The stone age in North America, vol. 1 of 2

by Warren K. Moorehead

PROJECTILE POINTS WITH STEMS EXPANDING FROM BASE OR WITH SIDES PARALLEL

This division embraces large numbers of projectile points which served as shaft-heads to spears and lances. The triangular war points mentioned and illustrated in a previous chapter were also made use of as projectile points. But, as a rule, arrow-heads were notched, in order that they might be more securely fastened to the shaft.

In order that there may be no misunderstanding as to the terms employed in these descriptions, I have illustrated herewith (Fig. 79) one of the best spear-points in the Phillips Academy collection at Andover. The terms accepted as descriptive of the various portions of the arrow-head are taken from Mr. Fowke’s arrow-head nomenclature in the Bureau of American Ethnology Report, 1891–2, page 143. Mr. Fowke’s terms have been generally accepted. I have presented a different specimen from the one he shows and have added the term “serration.”

We have passed from the class of implements supposed to be simple forms to the beginning of more complicated ones. The Committee gave first, stems with straight sides, the bases of which might be straight, concave, or convex. In the South the flint implements which exhibit a narrow base and expanding stem predominate. But specimens in which the sides of the stem are parallel or straight are not uncommon. Perhaps more of the “stem with sides parallel” type are found on the tributaries of the Columbia River and in Texas and California.

In my illustrations it is difficult to procure specimens all of one type, and on some plates the predominating shapes are of the type described. Yet here and there will be seen objects which belong in another class. As a matter of course, “The Stone Age” describes few objects that are not imperishable material; wooden shafts and weapons, fabrics, whether skin or basketry, have long since resolved themselves into dust. However, a few words of description concerning bows and arrows themselves will not be amiss.

Fig. 79. (S. 1–1.) Material: white flint, Southern Ohio. A, point; B, edge; C, face; D, bevel; E, blade; F, tang; G, stem; H, base; I, notch; K, neck; M, barb or shoulder; N, serration. Phillips Academy collection.

The bows and arrows of the Indians are numerous in our larger museums. Yet, with here and there an exception, these are of the past sixty years, a few are one hundred and fifty or more years old, though now and then one may observe a bow in a European museum dating back two or three centuries. I have not presented figures of the bows and have given but one of the arrows. Dr. Pepper found a bundle of ancient arrows in Pueblo Bonito, a prehistoric ruin in northern New Mexico. It lay at considerable depth in one of the lower rooms, rubbish-filled at the time of his exploration. There can be no question as to the prehistoric origin of these arrows. They were all tipped with obsidian points, well gummed and sinewed to the shafts.

Fig. 80. (S. 1–5.) Buffalo skull with long, slender arrow penetrating the left frontal bone. Found on the Great Plains in Iowa. Collection of the Historical Department of the State of Iowa.

Fig. 81. (S. 1–2.) Human skull from California, with an arrow-point embedded in the frontal bone causing the death of the subject. H. K. Deisher, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.

Any reader may be able to obtain a good idea of the types prevailing among tribes the past sixty years if he will inspect the museum collections in his nearest city, for there are now public museums in upwards of seventy cities in the United States.

Professor Mason, Dr. Hough, and other gentlemen made a study of bows and arrows in the Smithsonian Institution. After many years of observation, Professor Mason prepared an article for the “Handbook of American Indians” and portions of it are herewith presented.