The Swastika
Similar Prehistoric Art...
While it is not the intention to continue this examination among the prehistoric objects of the two hemispheres in order to show their similarity and thus prove migration, contact, or communication, yet it may be well to mention some of them, leaving the argument or proof to a future occasion.
The polished stone hatchets of the two hemispheres are substantially the same. There are differences of material, of course, for in each country the workman was obliged to use such material as was obtainable. There are differences in form between the polished stone hatchets of the two hemispheres, but so there are differences between different localities in the same hemisphere.
Scrapers have also been found in both hemispheres and in all ages. There are the same differences in material, form, and appearance as in the polished stone hatchet. There is one difference to be mentioned of this utensil --- i. e., in America the scraper has been sometimes made with a stem and with notches near the base, after the manner of arrow and spear-heads, evidently intended to aid, as in the arrow and spearhead, in fastening the tool in its handle. This peculiarity is not found in Europe, or, if found, is extremely rare. It is considered that this may have been caused by the use of a broken arrow or spearhead, which seems not to have been done in Europe. But this is still only a difference in detail, a difference alight and insignificant, one which occurs seldom and apparently growing out of peculiar and fortuitous conditions.
The art of drilling in stone was known over an extended area in prehistoric times, and we find innumerable examples which must have been performed in both hemispheres substantially in the same manner and with the same machine.
The art of sawing stone was alike practiced during prehistoric times in the two hemispheres. Many specimens have been found in the prehistoric deposits of both.
The aboriginal art of making pottery was also carried on in the same or a similar manner in both hemispheres. The examples of this art are as numerous as the leaves on the trees. There were differences in the manipulation and treatment, but the principal fact remains that the art was the same in both countries. Not only were the products greatly similar, but the same style of geometric decoration by incised lines is common to both. Greater progress in making pottery was made in the Western than in the Eastern Hemisphere during prehistoric times.
The wheel was unknown in both hemispheres, and in both the manipulation of clay was by hand. True, in the Western Hemisphere there was greater dexterity and a grater number of methods employed. For example, the vase might be built up with clay inside a basket, which served to give both form and decoration; it was coiled, the damp clay being made in a string and so built up by a circular movement, drawing the side in or out as the string of clay was laid thereon, until it reached the top; it may have been decorated by the pressure of a textile fabric, real or simulated, into the damp clay. A few years ago it would have been true to have said that pottery decorated in this manner was peculiar to the Western Hemisphere, but Prince Pontjatine has lately found on his property, Bologoje, in the province of Novgorod, midway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, many pieces of prehistoric pottery which bear evidence of having been made in this manner,
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