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Extract
Nineteen ear spools are clay, probably tempered, polished, and fired in the same way as pottery vessels. Of these, one is part of a solid, bi-concave disk (Fig. 53, U); one is a small ring with slightly concave perimeter (Fig. 53, V); and the other 17 are parts of rings with strong flanges around both edges on the exterior (Fig. 53, W, X). The 17 fragments are from no less than 13 different rings, probably 15, but no definite pairs can be seen. Four are decorated with closely spaced engraved lines completely crossing the interior surface from one flange lip to the other (Fig. 53, W). Colors are like those of resident pottery: light brown, medium brown, reddish brown, and black.
One black fragment is from under the mound, beneath the floor of Feature 31 but above the floor of Feature 37. One other was in Phase 2 position, under mound wash; one is from Feature 9; one from the secondary mound; and 14, including the complete ring, are from the field in Zones 16 to 13. Although their numbers seem to have increased as time went by, this flanged form wasat least present before mound construction began.
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- Part II. Analysis and Interpretation
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- Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1949
References
1 E.g., “terra cotta” ear spools from the Turner Group, Ohio (Willoughby and Hooton, 1922, Fig. 26, A, B; B is especially close to the Davis specimens in size, thickness, and height of the flanges). Stone rings are shown by Moorehead (1922, Pl. LXXVII) from the Hopewell Mound Group, Ohio; Nos. 1-3 have flanged perimeters, and No. 4 is only slightly concave, precisely like the complete Davis specimen. Shetrone (1936, Fig. 57) shows two chlorite rings from the Hopewell Group.
2 Moorehead (1932, Fig. 57, B, C) shows ring spools of stone from Mound C at Etowah, Georgia, which was probably related to the Tennessee-Cumberland Aspect. His Figure 57, A is a solid stone spool from Mound C. In November, 1944, the Peabody Museum at Harvard University had on display some flanged, ring-shaped spools exactly like those at Davis; these were of stone, pottery, and bone, the display being labeled Tennessee-Cumberland culture (or Aspect). James A. Ford informs me that clay spools also occur in the Troyville culture of Louisiana.
3 Webb and Dodd, 1939, Plate 28, Panel 3: 5. The ring form was decidedly in the minority here, many forms of stone, wood, and shell being found.
4 Harrington, 1920, Fig. 26.
5 Burnett, 1945, Pl. LXXXVI, B, C.
6 Willoughby and Hooton (1922, Fig. 26, c) show a “terra cotta” disk with two central holes, from the Turner Mounds, Ohio. Moorehead (1932, Fig. 57, A) shows a stone disk, from Etowah Mound C.
In the Tampico area of northeastern Mexico, Ekholm (1944, pp. 467-9, Fig. 47) describes several forms of “earplugs.” Among them are 48 solid clay disks, bi-concave, with a groove around the perimeter (Fig. 47, M-P), closelysimilar to the solid Davis specimen except for the deeper outer edge. Although “they were a much used type of ornament during Period V … solid earplugs were used in the region as early as Period II and lasted until Period VI. In the Valley of Mexico this form of solid earplug is found in the Archaic Period, but not in later cultures. It is a trait which obviously survived much longer in the Tampico- Panuco area than in Central Mexico.” He also describes clay rings from the latter part of Period II through Periods III and IV, suggesting they were ear ornaments. Since they are not grooved, they may have been suspended from the ear lobe rather than fitted into it. Kidder, Jennings, and Shook (1946, p. 215) cite the Middle American occurrences of the ring-shaped (“napkin-ring”) and solid-disk clay ear spools in more detail. They belong, in general, to the earlier ceramic horizons.
7 Harrington, 1920, Pls. CI, CII. The longest one shown is 13.9 inches, but examples are known which attain a length of 25 inches. Mr. M. P. Miroir of Texarkana has some beautiful examples from the Crenshaw mound group in Arkansas.
8 Harrington (1920, p. 195) says “Some of the smallest of all were found at Mineral Springs … the usual color is a very light yellow or yellow-brown. Often these long pipes were found standing, stem upward, in one of the corners of the grave near the head.” Moore (1912, Fig. 24) shows them in Burials 1 to 4 and 6 to 9 at the Haley site on Red River. Many are shown in horizontal position but others were stuck in the ground vertically in the grave corners (see symbol of circle below triangle in Burials 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), just as Harrington reported in the other Arkansas sites. The specimen in Burial 8 was upright inside a jar. Similar pipes are reported from the Spiro mound, Middle component (Orr, 1946), but the number is not given; I believe they were quite rare there. One comes from a Gahagan burial (Webb and Dodd, 1939). Many others are in private collections, greatly prized.
9 Lemley, 1936.
10 Moore (1913, Pl. II) presents a selection in color. The .present specimen matches the third row exactly in color tones. See C. H. Webb (1944, 1948) for analyses of the Poverty Point culture.
11 Ford and Quimby (1945, Pl. 1) show samples from the Tchefuncte culture. Ford and Willey (1940, p. 120) mention 41 specimens from the Crooks site, Marksville culture, and refer to an unpublished manuscript for occurrence in Troyville.
12 Moore, 1913, Fig. 31. This figurine depicts a female, but the grooved neck, nose blob, and slanting flat face are closely like the Davis heads. James A. Ford informs me that Troyville period figurines are also very similar.
13 Idem, Pl. II.
14 Ford and Willey, 1940, Fig. 53, B; Moorehead, 1932, Figs. 6, 67-69; Shetrone, 1936, Figs. 64, 65 (Turner Group, Ohio), and 66 (Mound City Group”, Ohio); McKern, Titterington, and Griffin, 1945. Once more, there is no general survey available which would enable one to determine the closest affiliation with confidence.