Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/861

ARCHÆOLOGY. various tribes was inversely proportionate to (1) basl<etry, (2) gourds, ci) shells, (4) wood- tnware (often shaped in imitation of shells), (5) horns of buflalo, musk ox, etc., and (C) bireh- bark, etc.; yet so far as the relics yo, they indicate that the prevailing utensils of pre-Columbian America were of fietile ware. The ware varies widely in qualit}', from rude inch-thick ware to delicately shaped, artistically painted and semi- glazed bowls and vases; while in the Mississippi Valley, the Pueblo region, ile.xico. Central Amer- ica, Peru, and to some extent elsewhere, elaborate figures of symbolic and ceremonial character were wrought in clay, and fired Avith a skill little short of that of the Old World. By Gushing and others, the genesis of the pottery bowl has been traced to the basket, the germ appearing when a flat basket was lined with earth for use in parching corn (by mixing the grain with hot coals and shaking them within it I: and this in- terpretation has been measurably verified by the finding of sherds, and some entire pieces bearing the impress of the baskets in which they were molded in certain mounds and cemeteries. The molded and painted designs on aboriginal ware have received much attention, notably from Holmes and Fewkes; they have been foxnid to be symbolic, and in many eases susceptible of inter- pretation as totemic emblems, etc. Closely related to the fictile ware, and especially to the figur- ines, is the stucco work of Central ilexico. Yuca- tan, Honduras, Costa Rica, and other districts. These stucco designs, which have been carefully studied by Saville. Holmes, and many other students, are sometimes of calendric character, and are related on the one hand to the stone sculptures of the same districts, and on the other hand to the native books, or codices, inscribed on maguey paper. Viewed collectively, the fic- tile ware of pre-Columbian America is of interest as marking, in many respects, the highest intel- lectual advancement of the Western Hemisphere; for the better grades, at least, represent well- developed aesthetic standards, fair technical skill, a highly dilTerentiated religious symbolism, and the germ of writing. Yet it is to be remem- bered that even the finest products of the Ameri- can claypit and kiln were but earthenware rather than porcelain or delft, and that both the potter's wheel and true glazes were unknown to its makers.

In.scription.s and Codices. The early travelers and settlers in many parts of America found designs inscribed or painted on trees and rocks; and throughout the more mountainous portions of the Western Hemisphere, petroglyphs ( usually formed by battering the rock-face with a harder stone, but sometimes sharply incised) are numer- ous and striking. These rude inscriptions grade into the sculptures and stucco moldings of Mexico and Peru, as well as into the designs molded and painted on the fictile ware; at the same time they are related to the inscriptions of the maguey codices which were found in great numbers by the Conquistadores, but were sacri- ficed under hasty ecclesiastic impulse befrM'e their value was imderstood — all save the few speci- mens looted by subalterns or privates, and sent surreptitiously to Europe as souvenirs of per- sonal success. The various aboriginal records are not onlv alike in general character, but tell a consistent story of intellectual advancement on the part of the earliest Americans; and their testimony is corroborated by modern observation <d the autographic records of tribesmen in many districts. On putting together the various records, it appears that none of the pre-Colum- bian aborigines had grasped the idea of arbitrary cliaraeters, but were satisfied with crude symbols undcistood only by themselves, or conventions understood bj- special classes only (like the fig- urines on the wampum treaty belts, each recall- ing a clause or item in the vaguely remembered contract); and that even the most elaborate in- scriptions were little more than sacred calendars designed to control ceremonial observances, and imderstood only Ijy the priests. Accordingly, the inscriptions attest a germ of writing, yet prove that the germ remained largely inchoate up to the coming of Columbus, and the introduction of incomparably higher intellectual standards* True, the North American Indian Sequoyah invented a syllabary which aided his kind in their strife for intellectual advancement and which m.ight have developed a written language; but there is some question as to whether his in- vention was not stimulated by European sugges- tion.

HuM.N AxTiQuiTT. The arclueologists of America, like those of other countries, are in con- stant search for evidences of human antiquity, and hundreds of suggestive observations are on record. On generalizing these, it must be said that none of the acceptable observations indicate an antiquity of man on the Western Hemisphere at all comparable to that indicated by appar- ently trustworthy observations in Europe and Asia. Briefly, there is a strong presumption tliat mankind existed in North America about, if not anterior to, the last ice invasion of the Pleistocene, i.e. ten thousand to fifty thou- sand years ago; yet positive evidence is far from complete, as indicated by the fact that not a single reported association of human remains with even the latest Pleistocene deposits is un- questionably accepted by either anthropologists or geologists.

Pre-Columbian Discoveries. There have been many suggestions of discoveries of America an- terior to the time of Cohnnbus, by both Euro- peans from the East and Asians from the West; .some of the latter are particularly striking, and are now under critical examination, partly through an admirable series of expeditions sup- ported by .Jesup, directed by Putnam, and con- ducted by Boas and others. The most striking indications of pre-Columbian discovery falling clearly within the domain of arch.Tology are the cairns, house remains, and stone pavements of eastern Massachusetts, which have been described and compared with the Norse structures of Ice- land and Scandinavia by iliss Horsford. The case cannot, perhaps, be considered closed, pend- ing inquiries in related lines; but it is important to note that some of the woj'ks cm Charles River — in the Vinland the Good of the Sagas — are unlike those produced by any known native tribe, and are like those of the Norse settlers in Iceland.

General Works. Abbott. Primilire Industry, etc. (Salem. 1881); Baldwin, Ancient America, etc. (New Y'ork, 1872); Dellenbaugh. The T^orfh Amrricrinf! of YeS'terdat/ (New Y'ork, IflOl); Fos- ter, Prehistoric Races of the United .S7a <es, sixth edition (Chicago, 1887); Fowke, "Stone Art,"