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

by Warren K. Moorehead

STEM CONTRACTING FROM BASE

Although there are fine examples of flint-workers’ art in the class, “Stems expanding from base,” yet as a rule it includes more simple forms than stems contracting from base. This is true of most types. Fig. 90 shows simple forms in Class C, p. [23]. Fig. 107, from Mr. Braun’s collection, East St. Louis, stands for the long, slender spear-heads occasionally found in the South and the Mississippi Valley region, evincing high art in stone-chipping. The convex stem is shown in Fig. 99. Fig. 119 is from Dr. Jack Shipley of Texas. These present typical Texas specimens with both contracting and expanding stems.

Fig. 105. (S. 1–2.) Found near Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Material: block chert. D. K. Deisher’s collection, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.

Fig. 106. (S. 1–2.) Long black spear-head. The common form of stem contracting from base. Stephen Van Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.

Fig. 107. (S. 1–3.) Two beautiful white spear-heads. Found near the Cahokia group of mounds. Material: flint. H. M. Braun’s collection, East St. Louis, Illinois.

Fig. 108. (S. 1–2.) Rotary spear-head. S. Van Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.

Fig. 109. (S. 2–3.) Arrow-head, with stem unusually long. Phillips Academy collection.

Fig. 110. (S. 3–4.) This Figure represents twenty-nine chipped objects from the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Many beautiful specimens have been found in this valley. It has produced possibly as many objects as any given area in the world. Material: the usual semi-precious stones. A careful study of these and other pictures of Willamette Valley types will acquaint readers with the fact that there is an endless variety of form. And yet the treatment is such that the chipped implements from this valley can be recognized and described as differing from others in any part of the world. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Fig. 121, Wisconsin types, Fig. 110, Willamette Valley, Oregon, and Fig. 112 should be compared by readers. These plates will emphasize the difference in form. Some of these are classified under “Stems contracting from base,” others belong in the division, “Stems expanding from base.” Yet even in the same class there are to be observed certain differences, for the stem is not always the essential feature.

Fig. 111. (S. 1–2.) Points from Idaho. C. Albee’s collection, Red Rock, Montana. Note the angular sides in the object in the upper row, second from the right.

Fig. 121 represents some of the best specimens from Wisconsin sites. Fig. 126 is from Mr. Reeder’s collection, Michigan, and represents the best type in spear-heads of all kinds from Tennessee and Kentucky and Ohio. The tops of many of these are convex and have been worn smooth either because of the method of fastening, or on account of some particular purpose. This is noticed in a great many of the finer specimens, and leads me to believe it is not hard usage that brings about such a condition, but that specimens were in position for a great length of time, and this polished or smoothed surface is brought about through such means.

Fig. 112. (S. 1–3.) A group of Southern types, projectile points, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina. It will be observed that in form and material these are easily recognized as being different from those from Northern and Western points. Phillips Academy collection.

Fig. 113. (S. 1–1.) This is one of the short-stemmed, broad arrows, the result of working a broken specimen. J. P. Smith’s collection, Howard, Rhode Island.

Fig. 114. (S. 1–1.) Stem contracting from base; double notches; bases concave. These forms are not rare, but occur most frequently in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Tennessee. H. K. Deisher’s collection, Kutztown, Pennsylvania.

Fig. 122, from Dr. Barnard’s collection, Seneca, Missouri, illustrates the best of the small Missouri points. Dr. Barnard’s collection is from the outskirts of the Ozarks, where the art is superior to the cave art of the Ozarks proper. The points found throughout the buffalo country do not vary greatly, although it is possible to distinguish such points as these from those of Texas. Fig. 105 represents Pennsylvania specimens from Mr. Deisher’s collection, and Fig. 132, more of the interesting Mississippi Valley spear-heads from Mr. Reeder’s exhibit. Figs. 125 and 147, Mr. L. Gibson’s collection, Schenectady, New York, give two abnormal points, such as are occasionally found. I do not think that such were arrow- or spear-heads, but must have been knives. It would be impossible to shoot them with much accuracy. They are always interesting, and I shall have more to say regarding them later. Figs. 116 and 117 present two plates from the collection of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. These were found generally throughout the Ohio Valley. Careful study of them will acquaint readers with several points. First, they are of the best workmanship. Second, they are almost entirely of flint ridge or Tennessee nodular flint. Third, a large proportion are rotary. Fourth, the barbs are unusually chipped and fine. Fifth, the bases are straight, concave, and convex. Sixth, what is more important than either stems or bases, the striking feature in these is the barbing and notching. The tangs and shoulders are the prominent points in these three plates—not the stems—which are of secondary consideration. For example, in Fig. 116 the shoulders and tangs are everything, and this will be found to be true of many flint implements. Consider Figs. 97, 110, and 133 from the Columbia River Valley. In some of these the stem is of importance, in others the stem is secondary to the barbing. Fig. 114 presents typical Pennsylvania specimens from Mr. Deisher’s collection. The central one has expanded shoulders and represents a type more common in Pennsylvania than elsewhere. Fig. 115 is a plate of spear- and arrow-points from George Charters’s collection, Greene County, Ohio. I wish to call attention to those seven specimens on this plate which are marked “S,” and to refer to them in considerable detail.

Fig. 115. (S. 1–3.) Projectile points. George Charters’s collection.

Fig. 116. (S. 1–3.) Beveled spear-heads, chipped in the form known as “rotary” points. These are selected from the collection at Andover. They come from various portions of the Mississippi Valley, and are all splendid examples of the skill of the master worker in stone. Note particularly the differences in the notches and tangs. The central one to the right has notches expanded. To make these is extremely difficult, and although white men are able to make flint implements, the working of the expanded notches is a lost art.