| OCR Text |
Show BEAD ORNAMENTS, EMPLOYED BY THE ANCIENT TRIBES OF UTAH AND ARIZONA, BY E. A. BARBER. Among the adornments of all aboriginal tribes of men are found many varieties of beads, which have been cut or ground from wood, bone, horn, stone, or shells. Those made of various species of the latter predominate, the marine shells, such as the Busycon, Marginella, Olivet, Fasciola-ria and many other genera, being the most common. The prehistoric people of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado employed in their personal decoration at least two genera, of which were discovered by the Photographic Division of the United States Geological Survey, several species. All the bead ornaments found in this secton of the great West may be classed under four heads: I. Shells. II. Earthen- ware beads. III. Turquoises. IV. Pendants: a. Of stone. b. Of pottery. The marine shells which were converted into beads by this ancient tribe, so far as has been proved by the investigations of the Survey during the summer of 1875, were the Oliva and, probably, the Busycon or. Murex. Of the former genus, we were so fortunate as to discover at least ope species. One specimen represents the Oliva bi- plicata ( probably), although the shell is so weather- worn that most of the specific characteristics are almost entirely obliterated. Still it resembles this species of the Pacific coast strongly, and is very likely the same. This was not so common as the larger variety, which is possibly a more fully developed representative of the same species. The first samples of these shell- beads were taken from the site of an old ruin where they had been lying for centuries, until decomposition had left nothing but small fragments of either extremity. Through eastern Utah, and south, into Arizona, many Olivas were found scattered through the dSbris of crumbling walls and broken pottery. The perforation has been effected by grinding down the spire, so that a thong would pass through the shell lengthwise. Of the genus Busycon, or Murex, was found but one doubtful representative. The beads made from this were of two sizes and usually white. The smaller variety was flat on both sides, or slightly convex on one side and concave on the other, as thin as a wafer, and the circumference of an ordinary pea. In the centre a neatly bored hole enabled the owner to string the beads together in the form of a necklace. The larger variety was |
