A MASTER AT FLINT-CHIPPING
Fig. 117. Ten splendid specimens from the Mississippi Valley of various kinds of points, all exceedingly well made. The workmanship of these should be compared with those in other figures. Phillips Academy collection.
Little attention has been paid by archæologists to ascertain an important feature of prehistoric times. I refer to the presence in most of the tribes of skilled workmen whose specialty seems to have been the manufacture of certain kinds of implements. That some men were more skillful in the making of axes or pipes, and handled bone chipping-tools with more dexterity than others, goes without saying. If one were asked to state what proportion of men were skillful in the art of stone-working, no one could give a definite answer; but the searcher finds in limited areas a particular style of flint-chipping, or a local form of axe or pipe. These appear to have been made in the same manner, perhaps with tools of the same pattern. The guiding hand of the master workman is seen. Each one is stamped with individuality, therefore one may conclude that either a certain person made these objects, or perhaps the men of a given family made them.
Fig. 118. (S. 1–1.) This is of that peculiar white or cream-colored flint common in Iowa and northeastern Missouri. It is a fine stone. This specimen is of a type occasionally found in Iowa and Missouri. E. E. Baird’s collection, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Supposing that a young man who showed proficiency in flint-chipping should at the age of twenty become so skillful that his works were in demand. It would follow that if he were given the ordinary span of life his period of proficiency would extend for forty years. If he retained his health and faculties, his activity might reach fifty years. It is also quite likely that other men, perhaps not so competent as himself, assisted him in his work and blocked out the forms or reduced them to convenient size for him to finish. Such a labor division as Catlin and Sellars affirm existed, enabled the skillful worker in flint to produce a larger number of implements than if he attempted to work his own material from the initial stage to the completed form. His people residing in the same village would avail themselves of his wares, giving him in return food, or implements, or clothing. His surplus stock in all likelihood was sent to a distance to be exchanged with other tribes.
Such a man may have selected flint of a certain color, so that the product of his labor might be instantly recognized.
Fig. 119. (S. 1–2.) This cut presents 14 specimens. These illustrate the Texas types. As a rule they are smaller and more slender than those from the east and southeast of Louisiana. Dr. Jack Shipley’s collection, Pilot Point, Texas.
Fig. 120. (S. 1–2.) Typical Oregon projectile points. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
In order to place the evidence I have collected along these lines before readers, I would cite the finding of twenty-two axes in one room of a ruined pueblo, five miles south of Phoenix, Arizona, in 1897. These are of the variety of stone and the same workmanship. Six particular disc-pipes were found in graves at the mouth of the Wabash by Clifford Anderson, in 1898, when exploring for the founder of the Archæology Department of Phillips Academy. I would mention the effigy pipes found by Squier and Davis at Mound City, a cache of forty leaf-shaped implements, slightly different from the ordinary leaf-shaped knife of similar material and the same workmanship, found in 1896 in a mound near Coshocton, Ohio, the Hopewell discs, and the Hopewell sheet copper.
Fig. 121. (S. 1–3.) White flint knives and arrow-heads. These are from Michigan-Wisconsin sites and illustrate the peculiar forms obtained there. The types are long and slender or short and broad and are easily recognized. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Fig. 122. (S. 1–2.) These are the finest points in the Ozark region, where most of the types are crude. Materials: chert and quartz. At the bottom in the centre are shown three points almost Oregon-like in character. Attention is called to the serrated point in the middle row. Dr. W. C. Barnard’s collection, Seneca, Missouri.
Fig. 123. (S. 1–1.) These points are different from Oregon points so frequently shown. Materials: opalescent and white chalcedony and mauve quartzite. These are Eastern types, but are made of Western material. Luther A. Norland’s collection, La Jara, Colorado.
Fig. 124. (S. 1–2.) Common New Jersey forms. Stephen Van Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.
Fig. 125. (S. 2–3.) A Mohawk Valley type. Langdon Gibson’s collection, Schenectady, New York.
Fig. 126. (S. 1–7.) Twenty-eight fine spear-heads. These are from the Ohio Valley, and present most of the forms of stemmed and barbed objects. John T. Reeder’s collection, Houghton, Michigan.
Fig. 127. (S. 1–3.) Two symmetrical implements. Material: reddish flint. These were found in central New Jersey, and may have been obtained by barter or exchange. Stephen Van Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.
Fig. 128. (S. 1–1.) Small, delicate obsidian points, found in a ruin, Mesa, Arizona. Andover collection.
My boyhood days were spent in Greene County, Ohio, and from 1876 to 1886, and during short intervals afterwards, I diligently searched the fields and village-sites of the Little Miami River, Cæsar’s Creek, Massey’s Creek, Oldtown Run, and Shawnee Creek. The observations made by a boy are of no scientific value, save in this respect—that these hundreds of excursions, in which my mind was concentrated on flint implements and flint workings exclusively, gave me a knowledge of a distribution of flint implements in Greene County, Ohio, which has been of value to me in after years. And it is fortunate that a gentleman living in my home town, Mr. George Charters, has since collected from farmers and boys Greene County specimens to the number of three or four thousand. As his collection contains no objects of consequence outside of Greene County, one may obtain from that exhibit the proof of my contention that in Greene County, within a radius of ten miles of Xenia, Ohio, in any direction, there were, perhaps, three or four men who were exceedingly skillful in the manufacture of large spear-heads or lance-points of Flint Ridge material. These are somewhat different from other spear-heads and may be easily recognized. They are of white chalcedony, and are mottled and veined with pink or red or grey. They are usually made of the most beautiful stone to be found in the Flint Ridge quarries. They are not only oval, but if turned on edge one will observe that they are exceedingly symmetrical, being a fourth to as much as one third inch in thickness in the centre and yet tapering to an edge almost as thin as a knife-blade entirely around. The notches are evenly and deeply cut, the shoulders and tangs in sharp relief. No large flakes were detached from these implements during the final stages of manufacture; on the contrary, small minute scales or flakes were thrown off, and the finished specimen is as delicately worked as the average obsidian point from the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
Fig. 129. (S. 1–1 and 3–4.) The large white spear-head is a little over nine inches long and was found near Marion, Grant County, Indiana. It is composed of white flint, slightly mottled. The small arrow-head was found near Laramie, Wyoming. The picture shows the exact size. This arrow-head presents wonderful workmanship. The point is almost as fine as a needle and the chipping is regular, clear to the point. It is of a dark amber color and the spots on it are moss-agate. The arrow-head is translucent. Collection of H. F. Burket, Findlay, Ohio.
Fig. 130. (S. 1–2.) Two spear-heads from near Orange, New Jersey. Stephen Van Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.
Both Catlin and Sellars have said that the knowledge of cleavage in stone is an acquired art. We have in modern times the lapidary who works semi-precious as well as precious stones. He must understand the texture of every stone he works. So with the lapidary who worked carnelian, agate, and chalcedony—which are semi-precious stones.
No ordinary aboriginal workman made these specimens. They were the work of an artist who was a lapidary. He was an expert in selecting his material and he was an expert in bringing it to completion. In color and shape these specimens reminded me as a boy of a certain sun-fish in the streams in that part of Ohio, and we used to call them “sun-fish spears” to distinguish them from the others.
Fig. 131. (S. 1–2.) Flint arrow-heads, spear-points, and knives from eastern Wisconsin. These interesting specimens represent eight types. All of them are of superior workmanship. The beautiful leaf-shaped object below the top row is especially fine. The irregular form in the centre to the right is very rare. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Fig. 132. (S. 1–6.) 50 flint implements from the collection of John T. Reeder, Houghton, Michigan. These are from various portions of the Ohio Valley and Tennessee. The flint fish-hook is a rare specimen. The two objects in the lower line near the middle are interesting, in that the stems are very long and the points exceedingly short. This may be intentional or not. It may be that the objects were broken and then re-chipped.
There are examples of the work of these artisans in near-by sections of Ohio, but they are most common in Ross, Warren, Clinton, and Greene counties. I never heard of them in Indiana or Kentucky. From the number of them found I venture the opinion that the art was handed down through several generations, for I do not believe that two or three men could have made them all. Furthermore, there are other specimens of this same peculiar pattern to be found in southern Ohio. These, while creditably done, are not the work of an artist. The famous workmen may have had imitators, or they may have attempted to train others in order that the art might be perpetuated. Be that as it may, the other implements bear the same relationship to these beautiful products as does a copy made by an amateur of a famous painting to the work of the great artist himself. Readers are requested to study carefully the style, form, and chipping of these “S”-marked specimens shown in Fig. 115.
Fig. 133. (S. 1–2.) Arrow-points from Oregon and Washington. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Fig. 134. (S. 1–1.) In this illustration are shown six different types. Note that the Colorado types are large like the Eastern, and yet are made of fine agate, chalcedony, and obsidian. The workmanship in these is better than the average because the material is more easily worked than Eastern flint or quartz. Collection of Luther A. Norland, La Jara, Colorado.
Fig. 135. (S. 1–1.) Long, serrated obsidian spear-head from California. A rare type as to size and form. H. K. Deisher’s collection, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Fig. 136. (S. 1–2.) Serrated types from California. H. K. Deisher’s collection, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Fig. 137. (S. 1–2.) This figure shows a series of 39 chipped implements. These were found in various portions of Kentucky, and are in the collection of Bennett H. Young, Louisville, Kentucky. Because of the number shown, readers might infer that they are common. Such is not the case. Colonel Young was many years in collecting these specimens and they are selected after an examination of fifteen or twenty thousand chipped objects, if not more. They represent both the skill of the worker and individual fancy.
Fig. 138. (S. 1–2.) Arrow-heads, spear-heads, and a drill, which were found on the Mandan sites, on the banks of the Missouri River, North Dakota, by Mr. Steinbrueck. Material: dark agate. Phillips Academy collection. Presented by Edward H. Williams.
And there are many places in the United States where types that stand for the lifework of a family or of an individual, or let us say of the grandfather, and then the father, and following him the son, may be found. All of this is not opinion merely. To the man who states that all projectile points are alike,—and, surprising as that statement is, I have heard a number make it who should know better,—the spears referred to might seem identical with the yellow chert spears of Illinois. But if one is seriously interested in archæology let him examine an exhibit from a given locality, and I think that he will soon come to the belief that in that locality there lived one or more persons whose specialty was the manufacture of a certain type of implement made in a way that was clearly individual; and the man, or men, who made them were artists beyond question.
Fig. 139. (S. 2–3.) This remarkable problematical form in obsidian was found near Highland Springs, California. The serrations are worked in high relief. Professor Putnam saw the original, and pronounced it genuine, and compared a similar type from a grave near one of the great Maya ruins in Yucatan. Collection of E. E. Baird, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Figs. 110 to 134 show groups from various localities in the United States including specimens under various classifications previously described. Attention is called to the central specimen in the upper row of Fig. 110. It is a long, thin, leaf-like blade, slightly notched at one end. Fig. 95 presents several serrated Oregon points; and Fig. 138 shows nine objects from the Mandan village-sites, North Dakota. The Mandan points are nearly all triangular in form with square bases. That is, before being notched or barbed they were stemmed square, or at one end angular, and seldom with convex sides. Then the notches were cut, giving the appearance of a war-point with notches.
A few Mandan objects have concave bases, prominent shoulders, or barbs, but the most of them were of the form shown in the lower specimen in Fig. 138.
CHAPTER VIII
UNUSUAL FORMS IN CHIPPED OBJECTS
We have presented illustrations and brief descriptions of all forms classified by the Nomenclature Committee. There remain numbers of forms which do not fit in any of the divisions. Fig. 140 shows a long, pointed object, half-size. There are two distinct projections at the top; the base is concave. Such an implement would be classed as stemmed or not stemmed according to one’s point of view. But the exaggerated shoulders are the essential features, not the stem.
Fig. 140. (S. 1–2.) Material: dark blue flint. W. P. Agee’s collection. Found near Hope, Arkansas.
Fig. 141. (S. 1–1.) Drill-like object. There are really four barbs, or shoulders. Collection of E. E. Baird, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Fig. 142. (S. 1–1.) Collection of Mr. Kendall. This is of expanding stemmed type, yet there is observed on the right side a projection intentionally made. A few such objects have been found, and their purpose must remain problematical.
Fig. 143. (S. 1–1.) This figure is probably a knife. It was found by Mr. J. R. Smith in Rhode Island. It has a notch in the top, a large one in the side, and the cutting edge is beveled, or rather made sharply convex. Mr. Smith sent the specimen for examination. It shows evidence of considerable use. Such an object defies classification.
Fig. 144. (S. 1–2.) Unusual forms from Pennsylvania. H. K. Deisher’s collection, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Fig. 145. (S. 1–2.) Very rare form of chipped implement from California. H. K. Deisher’s collection, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Fig. 146. (S. 1–1.) Peculiar object from F. Delaney’s collection. Fig. 140 and also Fig. 146 are similar specimens, one from W. P. Agee’s collection, Arkansas, and the other from the cabinet of F. Delaney, Rhode Island. In both these the barbs are purposely exaggerated and made the predominant feature of the specimen. It is easy to theorize that these were worked over from broken forms, which may or may not be the case. Fig. 140, Mr. Agee’s collection, has unusual, long, rounded shoulders, the edges beveled, and the angles are very marked. Both these specimens are interesting; similar ones are not frequently found. The above specimen is of mottled flint and was found in Pulaski County, Kentucky.
Fig. 147. (S. 1–1.) An object (knife) with sloping shoulder, well-defined blade, or cutting edge. Collection of Langdon Gibson, Schenectady, New York.
Fig. 148. (S. 1–2.) The curved knife shown above is from one of the altars of the Hopewell group, and is shown half-size. A number of these barbed knives, made of obsidian, were taken from the Hopewell effigy mound. The material is from Yellowstone Park, and must have been brought over twenty-five hundred miles (by canoe).
Fig. 149. (S. 1–1.) This is from Wisconsin. Such specimens are beautiful examples of high art in chipping. G. L. Collie’s collection, Beloit, Wisconsin. A similar specimen to Fig. 149 is in the collection of Mr. L. Simonton of Warren County, Ohio.
Fig. 150. (S. 1–1.) Black, opaque obsidian with double serration; notched for handle. Very delicate workmanship. Found by James A. Barr at the Stockton Channel mound.
Fig. 152. (S. 1–1.) Unknown form of chipped object. E. E. Baird collection, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
Fig. 151. (S. 1–3.) “Stockton Curves.” Black obsidian, fine workmanship. James A. Barr’s collection.
Fig. 153. (S. 1–1.) To the right a scraper or knife of finely grained chocolate quartzite. At the left, the upper specimen is a knife of white chalcedony; the lower specimen, gray jasper, assuredly a handled knife, with tang so small that it must have been used on something easy to cut. Possibly a knife for opening fish, as it was found where trout are plentiful. Point broken, cutting edge unusually sharp. Collection of Luther A. Norland, La Jara, Colorado.
In the neighborhood of Stockton, California, are many small mounds and prehistoric sites. Professor James A. Barr and the late Rev. H. C. Meredith spent considerable time in examination. As a result numerous peculiar curved and angular obsidian artifacts were discovered. I present a few views of these in Figs. 150 and 151. In “Prehistoric Implements,” page 362, Professor Barr expresses his opinion that the curves were used to scarify the flesh on ceremonial occasions. This was a universal custom among Indians, particularly the tribes west of the Mississippi and along the Pacific Coast.
Fig. 154. (S. 1–2.) This cut presents peculiar serrated unknown forms from the Fraser River, British Columbia. These were found by Harlan I. Smith.
The peculiar thing is that these curves are confined to the locality of Stockton and do not occur elsewhere. Therefore, my individual theory is that certain skilled workers in obsidian developed or made a specialty of this form. In other words, a peculiar art was developed by a certain clan or group of families, as has been observed in Greene County, Ohio.
Fig. 155. (S. 1–2.) This is a flint chipped in an imitation of a moose antler, and was found by W. H. Davis in Lowell County, Ohio. It is a remarkable specimen.
Regarding the amount of obsidian available for chipping, Professor Barr states: “The great obsidian beds of Lake and Napa counties, which I have examined several times, could furnish all the Indians of the United States with material for generations. The hills are full of great blocks of obsidian, too heavy for a man to handle, and it breaks as straight as a shingle.”
Fig. 156. (S. 1–1.) A fish, a crescent, and possibly a bird, together with highly specialized points in carnelian and moss-agate, found near Arlington, Oregon. The skilled worker was able to make effigies of human beings, as well as of birds and animals, in agate, etc. F. A. Thomas’s collection, California.
I call attention to Fig. 160, from Mr. Reeder’s collection, Michigan. In this plate are seven large flint objects. The spear-head does not differ from other similar kinds of spears, but the flint celt, to the right, is unusually well-shaped and so highly polished that the flake depressions are scarcely visible. To obliterate all traces of chipping must have required a great deal of labor. The round, flat disc at the bottom is very carefully worked, and cannot be classed as unfinished. It is purposely worked in this form. What was the object of the natives in making this, I leave to others.
Fig. 157. (S. 1–9.) In addition to other specimens, this represents four Indian heads, showing both the features and the method of hair-dressing. These are from the collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton, Michigan, and were collected by him in Tennessee and Kentucky.
The human head shaped out of flint is such as is occasionally found in Tennessee in the stone graves. Some similar heads are shown on a smaller scale, in Fig. 157, of Mr. Reeder’s collection. At the top to the left, in Fig. 160, are two of those problematical forms in flint which have so puzzled archæologists. These, together with the slender dagger-shaped objects of prodigious length, have for many years been listed under that opprobrious name, “ceremonial swords.”
Fig. 158. (S. 2–3.) This illustration represents three animals and four birds, all chipped out of flint, and in the possession of H. M. Braun, East St. Louis, Illinois.
The remarkable problematical forms in flint which have been called “stone swords,” shown in Figs. 161 and 162, deserve special mention. These are part of a series of forty-six flint implements which were found in Tennessee. I surrender the pen to Mr. W. J. Seever, former curator of the Missouri Historical Society Museum, who furnished the following description:—
“On the banks of the beautiful Duck River, Humphreys County, Tennessee, near Painted Rock, on the farm of Mr. Banks Links, are the remains of an extensive, ancient, stone-grave cemetery, which at one time contained hundreds upon hundreds of stone cists. The land having been in cultivation for many years, wagon-loads of flat rocks used in building the graves have been carted off and the human remains scattered; innumerable objects of prehistoric art have been turned up by the plow and are now among the collections of the Ohio Valley.
Fig. 159. (S. about 1–4.) Effigies in flint, from the collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton, Michigan; from stone graves near Waverly, Tennessee.
Fig. 160. (S. about 1–3.) From John T. Reeder’s collection, Houghton, Michigan. I know of few more remarkable finds in American archæology than this series of flint implements which were collected in Tennessee by Mr. Reeder.
“In December, 1894, an employé of Mr. Links, while plowing in this field, turned up several implements. Their form and size being unusual, time was taken to dig, and the objects as shown in the accompanying illustration were found. According to the words of the finder, they were simply ‘in a bunch’; nothing unusual in the manner of the deposit was noted. The find was talked of and commented upon for several months. The precise spot having been carefully noted, further digging was done in the following March. At a depth of a foot or two below where the flint objects had been deposited, two images or idols were found. Whether the deposits had been associated with human remains, it was impossible to determine. From appearances and accounts of the discovery, the images were placed in the ground side by side, in an upright position, the flints in a compact ‘bunch’ immediately above. On all sides were remains of graves, but so many of these graves having been disturbed and the stones removed in cultivation, that with certainty it cannot be said that the find was a deposit with the dead, although the writer inclines to the opinion that they were and that the stone cist lay immediately above the cache of objects.”
General Thruston says of such forms:—
“The symmetry and beauty of the handle, the exact projections on opposite sides, the tapering forms and the evidently important place these rare objects must have held in the religious and social life of the old Tennesseeans, all invest them with peculiar interest.
“Here we have, in all probability, the sceptres or royal maces once used by the magnates of the race that built the mounds and fortifications of middle Tennessee. They may have been the insignia of chieftainship or of the priesthood.”
I feel confident in asserting that nowhere in the world has the equal of these magnificent flint implements been found. The maker of such forms was a Stone-Age artist of remarkable skill.
Fig. 137 exhibits 39 remarkable chipped objects from Colonel B. H. Young’s collection, Louisville, Kentucky. There are, perhaps, more specialized flint artifacts found in Kentucky and Tennessee than elsewhere in North America. Some of these can be classified, but most of the 39 objects represent individual fancy. The master workman exerted himself to produce unusual types, and being a master at flint-flaking he rounded out his work skillfully and artistically. Readers are requested to examine Fig. 137 with some care.
Fig. 161. (S. about 1–3.)
Chipped problematical forms, from a grave in Tennessee. Missouri Historical Society collection. (See page [164].)
Figures 161 and 162 illustrate problematical forms in flint from a grave in Tennessee. See pages [164]–166. Missouri Historical Society collection, St. Louis, Missouri.
These specimens are part of a deposit of forty-six and vary from eight to twenty-two inches in length. The longest one in Fig. 161 is twenty inches. All of them exhibit unusual skill in their manufacture.
Fig. 162.
The same as Fig. 161.
Fig. 163. (S. about 1–3.)
Chipped axes and hoes. F. P. Graves’s collection, Doe Run, Missouri.
CHAPTER IX
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
According to our classification, we should place under our first division, “Chipped objects, without Stem,” all the spades and agricultural implements except those that are stemmed, or notched. Some of the Pennsylvania roughly chipped hoes might be considered as stemmed. But the chipped hoes of the Mississippi Valley are simply angular spades to which have been added notches by the aborigines. I have, therefore, thought best to describe them all under the general title of agricultural implements.
Fig. 164. (S. 1–3.) These specimens were found in Illinois and made of Mill Creek, Illinois, material. H. M. Whelpley’s collection, St. Louis, Missouri.
It is quite likely that some of them are ceremonial in character rather than mere agricultural tools; for one cannot conceive that the fine work on the lower specimens in Fig. 167 is indicative of use as a common digging-tool.
Fig. 165. (S. 1–6.) Typical oval spades. Missouri Historical Society collection.
A classification of agricultural implements would be, it seems to me:—
(a) Notched, flint or stone digging-tools. (See Figs. 163, 164.) (b) Oval spades. (See Fig. 165.) (c) Increasing diameter towards digging-end. (See Fig. 166 and several in 168.) (d) Flaring or convex or angular digging-end. (See Figs. 167, 170.)
Objects of the general shape of those shown in Fig. 182 are scattered throughout a considerable portion of the United States. Of course, some of the notched, chipped objects may be axes instead of hoes or agricultural implements, and I have illustrated such in Figs. 173 to 177. But there are roughly notched and shouldered objects which may be hoes instead of axes. These are not necessarily all flint, for some are of shell, limestone, and other materials.
Fig. 163 is a group of six from Mr. F. P. Graves’s collection, Doe Run, Missouri. Three of them are certainly digging-tools, whereas the other three may be axes.
Fig. 166. (S. 1–5.) Collection of Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri.
In Fig. 164 are shown notched or shouldered hoes of more primitive type than the hoes in Fig. 166. Many of these, together with rough spades, are found in Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois. The beautifully chipped flint spade is the exception. But there are a large number of spades which are graceful in outline and well made, and which are typified in the exhibits from the Missouri Historical Society shown in Fig. 165.
The long spade-like objects are never notched, but they are frequently narrow at the top, or flaring at the base. Note the lower specimen to the right in Fig. 167.
The hoes are really small spades. Hoes may be oval or angular.
A third class, shown at the top in Fig. 167, is a highly specialized form.
Fig. 168 presents several specimens of oval type, chiefly from Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois, from F. P. Graves’s collection, Doe Run, Missouri. Further study of these will give readers a general idea of the range through which these implements pass. These are all of the more simple forms, save some of the larger ones just above the elongated pestle. The two to the left, in the upper row, are angular and not oval spades.
In Fig. 169 are shown five interesting notched hoes from B. H. Young’s collection. These are not as highly finished as those in Fig. 166, but they exhibit a pointed hoe and hoes with a curved edge and the hoe with the digging-edge almost straight.
It may be decided, after thorough investigation, that the finer spades were used for a particular purpose or in the cultivation of sacred ground. Mr. Sellars thought that the spades evince more care and skill in their manufacture than the other implements.
Formerly, there was some question as to just what purpose these served, but we know now that their distribution was confined to the rich soils of the central Mississippi basin. They do not occur at all frequently in the far South, neither are they found in the Great Plains proper, save perhaps occasionally in eastern Kansas and central Iowa. The polished edges of many of them plainly indicate that they were made use of by the more sedentary tribes to prepare the ground for the planting of corn, beans, squashes, and such other seeds as the Indians possessed. Judging from the prodigious number of these implements in the hands of museums and private collectors, agriculture was carried on by the natives in no small measure. The chipping on most of them is rather rough. It was not necessary for the ancient worker in flint to exert his skill on an implement designed for a rough, although a very useful purpose, yet there are specimens not lacking in the museums to prove that the implement was blocked out after the ordinary fashion, and by means of secondary chipping, small flakes were detached and the surface made as smooth and even as that of a large spear-head.
Fig. 167. (S. 1–3.) Flint spades and a hoe—all three unusually fine objects. J. T. Reeder’s collection, Houghton, Michigan.
As to the polish on these things, there are some who contend that it is due to action of the soil, that a patina or coating of some sort accumulates. In other words, the polish is said to be a result of chemical action. Others have thought it due to long-continued use. Some spades, hoes, and flint celts exhibit this polish, others do not. The polish appears on specimens which look as if they had been long used. Yet all specimens showing much use do not exhibit the polish. But the most significant thing to my mind in favor of the theory that the polish is due to use, lies in the fact that it is not found on long flakes, spalls, or blades from quarries where flint suitable for agricultural implements was taken out and removed. Some of the quarry pits must be very old, yet polish does not appear on specimens found there. Again, if polish is due to some elements in the soil of river terraces, then one would suppose that the whole surfaces of the implements would be polished. But only the ends are polished, and always the end used in digging—that is, the edge of the spade.
May 5, 1910, I lectured in Springfield, Illinois. Spades are numerous in the region lying between Springfield, Illinois, and the Mississippi River. Therefore, I took occasion to inquire particularly into the circumstances observed when spades were found, in order to settle this question as to polish. A number of gentlemen, who have collected several hundred spades, furnished me with much information with reference to conditions under which spades are found. Mr. H. M. Braun of East St. Louis, who lives near the Cahokia group of mounds, has one hundred and eighty-seven spades and more than a hundred hoes and two or three hundred flint celts and rough chipped implements in his collection. Mr. Braun informs me that no one who has found or collected spades could by any possibility believe that the polish is the result of chemical action. His reasons are as follows: First, that the polish is found on spades irrespective of location; that is, a spade may be found in the Mississippi bottoms, where the soil is very rich, or on the upland, or near a quarry. And it may or may not be polished. Second, that spear-heads, arrow-points, and knives of the same material as the spades do not show the polish. Third, that spades, hoes, and projectile points of the same material, from the same field, do not exhibit this polish. It is only the spade which has long been used, the edge of which is polished. If the polish is due to chemical action, the same polish would be found on small as well as large objects, or all the objects of a given locality would present that polish.
In view of these facts, it is beyond question that the polish is due to use, and it is quite clear that any one who takes the opposite point of view is not familiar with the locality and conditions under which spades are found.
Fig. 168. (S. about 1–6.)
Oval and other spades, from the collection of F. P. Graves,
Doe Run, Missouri.
Fig. 169. (S. 1–3.) Shouldered hoes. Large hoe measures 9½ inches in length. Material: yellow chert. B. H. Young’s collection, Louisville, Kentucky.
Mr. Charles E. Brown, Chief of the Wisconsin Historical Society Museum at Madison, reports upon flint spades as follows:—
Fig. 170. (S. 1–4.) This is a surface find, from near Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois. Material: chert, straw color. Collection of H. M. Braun, East St. Louis, Illinois.
“A small number of these have been found in Wisconsin, specimens being recovered as far north as Green Lake and Sheboygan counties. Most are oval or elliptical in outline, and are made of the same quality of flint as are the fine agricultural implements of the middle Mississippi Valley. It is likely that they were introduced through aboriginal trade relations with tribes located in that region. One of the largest measures thirteen and three fourths inches in length. A few spades are manufactured of materials procurable in Wisconsin. In the collections of the State Historical Museum is a fine example made of brown quartzite.
“Several notched flint hoes have also been found in southern Wisconsin. They are made of local flint, but are patterned after those of the middle Mississippi Valley.”
It is curious that no spades have been found in Southern Indiana and Ohio.
Fig. 171. (S. 1–4.) These beautiful spades and the hoe are from the Mississippi “Bottoms,” near the Cahokia mound. Note the concave base in the hoe, and the squared stem. Very few such hoes are found. Material: straw-colored, cherty flint. H. M. Braun’s collection, East St. Louis, Illinois.
CHAPTER X
FLINT CELTS AND AXES
Closely related to hoes and spades are the flint celts, and occasionally a chipped flint object notched on either side, which may have served as an axe. Flint axes are sometimes found east of the Mississippi, but they are more common in Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas. The ones from the site of Harahey and Quivira are rude, being flint turtlebacks or rejects notched on either side, but those from Wisconsin and a few from the South are better made and evince some skill in their manufacture.
Fig. 172. (S. 1–2.) A notched axe from the collection of A. M. Brooking, Trumbull, Nebraska. These notched axes are frequently found west of the Mississippi River in various portions of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Arkansas.
There are rude, notched chipped implements of the type shown in Fig. 172, which may not be of flint but of other materials. This one is from Mr. A. M. Brooking’s collection, Trumbull County, Nebraska. It is very like types from Pennsylvania. A large implement slightly notched in the side, found in La Jara, Colorado, is shown in Fig. 175. This is of clear chalcedony, and a very fine specimen.
Fig. 173. (S. 1–1.) Notched flint axe, or rough implement from the collection of F. Wetherington, Paducah, Kentucky. This is of chert and may have originally been a turtleback, but was afterwards hafted in a handle.
Mr. Dudley A. Martin of Pennsylvania has mounted a large, flint implement in a handle which I show in Fig. 176. Two specimens, one from Iowa and one from Kansas, from our Andover collection, are shown in Fig. 174, and one from Kentucky in Fig. 173.
An unusually well-chipped, notched, flint axe is shown in Fig. 177. It was found by Mr. W. H. Davis near the mouth of the Muskingum River in Ohio. The types of flint celts vary.
I show five ordinary ones from Mr. Mitchell’s collection, Ripon, Wisconsin, in Fig. 178, and the ten various forms of celts from the Andover collection in Fig. 180.
Fig. 174. (S. 2–3.) Collection of Phillips Academy, Andover. One from Iowa, the other from Kansas. The edges are worn smooth and they both show considerable use. They are covered with patina and appear very old.
Fig. 175. (S. 1–1.) Double-bitted war-axe, chipped out, but never polished. Dull chalcedony, tipped at each cutting edge with red. Flecked in the middle with gray spots. Luther A. Norland collection, La Jara, Colorado.
Fig. 176. (S. 2–5.) Supposed method of hafting the notched flint implements. Such objects would make formidable weapons for use in close quarters. Collection of Dudley A. Martin, Duboistown, Pennsylvania.
There is a lesson to be drawn from the preponderance of these flint celts and axes over those of granite or limestone. Where flint is more common—as in the Ozarks—than other materials, aboriginal man modified his form of hatchet in accordance with the material at hand. It would be too hard for him to groove a flint axe. He, therefore, notched the sides of the rough blade or turtleback, and lashed it in the handle. If the blade got dull he scaled off a few flakes and restored the cutting edge. Flint axes made convenient and formidable implements and weapons. There was an abundance of surface flint in Indian Territory and Kansas, as well as quarry material. And the flint celt became widespread from a point about two hundred miles east of the Mississippi in Tennessee and Kentucky to southern Iowa and southern Indian Territory, three hundred miles west of the Mississippi. Outside of this belt flint celts are rare. Yet in widespread areas where flint abounds, celts and kindred implements of flint are not found. The range of the flint celts is from the rough implements to the highly developed spud-shaped polished flint celts found in Tennessee graves.
Fig. 177. (S. 1–2.) More highly specialized notched implement, from the collection of W. H. Davis, Lowell, Ohio. Dark, bluish-gray flint. Found on the banks of the Muskingum River, near Marietta, Ohio, in 1887.
These flint celts are usually rough, but frequently present a very high polish, indicating a long and continued use. Particularly is this polish noticed on the edges. The form of them does not vary as much as the forms of the celts in granite, limestone, sandstone, porphyry, or other materials. But flint celts may be divided into two classes, the oval form and the form with the sides somewhat square. I think the latter class represents the art of more skillful workmen. The specimens thus made are more nearly like the European type of square flint celts than are our other prehistoric implements. Flint axes form, of course, a separate division or class from the celts.
Fig. 178. (S. 1–2.) Five flint celts from the collection of S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. Such are found in Wisconsin as well as other parts of the country.
Fig. 179. (S. 1–3.) Polished celts of flint. Upper row, adze-shaped; lower row, celt-shaped. From central and southern Kentucky. B. H. Young’s collection, Louisville, Kentucky.
Fig. 180. (S. 1–2.) Ten flint celts of various types, Phillips Academy collection, Andover. These are of chert, jasper, and argillite, and were found in Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa. They range from square celts to oval, although the cutting edge is usually at one end.
Fig. 181. (S. 2–3.) Flint celt. Material: light-colored flint. Collection of M. L. Young, Pontiac, Illinois. Found in Massac County, Illinois, on the surface.
It is significant that although large quantities of flint were quarried at Flint Ridge, Ohio, yet there are few celts made of Flint Ridge stone, the Ohio Valley natives preferring other materials.
Fig. 182. (S. 1–2.) All chipped celts and hoes are by no means of flint. Sandstone, limestone, and trap rock were often employed by the natives of Pennsylvania and other sections. W. E. Bryan of Elmira has sent me photographs of chipped celts found near Elmira. Fig. 182 is a chipped and polished celt, having on its face a bow and unknown signs carved into the stone.
Fig. 183. (S. 1–2.) A better example of chipped celt in stone other than flint is shown in Fig. 183, also from near Elmira. Both front and side views are presented half-size. W. E. Bryan’s collection, Elmira, New York. The Mohawk, Susquehanna, Connecticut, Delaware, and other valleys furnish numerous specimens of chipped hoes and celts, but seldom of high workmanship, as they were rather common agricultural implements or general service tools for use about the camps.
The flint celts, nine in number, shown in Fig. 179 are from various portions of Kentucky. I am indebted to Colonel Young for the loan of these and some fifty other illustrations. Attention is called to the high finish on these celts. Compared with other flint celts, they tell an interesting story. It is not so much the material or the location in which the implement occurs, as it is the amount of work put upon it and skill evinced by the manufacturer.
While speaking of the flint celts in Colonel Young’s collection a few lines previously, I would call attention to Fig. 181, Mr. M. L. Young’s collection, Pontiac, Illinois. This is also a remarkable flint object in that it is neatly grooved, well chipped, with sharp point, and it was doubtless used as a hand-hatchet, mounted as in Fig. 176.