Too bad we can't just issue everybody new servile gorgets marked, Personal Property of his Imperial Majesty and let it go at that.
Engraved gorgets cut from the body of the Busycon perversum and large pins from the columellæ of the same shell are especially numerous and well-preserved.
They had torques for the neck made of twisted gold bars; and the elaborate and immensely expensive crescents or gorgets have been already described (p.
They are also engraved on shell cups, masks, andgorgets and on pottery vessels.
Shell was worked into beads of many varieties, and into gorgets or pendants in addition to the atlatl weights mentioned.
Engraved shell gorgets occur, but only in the simpler designs; perhaps the hafted ax form of pipe could be considered a Southern Cult object or at least to show its influence.
Illustration: Gorgets were made of the outer shell, and large beads and these knobbed "ear bobs" from the inner whorl of the marine whelk, or conch.
Shell was extensively worked for ornament, mainly in the form of large beads, large, knobbed pins which seem to have dangled from the ears, and circular gorgets bearing designs of the Southern Cult, to be discussed presently.
The neck-portion of the gorgets is arranged in three rows of raised ridges, and these are ornamented with rows of small bosses, the depressions of the ridges being occupied with a narrow rope-shaped fillet.
CLARE FIND Another type of neck-ornaments are the thin gold gorgets with funnel-shaped ends, many of which were found in the great Clare find.
Among the most striking of the gold ornaments in the National Collection are the five gold gorgets or neck-collars, with the ends decorated with ornamented disks.
In one of the gorgets shown in Plate II, where the disk is attached to the gorget, above the line where the end of the plate passes into the boss, three perpendicular and two cross-stitches can be seen.
These gorgets are quite plain, except for a little ornamentation at the extreme ends near the funnel-shaped extremities.
The relics commonly called gorgets have been found in Europe; they may be convex on one side, concave on the other, and are supposed to be for bracers.
The “butterfly” gorgets are so named from their resemblance to a butterfly with expanded wings.
Some writers suppose the gorgets to have been shuttles; but this supposition can hardly be entertained, although it is true, according to Chase, that the Oregon Indians passed thread with a curved bone needle.
Points of this form would make the countersunk holes so common in gorgets and other flat stones.
Few of the gorgets in the Bureau collection show such marks of wear around the edges of the hole as would be made by a cord; but the majority are thus worn at the middle, where the hole is smallest.
Though gorgets of plate were introduced as early as 1330, many still preferred to wear the mail, so that they continued more or less in use for two centuries longer.
This was of course natural, after having seen several gorgets with figures carved upon them which were unquestionable frauds.
Gorgets were worn during the War of the Revolution by both American and British officers, and the British also gave them to Indian chiefs as marks of authority.
Few Militia gorgets are known, and this scarcity leads us to believe that few were made and worn, despite the Militia's love for the "gay and gaudy.
On the other hand shell-gorgets exhibiting the effigy of a spider, and obviously intended to be worn with its head turned downwards, have not only been found in Illinois but also in Tennessee and Missouri.
This native belief is beautifully illustrated by the two "highly artistic shell-gorgets representing winged human beings," which are described and figured by Mr. Wm.
There can be no doubt that both gorgets are attempts to represent the resuscitated souls of departed warriors, according to the native ideas concerning them.
On the gorgets from the latter States a cross is carved on the body of the spider (fig.
Nor do these gorgets alone furnish an undeniable indication that an identical symbolism extended from Yucatan to Illinois.
In connection with this important statement I revert to the carved shell-gorgets which have been found in the mounds and ancient graves in the Mississippi valley and exhibit Maya influence.
These gorgets appear to have gone out of fashion, as we saw none which were not very old, or which appeared to have been used recently.
Aboriginal shell gorgets have been found in the mounds of Tennessee and the adjoining country, which were engraved with this design, though always in spiral form.
Engraved shell gorgets (Fulgur) representing the spider, with circles and Greek crosses.
The shell objects (in addition to the disks and gorgets mentioned) were pins made from the columellae of Fulgur (Busycon perversum?
What the gorgets themselves were, or of what particular value to their possessor, aside from simple ornaments, must be, in a measure, a matter of conjecture.
A series of gorgets in shell have been found ornamented with designs resembling the Swastika, which should be noticed.
A study of the designs associated with the cross in these gorgets [figs.
In describing these gorgets I have arranged them in groups distinguished by the designs engraved upon them.
A study of the designs associated with the cross in these gorgets is instructive, but does not lead to any definite result.
It is of very frequent occurrence among the designs engraved upon gorgets of shell, a multitude of which have been thus dedicated to the serpent-god.
Eight are engraved upon shell gorgets (illustrations of which are given in the accompanying plates), one is cut in stone, three are painted upon pottery, and four are executed in copper.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "gorgets" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
