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diff --git a/39686-8.txt b/39686-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4f34f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/39686-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1029 @@ +Project Gutenberg's North American Stone Implements, by Charles Rau + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: North American Stone Implements + +Author: Charles Rau + +Release Date: May 13, 2012 [EBook #39686] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICAN STONE IMPLEMENTS *** + + + + +Produced by K Nordquist, JoAnn Greenwood, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + NORTH AMERICAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. + + BY + + CHARLES RAU. + + REPRINTED FROM THE REPORT OF THE SMITHSONIAN + INSTITUTION FOR 1872. + + WASHINGTON: + GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. + 1873. + + + + +NORTH AMERICAN STONE IMPLEMENTS. + +BY CHARLES RAU. + + +The division of the European stone age into a period of chipped stone, +and a succeeding one of ground or polished stone, or, into the +palaeolithic and neolithic periods, seems to be fully borne out by +facts, and is likely to remain an uncontroverted basis for future +investigation in Europe. In North America chipped as well as ground +implements are abundant; yet they occur promiscuously, and thus far +cannot be referred respectively to certain epochs in the development +of the aborigines of the country. Archæological investigation in North +America, however, is but of recent date, and a careful examination of +our caves and drift-beds possibly may lead to results similar to those +obtained in Europe. When in the latter part of the world man lived +contemporaneously with the now extinct large pachydermatous and +carnivorous animals, he used unground flint tools of rude workmanship, +which were superseded in the later stages of the European stone age, +comprising the neolithic period, by more finished articles of flint +and other stone, many of which were brought into final shape by the +processes of grinding and polishing. In North America stone implements +likewise have been found associated with the osseous remains of +extinct animals; yet these implements, it appears, differed in no wise +from those in use among the aborigines at the period of their first +intercourse with the whites. + +In the year 1839, the late Dr. Albert C. Koch discovered in the bottom +of the Bourbeuse River, in Gasconade County, Missouri, the remains of +a _Mastodon giganteus_ under very peculiar circumstances. The greater +portion of the bones appeared more or less burned, and there was +sufficient evidence that the fire had been kindled by human agency, +and with the design of killing the huge creature, which had been found +mired in the mud, and in an entirely helpless condition. The animal's +fore and hind legs, untouched by the fire, were in a perpendicular +position, with the toes attached to the feet, showing that the ground +in which the animal had sunk, now a grayish-colored clay, was in a +plastic condition when the occurrence took place. Those portions of +the skeleton, however, which had been exposed above the surface of the +clay, were partially consumed by the fire, and a layer of wood-ashes +and charred bones, varying in thickness from two to six inches, +indicated that the burning had been continued for some length of time. +The fire appeared to have been most destructive around the head of the +animal. Mingled with the ashes and bones was a large number of broken +pieces of rock, which evidently had been carried to the spot from the +bank of the Bourbeuse River to be hurled at the animal. But the +burning and hurling of stones, it seems, did not satisfy the +assailants of the mastodon; for Dr. Koch found among the ashes, bones, +and rocks _several stone arrow-heads, a spear-head, and some stone +axes_, which were taken out in the presence of a number of witnesses, +consisting of the people of the neighborhood, who had been attracted +by the novelty of the excavation. The layer of ashes and bones was +covered by strata of alluvial deposits, consisting of clay, sand, and +soil, from eight to nine feet thick, which form the bottom of the +Bourbeuse River in general. + +About one year after this excavation, Dr. Koch found at another place, +in Benton County, Missouri, in the bottom of the Pomme de Terre River, +about ten miles above its junction with the Osage, _several stone +arrow-heads_ mingled with the bones of a nearly entire skeleton of the +Missourium. The two arrow-heads found with the bones "were in such a +position as to furnish evidence still more conclusive, perhaps, than +in the other case, of their being of equal, if not older date, than +the bones themselves; for, besides that they were found in a layer of +vegetable mold which was covered by twenty feet in thickness of +alternate layers of sand, clay, and gravel, one of the arrow-heads lay +underneath the thigh-bone of the skeleton, the bone actually resting +in contact upon it, so that it could not have been brought thither +after the deposit of the bone; a fact which I was careful thoroughly +to investigate."[1] + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.] + +It affords me particular satisfaction to present in Fig. 1 a full-size +drawing of the last-named arrow-head, which is still in the possession +of Mrs. Elizabeth Koch, of Saint Louis, the widow of the discoverer. +The drawing was made after a photograph, for which I am indebted to +Mrs. Koch. It will be noticed that the point, one of the barbs, and a +corner of the stem of this arrow-head--if it really was an arrow-head, +and not the armature of a javelin or spear--are broken off; but there +remains enough of it to make out its original shape, which is exactly +that of similar weapons used by the aborigines in historical times. +The specimen in question, which, as I presume, was found by Dr. Koch +in its present mutilated shape, consists of a light-brown, somewhat +mottled flint.[2] + +In referring to these discoveries of Dr. Koch, and some other +indications of the high antiquity of man in America, Sir John Lubbock +concludes that "there does not as yet appear to be any satisfactory +proof that man co-existed in America with the Mammoth and +Mastodon."[3] Yet, it may be expected, almost with certainty, that the +results of future investigations in North America will fully +corroborate Dr. Koch's discoveries, and vindicate the truthfulness of +his statements. Indeed, some facts have come to light during the late +geological survey of Illinois, which confirm, in a general way, the +conclusions arrived at by the above-named explorer. According to this +survey, the blue clays at the base of the drift contain fragments of +wood and trunks of trees, but no fossil remains of animals; but the +brown clays above, underlying the Loess, contain remains of the +Mammoth, the Mastodon, and the Peccary; and bones of the Mastodon were +found in a bed of "local drift," near Alton, underlying the Loess _in +situ_ above, and also _in the same horizon, stone axes and flint +spear-heads_, indicating the co-existence of the human race with the +extinct mammalia of the Quaternary period.[4] + +It must not be overlooked that both Dr. Koch and the Illinois survey +mention flint arrow and spear-heads as well as stone axes as being +associated, directly or indirectly, with the remains of extinct animals. +These stone axes undoubtedly were _ground_ implements; for, had they +differed in any way from the ordinary Indian manufactures of the same +class, the fact certainly would have been noticed by the observers. Thus +far, then, we are not entitled to speak of a North American palaeolithic +and neolithic period. In the new world, therefore, the human +contemporary of the Mastodon and the Mammoth, it would seem, was more +advanced in the manufacture of stone weapons than his savage brother of +the European drift period, a circumstance which favors the view that the +extinct large mammalia ceased to exist at a later epoch in America than +in Europe. The remarks of Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Smith on this point +are of interest. "Over a considerable part of the eastern side of the +great (American) mountain ridge," he says, "more particularly where +ancient lakes have been converted into morasses, or have been filled by +alluvials, organic remains of above thirty species of mammals, of the +same orders and genera, in some cases of the same species, (as in +Europe,) have been discovered, demonstrating their existence in a +contemporary era with those of the old continent, and under similar +circumstances. But their period of duration in the new world may have +been prolonged to dates of a subsequent time, since the Pachyderms of +the United States, as well as those of the Pampas of Brazil, are much +more perfect; and, in many cases, possess characters ascribed to bones +in a recent state. Alligators and crocodiles, moreover, continue to +exist in latitudes where they endure a winter state of torpidity beneath +ice, as an evidence that the great Saurians in that region have not yet +entirely worked out their mission; whereas, on the old continent they +had ceased to exist in high latitudes long before the extinction of the +great Ungulata."[5] + +Flint implements of the European "drift type," however, are by no +means scarce in North America, although they cannot (thus far) be +referred to any particular period, but must be classed with the other +chipped and ground implements in use among the North American +aborigines during historical times. + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.] + +In the first place I will mention certain leaf-shaped flint implements +which have been found in mounds and on the surface, as well as in +deposits below it. They are comparatively thin, of regular outline, +and exhibit well-chipped edges all around the circumferences. On the +whole, they are among the best North American flint articles which +have fallen under my notice. The specimens found by Messrs. Squier and +Davis in a mound of the inclosure called Mound City, on the Scioto +River, some miles north of Chillicothe, Ohio, belong to this class. +Most of them were broken, but a few were found entire, one of which is +represented in half-size by Fig. 100 on page 211 of the "Ancient +Monuments of the Mississippi Valley." This specimen measures four +inches in length and about three inches across the broad rounded end. +I have a still larger one, consisting of a reddish mottled flint, +which was found on the surface in Jefferson County, Missouri. The +annexed full-size drawing, Fig. 2, shows its outline. The edge on the +right side is a little damaged by subsequent fractures, but for the +sake of greater distinctness I have represented it as perfect. The +finest leaf-shaped implements which I have had occasion to examine, +are in the possession of Mr. M. Cowing, of Seneca Falls, New York. The +owner told me he had more than a hundred of them, which were all +derived from a locality in the State of New York, where they were +accidentally discovered, forming a deposit under the surface. Mr. +Cowing, who is constantly engaged in collecting and buying up Indian +relics, refused to give me any information concerning the place and +precise character of the deposit, basing his refusal on the ground +that a few of these implements were still in the hands of individuals +in the neighborhood, and that he would reveal nothing in relation to +the deposit until he had obtained every specimen originally belonging +to it. I am, therefore, unable to give any particulars, and must +confine myself to the statement that the specimens shown to me present +in general the outline of the original of Fig. 2, though they are a +little smaller; and that they are thin, sharp-edged, and exquisitely +wrought, and consist of a beautiful, variously-colored flint, which +bears some resemblance to chalcedony. + +Concerning the use or uses of North American leaf-shaped articles, I +am hardly prepared to give a definite opinion, though I think it +probable that they served for purposes of cutting. They were certainly +not intended for spear-heads, their shape being ill-adapted for that +end; nor do I think that they were used as scrapers, as other more +massive implements of a kindred character probably were, of which I +shall speak hereafter. + +The aborigines were in the habit of burying articles of flint in the +ground, and such deposits, sometimes quite large, have been discovered +in various parts of the United States. These deposits consist of +articles representing various types, among which I will mention the +leaf-shaped implements in the possession of Mr. Cowing; the +agricultural tools found at East Saint Louis, Illinois, of which I +have given an account in the Smithsonian report for 1868; and the rude +flint articles of an elongated oval shape, which were found about 1860 +on the bank of the Mississippi, between Carondelet and Saint Louis, +Missouri, and doubtless belonged to a deposit. I have described them +in the above-named Smithsonian report, (p. 405,) and have also given +there a drawing of one of the specimens in my possession. This drawing +has been reproduced by Mr. E. T. Stevens, on page 441 of his valuable +work entitled "Flint Chips," (London, 1870,) with remarks tending to +show that the specimen does not represent an unfinished implement, as +I am inclined to believe, but a complete one. I must admit that my +drawing is not a very good one. It gives the object a more definite +character than it really possesses, the chipping appearing in the +representation far less superficial than it is in the original, which, +indeed, has such a shape that it could easily be reduced to a smaller +size by blows aimed at its circumference. I have myself scaled off +large flat flakes from similarly-shaped pieces of flint, using a small +iron hammer and directing my blows against the edge, and have thus +become convinced that the further working of objects like that in +question could offer no serious difficulties to a practised +flint-chipper. My collection, moreover, contains several smaller flint +objects of similar shape, which are undoubtedly the rudiments of arrow +and spear-heads, and I may add that I obtained a few from places where +the manufacture of such weapons was carried on. + +Yet the most important deposit of flint implements resembling certain +types of the European drift, is that discovered by Messrs. Squier and +Davis during their researches in Ohio. They have described this +interesting find in the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," +and a _résumé_ of their account was given by me in the Smithsonian +report for 1868, (p. 404.) The implements in question, I stated, +occurred in one of the so-called sacrificial mounds of Clark's Work, +on North Fork of Paint Creek, Ross County, Ohio. This flat, but very +broad mound contained, instead of the hearth usually found in this +class of earth-structures, an enormous number of flint discs, standing +on their edges and arranged in two layers, one above the other, at the +bottom of the mound. The whole extent of these layers has not been +ascertained, but an excavation six feet long and four broad disclosed +upward of six hundred of those discs, rudely blocked out of a superior +kind of dark flint. I had occasion to examine the specimens from this +mound, which were formerly in the collection of Dr. Davis, and have +now in my collection a number that belonged to the same deposit. They +are either roundish, oval, or heart-shaped, and of various sizes, but +on an average six inches long, four inches wide, and from +three-quarters to an inch in thickness. These flint discs are believed +to have been buried as a religious offering, and the peculiar +structure of the mound which inclosed them rather favors this opinion, +while their enormous number, on the other hand, affords some +probability to the view that they constituted a depot or magazine. +Many of them are clumsy, and roughly chipped around their edges; and +hence it has been suggested that they are no finished implements, but +merely rudimentary forms, destined to receive more symmetry of outline +by subsequent labor. Many of the discs under notice bear a striking +resemblance to the flint "hatchets" discovered by Boucher de Perthes +and Dr. Rigollot in the diluvial gravels of the valley of the Somme, +in Northern France. The similarity in form, however, is the only +analogy that can be claimed for the rude flint articles of both +continents, considering that they occurred under totally different +circumstances. The drift implements of Europe represent the most +primitive attempts of man in the art of working stone, while the Ohio +discs, if finished at all, are certainly very rough samples of the +handicraft of a race that constructed earthworks of astonishing +regularity and magnitude, and was already highly skilled in the art of +chipping flint into various shapes. + +On page 214 of the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," a +group of the flint articles from Clark's Work is represented. The +drawing exhibits pretty correctly the irregular outline and general +rudeness of these specimens; yet Mr. Stevens states (Flint Chips, p. +440) that "the representations are not at all satisfactory." The only +fault, I think, that can be found with these drawings is their small +scale, a fault which is very excusable, considering that at the period +when Messrs. Squier and Davis published their work, (1848,) flint +articles of such shape were no objects of particular attention; for +just then the results of the researches of Boucher de Perthes were +first laid before the scientific world, which, it is well known, +ignored for a long time the significance of the rude flint tools +discovered by the indefatigable and enthusiastic French savant in the +diluvial gravel-beds of the Somme. It is true, however, that some of +the flint discs of Clark's Work are wrought with more care than those +represented in the "Ancient Monuments." This fact may be ascribed to a +whim of the worker or workers, who gave some of the articles a greater +degree of regularity by some additional blows. Mr. Stevens has only +seen specimens of this better class, for such were those which Dr. +Davis sold to the Blackmore Museum among his collection of Indian +relics, and hence the author of "Flint Chips" seems to attribute to +them a better general character than they really possess. I learn, +however, that Mr. Blackmore, during a recent visit to Ohio, has +succeeded in recovering a considerable number of the implements of +Clark's Work, and thus an opportunity will be afforded again to +investigate the true nature of these relics of a bygone people. + +The objects in question consist of the compact silicious stone of +"Flint Ridge," in Ohio, a locality described on page 214 of the +"Ancient Monuments."[6] A careful comparison has established this fact +beyond any doubt. The flint or hornstone which occurs in that region, +is a beautiful material of a dark color, resembling somewhat the real +flint found in nodules in the cretaceous formations of Europe. It is +occasionally marked with darker or lighter concentric stripes or +bands, the centre of which is formed by a small nucleus of blue +chalcedony; and this internal structure appears particularly distinct +in specimens which, by exposure, have undergone a superficial change +of color. The stone, in general, possesses peculiarities by which it +can be recognized at once, even when met in a wrought state far from +its original site. According to Mr. Squier, arrow-heads made of this +hornstone have been found in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and +Michigan. That they occur in Illinois, I can attest from personal +experience. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.] + +A few years ago, when treating of the flint implements of Clark's +Work, I was not prepared to express a definite opinion concerning the +manner in which they were used. In the mean time, however, I have +obtained additional information in relation to the class of implements +under notice, which enables me, as I think, to point out the purposes +for which those of Clark's Work, as well as similar ones from other +localities, were designed. In the summer of 1869, some children, who +were amusing themselves near the barn on the farm of Oliver H. Mullen, +in the neighborhood of Fayetteville, Saint Clair County, Illinois, dug +into the ground and discovered a deposit of fifty-two disc-shaped +flint implements, which lay closely heaped together. Several of them +came into my possession through the assistance of Dr. Patrick, of +Belleville, in the same county. They consist, like those of Clark's +Work, of the peculiar stone of Flint Ridge. This I noticed at first +sight, and so did Messrs. Squier and Davis, to whom I showed them. +They resemble, in general shape, the objects of Clark's Work, but are +somewhat smaller and of perfectly symmetrical outline, having a +well-chipped, though strong edge; in one word, they are highly +finished implements, far superior to those of Clark's Work. In Fig. 3 +I give a full-size drawing of one of my specimens from Fayetteville, +which is twenty millimeters thick in the middle. The slight +irregularities observable in the circumference are owing to later +accidental fractures. In this specimen, as in the others from the same +find, the edge is produced by small, carefully-measured blows. The +edges of my specimens from Fayetteville, moreover, exhibit traces of +wear, being rubbed off to a small degree, and this circumstance, in +connection with their shape, induces me to believe that they were used +as _scraping_ or _smoothing implements_. The aborigines, it is well +known, hollowed their canoes and wooden mortars with the assistance of +fire, and the implements just described, were, as I presume, employed +for removing the charred portions of the wood. They are well adapted +to the grasp of the hand, and, indeed, of the most convenient form and +size to serve in that operation. Probably they were likewise used in +cleaning hides, and for other purposes. The tools of Fayetteville, +however, are much more handy than those of Clark's Work. + +The fact that implements made of the hornstone of Flint Ridge are +found in Illinois--a distance of about four hundred miles +intervening--is of particular interest, as it shows that the material +was quarried for exportation to remote parts of the country. It +doubtless formed an article of traffic among the natives, like copper, +sea-shells, and other natural productions which they applied to the +exigencies of common life or used for personal adornment. + +Concerning North American flint implements of the European drift type +in general, Mr. Stevens expresses himself thus: "The legitimate +conclusion at which we may at present arrive, is that implements, in +form resembling some of the European palaeolithic types, were made by +the aborigines of America at a comparatively late period, and that the +people usually termed the 'mound-builders,' were, probably, the makers +of these implements." (p. 443.) + +There is no sufficient ground, I think, for attributing these +implements exclusively to the mound-builders, considering that they +occur on the surface, and in deposits below it, in regions where the +people designated as the mound-builders are not supposed to have left +their traces. In the States of New York and New Jersey, for instance, +such articles repeatedly have been met. I will only refer to the +leaf-shaped implements in possession of Mr. Cowing, which were found +in New York, and are the finest specimens of that kind ever brought to +my notice. That the people who erected the mounds made and used tools +resembling the palaeolithic types of Europe, is proved by the +occurrence of those tools in the mounds; but it follows by no means +that they are to be considered as the sole makers of that class of +implements. Supposing that the mound-builders really were a people +superior in their attainments to the aborigines found in possession of +the country by the whites, it is certainly very difficult to draw a +line of demarcation between the manufactures of the ancient and those +of the more recent indigenous inhabitants of North America. The +mound-builders--to preserve the adopted term--certainly did not stow +away all their articles of use and ornament in the mounds, but +necessarily left a great many of them scattered over the surface, +which became mingled with those of the succeeding occupants of the +soil. Both the mound-builders and the later Indians lived in an age of +stone, and as their wants were the same, they resorted to the same +means to satisfy them. Their manufactures, therefore, must exhibit a +considerable degree of similarity, and hence the great difficulty of +separating them. + +Yet Mr. Stevens goes in this respect farther than any one before him. +He is particularly orthodox in the matter of pipes. Those who have +paid some attention to the antiquities of North America, are aware of +the fact that Messrs. Squier and Davis found in the mounds of Ohio, +especially in one mound near Chillicothe, a number of stone pipes of +peculiar shape, which they have described in the "Ancient Monuments of +the Mississippi Valley." In these pipes the bowl rises from the middle +of a flat and somewhat curved base, one side of which communicates by +means of a narrow perforation, usually one-sixth of an inch (about +four millimeters) in diameter, with the hollow of the bowl, and +represents the tube, or rather the mouth-piece of the pipe, while the +other unperforated end forms the handle by which the smoker held the +implement and approached it to his mouth. In the more elaborate +specimens the bowl is formed, in some instances, in imitation of the +human head, but generally of the body of an animal--mammal, bird, or +reptile. These pipes, then, were smoked either without any stem, which +seems probable, or by means of a very diminutive tube of some kind, +the narrow bore of the base not allowing the insertion of anything +like a massive stem. The authors of the "Ancient Monuments" called +these pipes "mound-pipes," merely to designate that particular class +of smoking utensils; it was not their intention to convey the idea +that the mound-builders had been unacquainted with pipes into which +stems were inserted. On the contrary, they distinctly assign a +beautiful pipe of the latter kind, representing the body of a bird +with a human head,[7] to the mound-builders, though this specimen was +not found in a mound, but within an ancient inclosure twelve miles +below the city of Chillicothe. Referring to this pipe, Mr. Stevens +says: "Squier and Davis consider that this object is a relic of the +mound-builders; but it does not appear that any pipe of similar form, +or indeed _any_ pipe intended to be smoked by means of an inserted +stem, has been found in any of the Ohio mounds." Upon inquiry I +learned from Dr. Davis that mounds had been leveled by the plough +within the inclosure where the pipe in question was found, which, he +is convinced, belonged to the original contents of one of those +obliterated mounds. In the Smithsonian report for 1868, I published +(on page 399) the drawing of a pipe then in possession of Dr. Davis. +Its shape is that of a barrel somewhat narrowing at the bottom, and +its material an almost transparent rock-crystal. The two hollows, one +for the reception of the smoking material, and the other for +inserting a stem, meet under an obtuse angle. This pipe was taken from +a mound near Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio. Mr. Stevens suggests it +had been associated with a secondary interment, (p. 524.) Dr. Davis, +however, who is acquainted with the circumstances of its discovery, +told me that it belonged, with various other objects, to the _primary_ +deposit of the mound. Thus it would seem that the mound-builders +confined themselves by no means to the use of one particular class of +pipes. + +Those who advocate a strict classification of North American relics +according to earlier or later periods, should bear in mind that +mound-building was still in use--if not in Ohio, at least in other +parts of the present United States--when the first Europeans arrived, +though the practice seems to have been abandoned soon after the +colonization of the country by the whites. Yet, even in comparatively +modern times, isolated cases of mound-building have been recorded,[8] +which fact would indicate, perhaps, a lingering inclination to +perpetuate an ancient, almost forgotten custom. Many of the earthworks +in the Southern States doubtless were built by the race of Indians +inhabiting the country when the Spaniards under De Soto made a vain +attempt to take possession of that vast territory, then comprised +under the name of Florida. For this we have Garcilasso de la Vega's +often-quoted statement relating to the earth-structures of the +Indians. The Floridians, we also know, erected at the same period +mounds to mark the resting-places of their defunct chieftains. Le +Moyne de Morgues has left in the "Brevis Narratio" a representation +and description of a funeral of this kind. When the mound was heaped +up, the mourners stuck arrows in the ground around its base, and +placed the drinking vessel of the deceased, made of a large sea-shell, +on the apex of the pile.[9] But even without such historical +testimony, the continuance of mound-building might be deduced from the +fact that articles of European origin are met, though rarely, among +the primary deposits of mounds. The following interesting +communication, for which I am indebted to Colonel Charles C. Jones, +will serve to illustrate one case of mound-burial that can be referred +with certainty to a period posterior to the European occupation of the +country: + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.] + +"I have found in several mounds," says my informant, "glass beads and +silver ornaments, and, in one instance, a part of a rifle-barrel, +which were evidently buried with the dead. These, however, were +secondary interments, the graves being upon the top, or sides, or near +the base of the mound, and only a few feet deep. Never but in one case +have I discovered any article of European manufacture interred with +the dead in whose honor the mound was clearly erected. Upon opening a +small earth-mound on the Georgia coast, a few miles below Savannah, I +found a clay vessel, several flint arrow-heads, a hand-axe of stone, +_and a portion of an old-fashioned sword_ deposited with the decayed +bones of the skeleton. This tumulus was conical in shape, about seven +feet high, and possessed a base diameter of some twenty feet. It +contained only one skeleton, and that lay, with the articles I have +enumerated, at the bottom of the mound, and on a level with the plain. +The oaken hilt, most of the guard, and about seven inches of the blade +of the sword still remained. The rest of the blade had perished from +rust. Strange to say, the oak had best resisted the 'gnawing tooth of +time.' This mound had never been opened or in any way disturbed, +except by the winds and rains of the changing seasons. I have no doubt +but that the interment was primary, and that all the articles +enumerated were deposited with the dead before this mound-tomb was +heaped above him. This, within the range of my observation, is an +interesting and exceptional case. I am persuaded that mound-building, +at least upon the Georgia coast, was abandoned by the natives very +shortly after their primal contact with the whites." + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.] + +From mound-building I turn again to North American flint implements. +Mr. Stevens refers in his work to the absence of flint scrapers in the +series from the United States exhibited in the Blackmore Museum. +Scrapers of the European spoon-shaped type, however, are not as scarce +in the United States as Mr. Stevens seems to suppose. The collection +of the Smithsonian Institution contains a number of them; and I found +myself two characteristic specimens in the Kjökkenmödding at Keyport, +New Jersey, described by me in the Smithsonian report for 1864. They +lay upon the shell-covered ground, a short distance from each other, +and were perhaps made by the same hand. In Fig. 4 I give a full-size +drawing of one of my specimens, both of which consist of a brown kind +of flint, such as probably would be called jasper by mineralogists. +The figured specimen, it will be seen, possesses all the +characteristics of a European scraper. Its lower surface is formed by +a single curved fracture. The rounded head is somewhat turned toward +the right, a feature likewise exhibited in the other specimen, which +is a little larger, but not quite as typical as the original of Fig. +4. As the peculiar curve of the broad part is observable in both +specimens, it must be considered as having been produced +intentionally. Indeed, I have among my flint scrapers from the +pilework at Robenhausen one which is curved in the same direction. In +fashioning their implements in this particular manner, the Indian and +the ancient lake-man possibly had the same object in view. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.] + +There is, however, another somewhat different class of North American +flint articles, which, as I believe, were employed by the aborigines +for scraping and smoothing wood, horn, and other materials in which +they worked, or perhaps, also, in the preparation of skins. They +resemble stemmed arrow-heads, which, instead of being pointed, +terminate in a semi-lunar, regularly chipped edge. It is probable that +they were partly made from arrow-heads which had lost their points. +Schoolcraft gives in Fig. 3, of Plate 18, in the first volume of his +large work, the drawing of an object of this class, calling it "the +blunt arrow or _Beekwuk_, (Algonkin,) which was fired at a mark." It +is likely enough that these articles served in part the purpose +assigned to them by Mr. Schoolcraft. Yet, I have in my collection +several in which the rounded edge is worn and polished, while the +remaining part retains its original sharpness of fracture, a +circumstance that can only be ascribed to continued use, and therefore +leads me to believe that they were employed in the manner already +indicated. These implements hardly could be used without handles. Fig. +5 represents, in natural size, one of my specimens, which was found on +the surface near West Belleville, Saint Clair County, Illinois. The +material is a yellowish-brown flint. The edge, it will be seen, is +perfectly scraper-like. Inserted into a stout handle, this object +would make an excellent scraper. The edge of this specimen is not +polished, but it seems as if small particles of the edge had been +scaled off by the pressure exerted in the use of the implement. In the +original of the above full-size representation, Fig. 6, on the +contrary, the curved edge is rubbed off to a considerable extent and +perfectly polished, while the portion opposite the edge bears not the +slightest trace of friction. This specimen, which consists of a +whitish flint, was found in Saint Clair County, Illinois. In Fig. 7, +lastly, I represent, in natural size, a fine large specimen, which I +class among the implements under notice. I formerly supposed it to be +a tool destined for cutting purposes, but the condition of the edge, +which is rather blunt and hardly fit for cutting, afterward induced me +to change my opinion. Originally, perhaps, one of those unusually +large spear-heads, which are occasionally found, it may have been +reduced subsequently, after having lost the point, to its present +shape. Yet, it may never have possessed a form different from that +which it now exhibits. This specimen is chipped from a fine reddish +flint which contains encrinites. I obtained it from quarrymen near +West Belleville, who found it in the earth while they were engaged in +baring the rock for extending the quarry. In conclusion, I will state +that, since writing the preceding pages, I received a number of stone +implements from Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, among which +there are some large scrapers of the European type. Their material, +however, is not flint, but either graywacke or a kind of tough slate. + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Koch, in Transactions of the Academy of Science of Saint Louis, +vol. i, (1860,) p. 61, &c. + +[2] I am well aware that the reality of Dr. Koch's discovery has been +doubted by some, although it is difficult to perceive why he should +have made those statements, if not true, at a time when the antiquity +of man was not yet discussed, either in Europe or here, and he, +therefore, could expect nothing but contradiction, public opinion +being totally unprepared for such revelations. Not being a scientific +palaeontologist, he certainly made some mistakes in putting together +the bones of the animals exhumed by him; but these failings, in my +opinion, have no bearing on his observations relative to the +co-existence of man with extinct animals in North America. Only a +short time ago some remarks tending to depreciate Dr. Koch's account +were made by Dr. Schmidt, in an article on the antiquity of man in +America, published in vol. v, of the _Archiv für Anthropologie_. I may +state here that I was personally acquainted with Dr. Koch, whom I saw +repeatedly at the meetings of the Academy of Science of Saint Louis. + +[3] Prehistoric Times, 1st ed., p. 236. + +[4] Geological Survey of Illinois, by A. H. Worthen, vol. i, (1866,) +p. 38; quoted in Transactions of the Academy of Science of Saint +Louis, vol. ii, (1868,) p. 567. + +[5] The Natural History of the Human Species, London, 1852, p. 89. The +comparative freshness of the bones of extinct North American animals +was noticed by Cuvier. + +[6] More particularly in Squier's "Aboriginal Monuments of New York," +Buffalo, 1851, p. 126. + +[7] Fig. 147 on p. 247 of the "Ancient Monuments;" Fig. 106 on p. 509 +of "Flint Chips." + +[8] Squier, Aboriginal Monuments of New York, p. 112, &c. + +[9] Le Moyne, in De Bry, vol. ii, Francoforti ad Moenum, 1591, pl. XL. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: + +Obvious typographical errors repaired. + +Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's North American Stone Implements, by Charles Rau + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH AMERICAN STONE IMPLEMENTS *** + +***** This file should be named 39686-8.txt or 39686-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/6/8/39686/ + +Produced by K Nordquist, JoAnn Greenwood, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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