MINOR ANTIQUITIES
(continued)

BONE IMPLEMENTS

A large collection of beautiful bone implements (see fig. 31)Ñneedles, awls, tubes, and dirksÑrewarded the work at Spruce-Tree House. Some of these show the effects of fire throughout their length, while others are smoked only at one end. When unearthed,one of these dirks was still in the original sheath of cedar bark (fig. 32).

FIG. 31. Bone implements.

FIG. 32. Dirck and cedar-bark sheath.

Most of the needles, bodkins, and awls are made of bones of birds or small animals. These were apparently rubbed down and pointed on stone implements or on the sides of the cliff, where grooves are often found (fig. 33).

FIG. 33. Bone implement.

Several fine bone scrapers (figs. 34, 35) were dug out of the debris covering the floors of the rooms. These are beveled to a sharp edge at one end, the trochanter of the bone serving as a handle.

FIG. 34. Bone scraper.

FIG. 35. Bone scraper.

FETISH

Only one fetish in the form of a human being was obtained at Spruce-tree House, this being found in the debris near the floor of kiva G. So far as the objects from Mesa Verde ruins have been figured or described, this is the first record of the finding of a fetish of human shape in any of these ruins. Moreover, such a fetish is a rarity in cliff-house ruins elsewhere in the Southwest, a fact which imparts to this specimen more than usual interest.

LIGNITE GORGET

In the author's account of his excavations in ruins in the Little Colorado valley there was figured a large fragment of a disk made of cannel coal or lignite. This disk is convex on one side and plain on the side opposite, the latter having an eyelet, or two holes for suspension. A lignite gorget, similar for the most part to the above mentioned specimen, but differing therefrom in having the eyelet in the convex instead of in the flat side, was found at Spruce-tree House. Probably both objects were formerly used as ornaments, being suspended about the neck. No similar specimen has thus far been described from Mesa Verde ruins.