Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley
()
About this ebook
Related to Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley
Related ebooks
Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Limitations to the Use of Some Anthropologic Data Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Progress of Ethnology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvolution in Art: As Illustrated by the Life-histories of Designs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSocial Symbolism in Ancient & Tribal Art: Family Tree: Stacked Ancestors, Y-Posts & Heavenly Ladders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReal, Recent, or Replica: Precolumbian Caribbean Heritage as Art, Commodity, and Inspiration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Odyssey of the Pueblo Indians: An Introduction to Pueblo Indian Petroglyphs, Pictographs, and Kiva Art Murals in the Southwest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lenape Stone; or, The Indian and the Mammoth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Evolution of Culture, and Other Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Coming of Evolution: The Story of a Great Revolution in Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMesopotamian Archaeology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Engraving for Illustration: Historical and Practical Notes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistoric Ornament Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDactylography; Or, The Study of Finger-prints Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnimal Drawing: Anatomy and Action for Artists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of Chinese Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Album of Maya Architecture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Historic Ornament: Treatise on Decorative Art and Architectural Ornament (Complete Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPictographs of the North American Indians (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPictographs of the North American Indians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shadow of Atlantis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mazes and Labyrinths: A General Account of Their History and Development Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScale and the Incas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudies in Central American Picture-Writing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History, Theory, and Practice of Illuminating: Condensed from 'The Art of Illuminating' by the same illustrator and author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistoric Ornament (Vol. 1&2): Treatise on Decorative Art and Architectural Ornament (Complete Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Art For You
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Designer's Dictionary of Color Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Art Models 10: Photos for Figure Drawing, Painting, and Sculpting Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Morpho: Anatomy for Artists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Draw and Paint Anatomy, All New 2nd Edition: Creating Lifelike Humans and Realistic Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art 101: From Vincent van Gogh to Andy Warhol, Key People, Ideas, and Moments in the History of Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Botanical Drawing: A Step-By-Step Guide to Drawing Flowers, Vegetables, Fruit and Other Plant Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anatomy for Fantasy Artists: An Essential Guide to Creating Action Figures & Fantastical Forms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lust Unearthed: Vintage Gay Graphics From the DuBek Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Designer's Guide to Color Combinations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Drawing and Sketching Portraits: How to Draw Realistic Faces for Beginners Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Drawing School: Fundamentals for the Beginner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shape of Ideas: An Illustrated Exploration of Creativity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Creative, Inc.: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley - Henry W. Henshaw
Henry W. Henshaw
Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley
EAN 8596547253006
DigiCat, 2022
Contact: DigiCat@okpublishing.info
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTORY.
MANATEE.
TOUCAN.
PAROQUET.
KNOWLEDGE OF TROPICAL ANIMALS BY MOUND-BUILDERS.
OTHER ERRORS OF IDENTIFICATION.
SKILL IN SCULPTURE OF MOUND-BUILDERS.
GENERALIZATION NOT DESIGNED.
PROBABLE TOTEMIC ORIGIN.
ANIMAL MOUNDS.
THE ELEPHANT
MOUND.
THE ALLIGATOR
MOUND.
HUMAN SCULPTURES.
INDIAN AND MOUND-BUILDERS' ART COMPARED.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
INDEX.
INTRODUCTORY.
Table of Contents
The considerable degree of decorative and artistic skill attained by the so-called Mound-Builders, as evidenced by many of the relics that have been exhumed from the mounds, has not failed to arrest the attention of archæologists. Among them, indeed, are found not a few who assert for the people conveniently designated as above a degree of artistic skill very far superior to that attained by the present race of Indians as they have been known to history. In fact, this very skill in artistic design, asserted for the Mound-Builders, as indicated by the sculptures they have left, forms an important link in the chain of argument upon which is based the theory of their difference from and superiority to the North American Indian.
Eminent as is much of the authority which thus contends for an artistic ability on the part of the Mound-Builders far in advance of the attainments of the present Indian in the same line, the question is one admitting of argument; and if some of the best products of artistic handicraft of the present Indians be compared with objects of a similar nature taken from the mounds, it is more than doubtful if the artistic inferiority of the latter-day Indian can be substantiated. Deferring, however, for the present, any comparison between the artistic ability of the Mound-Builder and the modern Indian, attention may be turned to a class of objects from the mounds, notable, indeed, for the skill with which they are wrought, but to be considered first in another way and for another purpose than mere artistic comparison.
As the term Mound-Builders will recur many times throughout this paper, and as the phrase has been objected to by some archæologists on account of its indefiniteness, it may be well to state that it is employed here with its commonly accepted signification, viz: as applied to the people who formerly lived throughout the Mississippi Valley and raised the mounds of that region. It should also be clearly understood that by its use the writer is not to be considered as committing himself in any way to the theory that the Mound-Builders were of a different race from the North American Indian.
Among the more interesting objects left by the Mound-Builders, pipes occupy a prominent place. This is partly due to their number, pipes being among the more common articles unearthed by the labors of explorers, but more to the fact that in the construction of their pipes this people exhibited their greatest skill in the way of sculpture. In the minds of those who hold that the Mound-Builders were the ancestors of the present Indians, or, at least, that they were not necessarily of a different race, the superiority of their pipe sculpture over their other works of art excites no surprise, since, however prominent a place the pipe may have held in the affections of the Mound-Builders, it is certain that it has been an object of no less esteem and reverence among the Indians of history. Certainly no one institution, for so it may be called, was more firmly fixed by long usage among the North American Indians, or more characteristic of them, than the pipe, with all its varied uses and significance.
Perhaps the most characteristic artistic feature displayed in the pipe sculpture of the Mound-Builders, as has been well pointed out by Wilson, in his Prehistoric Man, is the tendency exhibited toward the imitation of natural objects, especially birds and animals, a remark, it may be said in passing, which applies with almost equal truth to the art productions generally of the present Indians throughout the length and breadth of North America. As some of these sculptured animals from the mounds have excited much interest in the minds of archæologists, and have been made the basis of much speculation, their examination and proper identification becomes a matter of considerable importance. It will therefore be the main purpose of the present paper to examine critically the evidence offered in behalf of the identification of the more important of them. If it shall prove, as is believed to be the case, that serious mistakes of identification have been made, attention will be called to these and the manner pointed out in which certain theories have naturally enough resulted from the premises thus erroneously established.
It may be premised that the writer undertook the examination of the carvings with no theories of his own to propose in place of those hitherto advanced. In fact, their critical examination may almost be said to have been the result of accident. Having made the birds of the United States his study for several years, the writer glanced over the bird carvings in the most cursory manner, being curious to see