The Antiquities of Tennessee and the Adjacent States and the State of Aboriginal Society in the Scale of Civilization Represented by Them (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ...a harder and more wearing material than hides or skins.f We have no knowledge of the discovery of similar implements in other pottery districts. W6, therefore, regard the information furnished by this set of old trowels as of much archaeological value. Tools of the same general character were doubtless used in building or finishing the clay plastered, grouting, and adobe houses in Arkansas and other sections. Author's collection. t Upon examining these trowels closely, we find a thin film of smooth, hardpressed, red clay adhering to the original hard-burned pottery surfaces of some of them, which offers additional evidence of their use as plastering trowels. The little terra-cotta rattle, Fig..67, was found by young Ormsby Johnson in the stone grave of a child near the Noel cemetery. It was well burned, but was slightly fractured in digging. The hard clay pellets found inside of it, and represented in the little Fig 67.--Ghild's Rattle Found Near Nashville (one-half). pyramid, may have quieted many an urchin in prehistoric: days. There is a hole in the end for suspension. Similar rattles are found among the remains of ancient Mexico. Tylor, in his Anahmie, says: "The terra-cotta rattles in the Museum of Mexico are very characteristic. They have little balls in them, which shake about, and they puzzle us as much as the apple dumpling did King George, for we could not make out very easily how the balls got Fig. 68.--The Marbles They Played With (one-third). inside. They were probably attached very slightly to the inside, and so baked, and then broken loose" f--a piece of scientific reasoning scarcely up to the standard of George III It seems the boys, or the men, probably, played marbles in prehistoric days, as thirteen well-burned...