The smoothed edge in so many specimens substantiates the last statement, while the theory that they are unfinished implements finds support in the fact that nearly all the nodules from which they are made have an ellipsoid form, and the present shape of the implement would result from chipping away the useless weathered surface to lessen the weight.
Smaller chipped Implements.
Materials and Modes of Manufacture.
In the remaining portion of this paper, which will treat of the smaller chipped implements, a plan somewhat different from that of the preceding part will be followed.
As already stated, these specimens are almost invariably made of some form of flint; this term including chalcedony, basanite, jasper, chert, hornstone, and similar rocks. So common is its use that the term “flints” is gradually being adopted as a name for all the different classes of arrowheads, knives, drills, etc. The exceptions are not numerous enough to justify separate classification, so no tables of material will be used. Further, the great abundance of such relics in all portions of the country makes useless any allusion to the number from any particular locality; about the only limitation to their discovery is the amount of time and care which one chooses to give.
Before entering on the description, some quotations may be given in regard to methods of making these chipped implements.
According to Evans, the Mexican Indians take a piece of obsidian in the left hand and press it firmly against the point of a small goathorn held in the right, and by moving it gently in different directions they chip off small flakes until the arrow is complete;[136] they also cut a notch in the end of a bone, into which the edge of the flake is inserted and a chip broken off by a sideways blow.[137] According to the same author, the Eskimo sometimes set the flake in a piece of split wood. The arrow is roughly chipped by blows with a hammer, either direct or with a punch interposed, and is then finished by pressing off fine chips with a point of antler set in an ivory handle.[138] Not only leaf-shape barbed arrows, but also ones either with or without the stem, can be produced by pressure with a point of antler; the former, however, are the more easily made, and were probably earlier in use.[139]
The Plains Indians lay the flat side of a flake of obsidian on a blanket, or other yielding substance, and with a knife nick off the edges rapidly. In their primitive state they probably used buckskin instead of the blankets, and pointed bone or horn instead of the knife.[140]
The Apache holds the flake or flint in his left hand, places his punch at the point where the chip is to be broken off, and it is struck by an assistant, thus knocking a chip from the under side; the flake is then turned and the process repeated, until the arrow is complete. The stone is held in the hand, as it can not be chipped on a hard substance.[141] A punch observed by Catlin in use by these Indians was a whale tooth 6 or 7 inches long, with one round and two flat sides. The Fuegians, according to the same authority, use a similar process and make as fine implements.[142]
The Eskimo make a spoon-shaped cavity in a log, lay the flake over it, and press along the margin, first on one side and then on the other, like setting a saw, until they form two sharp serrated edges. The working tool is a point of antler firmly bound into a piece of ivory. The same plan is used by widely separated peoples.[143]