, differ but little from the one just described. Both are made from roots; f, is 42} inches in length and has a very thin blade with one sharp edge; e, is 32 inches in length with a blade 2 inches wide, sharp on the end and curved edge.
The Cliff-dweller planting sticks which correspond to these in form are much lighter in weight with thinner blades, and nearly straight, carefully shaped handles that normally terminate in round knobs.1
The one figured in a, found with mummy 1 in Cist 24, is of a different type, having a plain flattened point instead of a thin- edged blade; it is 49 inches in length and averages { of an inch in diameter. One end is worked down to a flat point, the other end has an artificial crook. It is made from a peeled limb of some hard wood. Knots are rubbed down and smoothed. This stick is dark in color and polished for its entire length by handling and wear.
The specimen shown in b, from Cist 6, White Dog Cave, is made from a heavy greasewood stick; it has a flattened point like the one just described. Simple sticks of this nature are also common in cliff-dwellings, and are used today by the Navajo.
The implement, c, is made from a rather light wood and has a neatly tapered point; the crook at the small end is partly natural; d is 32 inches long and is made of a slender greasewood stick; it has a long finely tapering point. The entire length of the imple- ment has been smoothed and rounded. The point is slightly pol- ished.
Scoop-like Objects. Wooden objects similar to those repre- sented on plate 38, g, h, i, were found so regularly in Basket-maker
1 See Kidder-Guernsey, 1919; plate 47, d, e; the stick shown in plate 47, c, we now think is probably Basket-maker. It was found with a disturbed burial in a small cave in Sagi Canyon.
PEABODY MUSEUM PAPERS
VOL. VIII, No. 2, PLATE 37
9
d
Planting sticks. All from White Dog Cave with the exception of e and f, which are from Cave 7. (About 1/7.)
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caves that we came to regard their discovery in the preliminary examination of a site as an indication that other traces of Basket- maker occupancy would be found. For this reason they are given a more detailed description than their commonplace appearance might seem to warrant. All of them have very much the same general form as those illustrated; this seems due to selection rather than to shaping as they are simply wooden slabs from small logs, the outer or convex surface natural, the inner side and ends usually charred by fire. From this and their appearance as a whole, we judge that they were merely unconsumed pieces of firewood, se- lected, as before stated, on account of their shape. A few, how- ever, show no burning, being shells of wood rifted from the outer part of a timber, then ground at the ends to the required length.
One unvarying feature of these objects is their worn and rounded edges; we once used a similar piece of wood to scrape the loose sand from a cist and found that the edges soon became worn in the same way; for this reason we are inclined to think they were em- ployed principally for digging cists. They were, no doubt, found useful for other purposes, as one in the collection has a quantity of caked yellow pigment adhering to its concave side. Apparently it had been used as a palette. Such slabs might also have served as rude food trays, and possibly for beating and shredding grass, a guess that we hazarded in our first report. Still another possible function for these objects might have been transferring hot stones from the fire to cooking baskets, in which case they may have been used in pairs. Though all those found were not saved the collection contains nineteen pieces ranging in size from 5} inches long and 3 inches wide to 18} inches long and 6 inches wide, the average di- mensions being 7 inches long and 4 wide, a convenient size to use in the hand.
Hough figures " a shell of wood " from Tularosa cave which resembles the implements just described; 1 while another from the Mesa Verde apparently identical with ours is figured by Morris."
Curved Wooden Tools. Our two specimens are so closely similar to each other that it is probable they represent a definite type. The better preserved example (plate 36, a) is a piece of very hard, close-grained wood, 12 inches long. Its pronounced curve is ap- parently natural, but all its surfaces have been worked down by
1 Hough, 1914, plate 14, figure 2. Morris, 1919, a; plate 44, .
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whittling or scraping. One end is almost round, the other much thinner. The middle part of the concave side is worn to a slim rounded edge and is highly polished by long use. The two ends are stained dark by much handling. The object was obviously held by the ends and worked toward the body like a modern draw- knife. The unscratched condition and high polish of the concave edge shows that it must have been used on some non-abrasive sub- stance. Its curve fits the thigh so well that we have thought the implement might have been employed in some way for dressing or suppling hides held over the knee.
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