Scratches upon the surfaces of flat implements have, as a rule, no other signification than as means of decoration. Front the accounts of travellers it appears that badges representing the Bens or "totem" of the individual (see Vol. I. pp. 133, 223) were at times worn by the later Indians. It would not be surprising, therefore, to find pendants with such devices. In point of fact, however, they are rare.
or the American continent the traveller comes from time to time upon broad rocks on the surface of which are scratched, pecked, or cut figures of mysterious import and of various designs. Often the position of these surfaces is such that they could have been reached only by great effort, and the artist must have been in constant danger during his labors. The figures themselves are frequently large and complicated, and could have been produced only by long and arduous toil. The skill displayed varies, but in no instance is it much above that of the natives of the region.
Some antiquaries regard all these pictographs as merely the amuse ment of idle hours, the meaningless products of the fancy of illiterate savages. But the great labor expended upon them and the care with which many of them are executed testify to a higher origin. They are undoubtedly the records of transactions deemed important, and were intended to perpetuate by enduring signs the memory of events or beliefs.
The rock-writing of America does not present the same characters in all parts. There are several extended areas within each of which these inscriptions display a family similarity, often differing widely from those iu other areas. are of the opinion that these differences are related to the various methods of sign-language or gesture-speech which prevailed among the early tribes. Ordinary picture-writing, and therefore rock-inscriptions, were connected with this sign-speech, many of the figures being pictures of the gestures. By following out this suggestion some of the inscriptions have been deciphered. (See Vol. I.
pp. 122, 221.) In the area of the United States we find one similar set of petroglyphs extending over New England and the Middle States. The celebrated Dighton Rock, near Taunton, Massachusetts, presents designs akin to those found on Indian Rock in the Susquehanna River below Columbia, Pennsylvania, and to others at various points on the Allegheny River. There are angular lines and outlines of human figures, of animals, and of serpents.
In Ohio at a number of localities, as at Newark, Belmont, and Barnes ville, in West Virginia on the Guyandotte River, in Tennessee on En chanted Mountain and elsewhere, there are found numerous and peculiarly inscribed rocks called "track rocks." They present scarcely any other figures than the representations of the hand- and footprints of man and animals. The carving is clear, sharp, and executed with a firm touch, though the figures are somewhat conventionalized. Evidently through all this territory these sculptures were by the same people. They are found as far south as Forsyth county, Georgia, and west to the Missis sippi, as at Limestone Bluff opposite St. Louis. The specimen on Plate 6 (fig. 34) from the Newark Rock, Ohio, shows their character.
Another important area embraces Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Rock-inscriptions are abundant through all this section, espe cially upon the "dry washes" (beds of ancient streams), as they are called, and on the sides of the cafions. Upon both the eastern and the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, in Southern California, pictographs and inscriptions of elaborate designs, covering large surfaces, have been reported and figured by travellers.
Ory5-stones.—A peculiar form of rock-sculpture are the "cup-stones," or rocks in which are excavated one or more circular cup-shaped depres sions, these cavities being often surrounded with concentric rings termi nating occasionally in a volute or much-coiled line. Such relics have a distinct character, and it is the more remarkable, therefore, that while they are abundant in Northumberland, the north of Scotland, and other places in Europe, they are found in many examples in America. Their date and their purpose are alike unknown.
They are most abundant in Ohio, especially in the northern part, in and near the valley of the Cuyahoga River, hut good specimens have also been discovered along the Ohio River near Portsmouth. By some they are called "spindle whorl-stones" or "mortar-stones," but they are not adapted to either of the uses signified by these terms. A learned mono graph upon them has been written by Professor Charles Ran of the Smith sonian Institution. He inclines to the belief that their purpose was of a religious character, probably connected with the worship of the repro ductive principle, a form of primitive religion widely prevalent in both hemispheres.