Fig. 216. (S. 1–3.) Mr. H. M. Braun’s collection, East St. Louis, Illinois. This is a highly developed chipped object, with an exceedingly keen cutting edge. It would appear to be a special ceremonial axe. It belongs to the class of unknown objects of remarkable form and workmanship.
Formerly, it was thought that native Americans could not have produced, in flint, the equal of the slender flint daggers found in Scandinavia. We now know—and have the specimens to prove it—that prehistoric man in America was at least the equal, and possibly the superior, in point of skill of Neolithic man in Europe.
Regarding the value that Indians attached to large flint or obsidian objects, Mr. H. N. Rust of California, for many years interested in archæology, presents a paper in the American Anthropologist, vol. VII, no. 4, p. 688, which sheds some light on the matter. I quote a few paragraphs:—
“During a canoe voyage on the Klamath and Trinity rivers in the northern part of California, in 1898, the author had occasion to visit many Indian villages, and took the opportunity to make special inquiry for obsidian spears, knives, or swords, as they are commonly called. Ten in all were seen and five procured. They measure from seven to fifteen inches in length and from two to four inches in width, and are beautifully chipped to the edge from end to end. In color the obsidian is black, red, or gray.
“In almost every instance the owners were reluctant to show these blades. All were carefully wrapped in redwood bark and carefully hidden away, sometimes under the floor of the lodge, oftener outside beyond the knowledge of any one except the owner. In one instance the owner could not be induced to get his blade until nightfall, in order that no one should learn of its hiding-place. This habit of secreting valuable articles for safety no doubt accounts for such objects having been found at times in isolated places remote from dwellings or burial-places....
“These obsidian blades pass from father to son, with hereditary rank, and are retained with pride as heirlooms; consequently it was only by much persuasion and considerable expenditure that they could be obtained. In several instances the Indians regarded the blades as tribal property, and in one case I found it impossible to persuade the holder to part with the one in his possession at any price.”
Dr. A. L. Kroeber commented in the same number of the Anthropologist at considerable length on Mr. Rust’s paper. I advise readers to read both articles, and regret that I have not space to reproduce them in full.
It would seem to me, however, that although these Indians still venerate the large brown and red obsidian blades, it is because their traditions tell them that such were considered very valuable as charms, or tribal possessions of their ancestors. It would appear that these objects are not regarded to-day in the same light as formerly, and that the original office or meaning is lost sight of by the modern Indians.
Dr. Kroeber concludes his paper with these words:—
“These obsidian blades of the Indians of northwestern California have been called, and in a measure are, sacred. Nevertheless the term can be applied to them only qualifiedly. They are primarily objects of wealth. Their display in important ceremonies, their preciousness, and the general disposition of these Indians to connect exhibitions of wealth and ceremonies, give to these objects certain associations of a religious nature. They do not, however, appear to be sacred in the same sense in which a small class of other objects, such as certain pipes, fire-sticks, and similar ceremonial paraphernalia, which are used in a purely ritualistic way and whose value lies entirely in this ritualistic and traditionary use, are sacred. Like the white deerskins and woodpecker scalp-ornaments, the obsidian blades are not used directly in connection with any of the sacred formulas around which the deeper religious life of these Indians clusters. There seems also to be very little and probably no sense of their being charms or objects with a fetish or medicine or animistic power. They are thus sacred in a very different sense from the objects belonging to an altar of the Pueblo Indians, or from the objects contained in a sacred bundle of the Plains Indians. Their general position in the ceremonies and social life of the Indians of northwestern California resembles more nearly that of the coppers of the Indians of the North Pacific Coast.”