The generally accepted name “cores” is applied to the blocks from which are struck off the flakes to be next described.
Dr. Gillespie[191] claimed that objects of this kind were made so intentionally, and that the flakes are simply the refuse or waste material. He gives six reasons for this belief, but an examination of the objects themselves would show that he is in error. That some might have been used as scrapers may be true, but very few are suited for such work, and not one shows the least mark of wear that could result from this use.
The specimens in the Bureau collection, with perhaps half a dozen exceptions, are from the aboriginal quarries at Flint ridge, in Licking county, Ohio, or of the material so abundant at that place.
Fig. 261.—Cores.
All are small, few being of a size to furnish flakes over three inches long. The flakes were undoubtedly struck off by means of stone hammers, hundreds of which are to be found about the quarries, or removed by pressure, many showing the bulb of percussion, others being perfectly smooth on the flat face. Usually all the flakes were obtained from only one side of the core until it became too small to work ([figure 261]). Occasionally they were chipped from opposite sides, leaving the core of a conical or cylindrical shape (as represented in [figure 262]).
Fig. 262.—Core.
Cores and finely chipped implements of the Flint ridge stone have been taken from the mounds in Kanawha valley, West Virginia, and Scioto valley, Ohio, showing that the mound-builders are to be credited with at least a part of the great amount of work done in those localities; but it seems a mistake to say, as some authors have done, that the “turtlebacks” found in caches in southern Illinois are from the same source, as the stone is entirely different, and occurs abundantly in the vicinity in which the specimens are found.