Amulets, Effigies, Fetishes, and Charms: Native American Artifacts and Spirit Stones from the Northeast

By Edward J. Lenik

Rounds out Edward J. Lenik’s comprehensive and expert study of the rock art of northeastern Native Americans
 
Decorated stone artifacts are a significant part of archaeological studies of Native Americans in the Northeast. The artifacts illuminated in Amulets, Effigies, Fetishes, and Charms: Native American Artifacts and Spirit Stones from the Northeast include pecked, sculpted, or incised figures, images, or symbols. These are rendered on pebbles, plaques, pendants, axes, pestles, and atlatl weights, and are of varying sizes, shapes, and designs. Lenik draws from Indian myths and legends and incorporates data from ethnohistoric and archaeological sources together with local environmental settings in an attempt to interpret the iconography of these fascinating relics. For the Algonquian and Iroquois peoples, they reflect identity, status, and social relationships with other Indians as well as beings in the spirit world.
 
Lenik begins with background on the Indian cultures of the Northeast and includes a discussion of the dating system developed by anthropologists to describe prehistory. The heart of the content comprises more than eighty examples of portable rock art, grouped by recurring design motifs. This organization allows for in-depth analysis of each motif. The motifs examined range from people, animals, fish, and insects to geometric and abstract designs. Information for each object is presented in succinct prose, with a description, illustration, possible interpretation, the story of its discovery, and the location where it is now housed. Lenik also offers insight into the culture and lifestyle of the Native American groups represented. An appendix listing places to see and learn more about the artifacts and a glossary are included.
 
The material in this book, used in conjunction with Lenik’s previous research, offers a reference for virtually every known example of northeastern rock art. Archaeologists, students, and connoisseurs of Indian artistic expression will find this an invaluable work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University Alabama Press
• Release date: Nov 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9780817390204

Book preview

Amulets, Effigies, Fetishes, and Charms

Amulets, Effigies, Fetishes, and Charms

Native American Artifacts and Spirit Stones from the Northeast

Edward J. Lenik

THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS

Tuscaloosa

The University of Alabama Press

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487–0380

uapress.ua.edu

Copyright © 2016 by the University of Alabama Press

All rights reserved.

Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be addressed to the University of Alabama Press.

Typeface: Caslon

Manufactured in the United States of America

Cover photograph: Incised image of Atlantic sturgeon and attached human effigy face found in Muddy Creek Forks, Pennsylvania; drawing by Thomas P. Fitzpatrick.

Cover design: David Nees

∞

The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984.

Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-0-8173-1923-6

E-ISBN: 978-0-8173-9020-4

For Paul, Mark, Charlie, and Steve

Heartfelt thanks for all your help and support

Wenaukmees—seen by the Indians often.

They make curious pictures on the rocks and sand beaches.

—Lewis Mitchell, Passamaquoddy, Pleasant Point, Maine (Atkinson 1920:115)

They go up there (in the mountains) and sleep, and this dream tells them. Then he writes his dream on the rock. That’s left there forever.

—Annie Zetco York, Nlaka’pamux First Nation elder, British Columbia, Canada (York et al. 1993:xv)

The ALMOUCHIQUOIS INDIANS (Eastern Abenaki) practiced painting and sculpture, and made images of beasts, birds, and men on stone and wood as handsomely as good workmen in France.

—Mark Lescarbot, 1618

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Northeastern Cultural History

2. Anthropomorphic or Human Images

3. Terrestrial Mammals

4. Fish, Shellfish, and Sea Mammals

5. Reptiles and Amphibians

6. Birds and Insects

7. Geometric and Abstract Designs

8. Retrospective Summary: Marking Places and Things

Appendix: Seeing Portable Rock Art

Glossary

References

Index

Illustrations

FIGURES

2.1. Stone bust or Indian god found in East Hartford, Connecticut

2.2. Indian stone god found in Madison, Connecticut

2.3. Six stone idols found in the western Great Lakes

2.4. Platform pipe found at Revere Beach, Massachusetts

2.5. Upside-down pendant found on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Ontario

2.6. Human figure incised on stone recovered from the Roebuck site, Ontario, Canada

2.7. Obverse side of hammerstone from Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts

2.8. Two-hole gorget with incised image of an Indian, Indian Steps Museum, Airville, Pennsylvania

2.9. Human figurine found at the site of the Pequot Indian Fort, Mystic, Connecticut

2.10. Stone mold for casting buttons containing an incised image of an eighteenth-century Englishman

2.11. Pecked effigy face on a pebble recovered from the Eddy site in Manchester, New Hampshire

2.12. Sculpted human head found in Monmouth County, New Jersey

2.13. Effigy face sculpted from steatite, found in Milford, Connecticut

2.14. Soapstone maskette with unusual facial features, from Essex, Massachusetts

2.15. Upside-down effigy face pendant from the Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark, New Jersey

2.16. Steatite pendant recovered from the Biggs Ford site on the Monocacy River in Frederick County, Maryland

2.17. Steatite disk containing a carved effigy face, recovered from the Rosenstock site in Frederick County, Maryland

2.18. Sculpted stone effigy face and incised symbols

2.19. Carved stone face of a European found on Lac Guérard, Ungava region, Quebec, Canada

2.20. Effigy face carved into a sandstone block found in the 1920s on the Orchard Home Farm, Montgomery, New York

2.21. Large cobble containing a pecked effigy face, recovered from the Manna site, Pike County, Pennsylvania

2.22. Rubbing of the effigy face found at the Manna site, Pike County, Pennsylvania

2.23. Effigy face on a sandstone cobble recovered from the Minisink site National Historic Landmark, Sussex County, New Jersey

2.24. Phallic effigies from New Paltz, New York; Marbletown, New York; Clark’s Island, Plymouth, Massachusetts; North Weymouth, Massachusetts; and Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts

2.25. Stylized handprints on red sandstone slab from the Minisink site National Historic Landmark, Sussex County, New Jersey

3.1. Carved and incised bear effigy pebbles found on an Indian campsite overlooking the Rockaway River in Oak Ridge, New Jersey

3.2. Bear effigy found in the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge of northern New Jersey

3.3. Stone pestle with pecked effigy of a bear at its nonworking end

3.4. Sculpted image of a bear, recovered from the Manna site, Upper Delaware River Valley, Pennsylvania

3.5. Effigy pendant of unidentified animal, found on Flint Mine Hill, Coxsackie, New York

3.6. Sculpted stone pendant representing an otter, recovered from excavations at the Silverheels site, Erie County, New York

3.7. Bison effigy found in Lawrence, Massachusetts

3.8. Incised bison and human with weapon suggesting a hunting scene, from Saint-François River, Bromptonville, Quebec

4.1. Carved plummet resembling an Atlantic oyster drill, Prince Edward Island, Canada

4.2. Effigy plummet resembling a fish or marine mammal, from the Portland Point site, New Brunswick, Canada

4.3. Effigy fish pendant sculpted from steatite, recovered from Milford, Connecticut

4.4. Carved figurine of a seal made from steatite, found in 1933 in Windsor, Connecticut

4.5. Pecked stone whale effigy gouge recovered from the Caddy Park site in Quincy, Massachusetts

4.6. Steatite effigy of a right whale, recovered from near freshwater, Wayne, Maine

4.7. Steatite gorget carved to represent a marine mammal, recovered from archaeological excavations at the Turner Farm site on North Haven Island, Maine

4.8. Whale effigy stone with suspension hole, found on Salem Neck, Salem, Massachusetts

4.9. Incised image of an Atlantic sturgeon and attached human effigy face, found in Muddy Creek Forks, Pennsylvania

4.10. Obverse side of a pendant with incised image of an Atlantic sturgeon, recovered from excavations at the Wednesday site on Hendrick’s Island, Solebury Township, Pennsylvania

4.11. Reverse side of pendant with incised geometric pattern possibly representing a fishing weir or net, recovered from the Wednesday site on Hendrick’s Island, Solebury Township, Pennsylvania

4.12. Broken platform pipe with incised fish petroglyphs, found at the Wheatley’s Point site, Dorchester County, Maryland

5.1. Carved turtle effigy amulet made from soapstone

5.2. Two-holed pendant with an incised turtle image from Schoharie, New York

5.3. Natural pebble carved on both sides to represent a turtle

5.4. Steatite turtle effigy gorget found among six skeletal remains

5.5. Views of a turtle effigy fashioned from a natural sandstone pebble

5.6. Turtle effigy held so that frog image is apparent

5.7. Reverse side of a button mold with the image of a turtle carved with metal tools

5.8. Turtle pendant made from a pebble discovered in Esopus, New York

5.9. Elongated pebble carved to resemble a rattlesnake

5.10. Naturalistic rendering of a lizard or salamander effigy made from black chert

6.1. Waterworn pebble containing a thunderbird and an anthropomorphic being

6.2. Slate containing two incised thunderbird images recovered from the Peace Bridge site, Fort Erie, Ontario

6.3. Slate pendant with incised thunderbird figure and geometric design

6.4. Stylized sculpture of a ruddy duck carved into a hard metamorphic rock, possibly Iroquoian

6.5. Effigy pendant or gorget carved from siltstone to represent a duck

6.6. Effigy representing a duck made from a flint nodule

6.7. Obverse side of gorget with incised crosshatch pattern

6.8. Reverse side of gorget with incised image of a heron or egret

6.9. Ground slate pendant representing a bird, recovered from a cremation burial at the Turner Farm site, North Haven Island, Maine

6.10. Monolithic axe with a bird head, a human face or head with horns on the poll, and a possible owl image

6.11. Sculpted bird effigy made from a fragment of a soapstone bowl

6.12. Caterpillar pendant recovered from the Rogers site, Lisbon, Connecticut

7.1. Flat, smooth pebble decorated with a cup and groove design

7.2. Thin, flat pebble fashioned into a heart-shaped pendant and decorated with three triangles

7.3. Thin, flat pebble fashioned into a pendant and decorated with incised curvilinear lines

7.4. Elongated pendant made from trap rock and decorated with incised dots, triangles, or zigzag lines

7.5. Atlatl weight with a drilled hole through the midsection, decorated with incised parallel and crosshatched lines

7.6. Obverse side of Montauk Tablet or pendant decorated with a geometric pattern

7.7. Oblong pendant fashioned from graphite and decorated with small shallow cupules

7.8. Obverse side of stone containing seven shallow pits or cupules, recovered from a creek bed

7.9. Incised pebble with parallel vertical and horizontal lines

7.10. Circular claystone pendant with conically drilled hole in its center and linear abstract designs on both sides

7.11. Obverse side of quartzite cobble with incised grid pattern consisting of nine squares

7.12. Gorget with incised geometric motif interpreted as a fishing weir

TABLES

8.1. Petroglyph Motifs in Northeastern Canada

8.2. Petroglyph Motifs in Northern New England

8.3. Petroglyph Motifs in Southern New England

8.4. Petroglyph Motifs in New York and New Jersey

8.5. Petroglyph Motifs in the Susquehanna River Valley

8.6. Petroglyph Motifs in the Potomac River Valley

8.7. Petroglyphs on Artifacts: Summary of Design Motifs

Preface

In 2002 and 2009, I published two comprehensive studies of American Indian rock art encompassing the northeastern United States and four provinces in Atlantic Canada. Picture Rocks: American Indian Rock Art in the Northeast Woodlands (2002) documented 45 immovable petroglyph sites, 3 pictograph (painted) sites, and more than 75 specimens of portable rock art recovered from various archaeological sites and contexts. Making Pictures in Stone (2009) documented 23 additional nonportable petroglyph and pictograph sites, several dendroglyphs, one geoglyph, and 70 more portable rock art specimens.

Following the publication of these books, I continued to search for and record more of the carved images, symbols, and signs created by Indian peoples before the arrival of Europeans. Decorated artifacts form an essential and significant part of the archaeological database of Indian cultural history. Portable rock art specimens are pecked, sculpted, or incised figures, images, or symbols on stone artifacts such as pebbles, plaques, pendants, axes, pestles, atlatl weights, or similar small artifacts. Such specimens can usually be held in the hand and carried around in daily life. They can be moved from the source of the raw material to the site of manufacture, to where they are used by individuals, and finally to where they are discarded and become a part of the archaeological record. These items of material culture may reflect an individual’s or group’s spiritual beliefs, worldview, or perhaps social identity.

My research methods and sources were the same as those I used in my previous studies. I continued to visit museums, libraries, historical societies, and research facilities and to examine both public and private collections of documents and artifacts. I also reviewed numerous archaeological reports and early historical accounts for any mention of petroglyphs and pictographs. An important source of information has continued to be contact with archaeologists, historians, and artifact collectors. Several individuals who had read my previous works contacted me to tell me about other sites and decorated artifacts. As a result, more evidence of these artifacts of Native American culture has come to light.

This book deals with portable decorated stone artifacts of varying size, shape, and design motifs. An invaluable source of information in the interpretation of the images on the artifacts is Indian myths and legends. I have tried to collect and analyze such information and interpret these data in relation to the rock art images. By combining data from ethnohistorical and archaeological sources together with local environmental settings where appropriate, I have attempted to interpret the meaning of the carvings.

The material in this book is organized by the design motifs present on the artifacts. Perhaps the recurring iconography or symbolism can give us some insights into the spiritual and social practices of the Algonkian- and Iroquois-speaking peoples who occupied the Northeast. The Northeast, as defined in this book, includes Atlantic Canada, southeastern Ontario, the six New England states, New York, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.

The images in this book connect us directly to the beliefs and culture of the Indian peoples who lived in the Northeast in the past. These portable petroglyphs reflect an Indian’s identity, status, and social relationships with other Indians as well as beings in the spirit world.

Acknowledgments

This book owes its existence to the contributions of many people. I consider it a privilege to name them and to express to each of them my sincere gratitude for giving of their time and for sharing their ideas, information, kindness, and support. In particular, I must single out two close friends, Tom Fitzpatrick and Nancy L. Gibbs. Tom, my colleague and fellow field explorer, brought his artistic talent and knowledge of the natural world numerous times to this book project. Nancy, an accomplished photographer, researcher, and writer, with her aesthetic sensibility and computer skills, spent countless rounds of telephone conversations and discussions in helping me organize and clarify my writing. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and colleagues.

The following people and organizations contributed to this research in many different ways, all of which were helpful and very much appreciated: L. C. Bucky Andrews, proprietor of Orchard Home Farm; Dr. Nicholas F. Bellantoni, Connecticut state archaeologist; Charles Berkemeyer, avocational historian and collector; Susan Stessin Cohn, Historic Huguenot Street; Cheri Collins, collections manager, Connecticut State Museum and Archaeology Center; Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology (CNEHA); Dennis Curry, senior archaeologist, Maryland Historic Trust; Margo Muhl Davis, Massachusetts Historical Commission; Charles Devine, avocational historian and collector; Dr. Joseph Diamond, State University of New York at New Paltz; Sandra Diebolt; Steve DiMarzo Jr., field explorer; Sandra A. Elgee, curator, Milford Historical Society, Connecticut; James Gage, New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA); Dr. Herbert C. Kraft, Seton Hall University; Lucianne Lavin, Institute for American Indian Studies; Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory; Dr. Kevin McBride, University of Connecticut; Paul Nevin, rock art researcher; Pennsylvania Department of Transportation; Lisa Piastuch, Institute for American Indian Studies; Dennis Piechota, CNEHA; Leonard Lee Rue III, naturalist and author; Francis Scadera, archaeologist; Rajshree Solanki, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; Dr. Arthur Spiess, Maine Historic Preservation Commission; Dr. R. Michael Stewart, Temple University; Kevin Storms, Inc., Orange County Chapter, New York State Archaeological Association; John Strong, anthropologist, author; Roslyn Strong, NEARA; Deb Twigg, Susquehanna River Archaeological Center; Oren Tyndall, avocational archaeologist; URS Corporation; Meredith Vasta, collections manager, Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center; Stephen G. Warfel, curator of archaeology, State Museum of Pennsylvania; Raymond Whritenour, Lenape Texts and Studies; Professor Ernest Wiegand, Norwalk Community College; Don Williams, Susquehanna River Archaeological Center; and Erin Winfield, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.

I also offer my sincere thanks to Wendi Schnaufer, senior acquisitions editor at the University of Alabama Press, and to two anonymous reviewers who provided thoughtful and valuable suggestions to improve this work.

Introduction

This book introduces exciting, accessible, and overlooked archaeological treasures found in the American northeastern states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and eastern Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia, Atlantic Canada, and southeastern Ontario. These objects were left by those who lived here in the thousands of years before North America was discovered. They were here when John Cabot arrived in 1497, when Giovanni da Verrazzano arrived in 1524, when Jacques Cartier arrived in 1534, and when John Smith arrived in 1607. The objects discussed represent Native American culture from the Archaic cultural period to post-Contact historical times. The unknown Indian artists were primarily Algonkian language speakers native to this area.

In October 1680, Europeans discovered Dighton Rock, located on the east bank of the Taunton River in southeastern Massachusetts. This 40-ton gray-brown quartz-sandstone boulder is covered with a bewildering array of lines, curves, human and animal figures, and other unidentifiable symbols that Indians carved into its surface. John Danforth, a clergyman, made a drawing of the figures and wrote a brief description of them (Delabarre 1928:30): "The uppermost of ye engravings of a Rock in ye river Assoonet six miles below Tanton in New England. Taken out sometime before October 1680 by John Danforth. It is reported from the Tradition of Old Indians, y y came a wooden house, (& men of another country in it) swimming up the river Assonet, y fought ye Indians & slew ye Saunchem &tc Some recon the figures to be Hieroglyphicall. The first figure representing a Ship, without masts & a meer Wrack cast upon the shoales. The second representing a head of land, possibly a cape with a peninsula. Hence a Gulf."

Imagine the consternation early European colonists felt encountering wooden houses, human faces, handprints, and animals carved into the rock in the dense, deep woods. They considered these to be the work of the Devil. Portable petroglyphs were met with similar suspicion; they were regarded as charms and amulets—magical, dangerous things.

Rock art is a sacred, spiritually potent part of Indian lifeways. Native groups saw spirit in all things. They saw and depicted spirit in these images. Indian myths and legends inform us, providing greater understanding of these images. Images of mythical creatures such as serpents and thunderbirds, for example, are found throughout North America. Each tribe sees these mythical figures differently and depicts them in rock art. The myths and stories surrounding these beings also differ in detail but hold a common element of what these spirit beings mean to the various Indian peoples.

Chapter 1, Northeastern Cultural History, offers background on the Indian cultures of the Northeast, primarily Algonkian and Iroquoian. It includes a discussion