The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric TimesWilson, Thomas
Religion
The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times
Wilson, Thomas
Industries, Primitive; Swastikas; Symbolism
_The Pueblos._--The Pueblo country in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and
Arizona, as is well known, is inhabited by various tribes of Indians
speaking different languages, separated from one another and from all
other tribes by differences of language, customs, and habit, but somewhat
akin to each other in culture, and many things different from other tribes
are peculiar to them. These have been called the "Pueblo Indians" because
they live in pueblos or towns. Their present country includes the regions
of the ancient cliff dwellers, of whom they are supposed to be the
descendants. In those manifestations of culture wherein they are peculiar
and different from other tribes they have come to be considered something
superior. Any search for the Swastika in America which omitted these
Indians would be fatally defective, and so here it is found. Without
speculating how the knowledge of the Swastika came to them, whether by
independent invention or brought from distant lands, it will be enough to
show its knowledge among and its use by the peoples of this country.
[Illustration: Fig. 256. DANCE RATTLE MADE OF A SMALL GOURD DECORATED IN
BLACK, WHITE, AND RED. Ogee Swastika on each side. Second Annual Report of
the Bureau of Ethnology, fig. 526. Cat. No. 42042, U. S. N. M.]
In the Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology for the year 1880-81 (p.
394, fig. 562) is described a dance rattle made from a small gourd,
ornamented in black, white, and red (fig. 256). The gourd has a Swastika
on each side, with the ends bent, not square, but ogee (the tetraskelion).
The U. S. National Museum possesses a large number of these dance rattles
with Swastikas on their sides, obtained from the Pueblo Indians of New
Mexico and Arizona. Some of them have the natural neck for a handle, as
shown in the cut; others are without neck, and have a wooden stick
inserted and passed through for a handle. Beans, pebbles, or similar
objects are inside, and the shaking of the machine makes a rattling noise
which marks time for the dance.
The Museum possesses a large series of pottery from the various pueblos of
the Southwest; these are of the painted and decorated kind common to that
civilization and country. Some of these pieces bear the Swastika mark;
occasionally it is found outside, occasionally inside. It is more
frequently of the ogee form, similar to that on the rattle from the same
country (fig. 256). The larger proportion of these specimens comes from
the pueblos of Santa Clara and St. Ildefonso.
[Illustration: PLATE 16. CEREMONIAL BEAD GARTERS WITH SWASTIKAS. Sac
Indians, Cook County (Kansas) Reservation.]
Dr. Schliemann reports:[260]
We also see a Swastika (turned to the left) scratched on two terra
cotta bowls of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, preserved in the
ethnological section of the Royal Museum at Berlin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account