Earspools

Earspools fit through holes in the earlobes of noble adults and children and the priests.  They were used throughout the Americas and were made of every imaginable substance, including stone, silver, gold, copper, wood, bone, shell,

Each spool has a front and back face.  The illustration shows a symmetrical and an asymmetrical spool.  The term "symmetrical" means that the front and back faces of the spools match in diameter.  An "asymmetrical" spool has a back face, the one turned to the body, which has a narrower diameter than the one worn to the outside, the one the others would see.

The spools shown in the bottom photograph are Hopewell and were found in Ohio.  They are estimated to be more than 1,000 years old.