There are many knives irregular in form, and it is quite difficult to select specimens having one side straight and the other convex, as mentioned by the Nomenclature Committee. However, in Figs. 52, 61, and 65 are several knives having one side straight and the other convex; or the sides may be irregular. It is difficult to classify the knives just cited under an arbitrary rule on this account. Attention is particularly called to these figures. Each one of these knives represents individual fancy on the part of the owner, yet they are more serviceable than the ordinary oval knife so common throughout the country. I would add to the Committee’s classification, as deserving of a special place, knives so chipped that they appear to have handles.
Fig. 65. From Central Wisconsin I illustrate six knives, two of which have convex ends. The others are not as pronounced, and two of the specimens show the first steps in shouldering or stemming. All that was necessary to shoulder an implement was to chip a little on either side, thus making a shoulder. The two specimens above and below the shouldered object belong to the shoulder class, but as they are so slightly shouldered I have left them in this illustration to emphasize the observation.
Fig. 48. Typical Pennsylvania knives, from Dr. T. B. Stewart’s collection, and Fig. 55, Mr. Rayner’s Ohio types, give the range in the unstemmed objects that are not projectile points.
In all the number of flint implements that I have handled I have never seen two that were exactly alike. Some of the triangular points have almost the same form, but there are peculiarities in the chipping or in the material, and the statement holds good that no two flint implements are precisely uniform.
Some of the long, slender blades, either lances or knives, such as are shown in Figs. 54, 57, and 71, are of superior workmanship, and may represent objects belonging to the priests or the more prominent leaders among ancient men.
As shedding some light on the use of such a knife, I was interested to read, when studying the accounts of early Spanish explorers, 1530–1540, to find a description of how such implements as are shown in Figs. 65, 66, and 67 were used in the Southwest. An ethnologist would have made great sacrifices to have been with Cabeza De Vaca. In his narrative he gives a description of a remarkable medicine-man. This man represented the true Stone Age type; although what we have concerning him is but a fragment, it is worthy of preservation in that it sheds light on the use of certain large flint implements, and on practices of ancient medicine-men.
Fig. 74. (S. 1–3.) Long, lance-like objects of fine flint. From the collection of B. H. Young, Louisville, Kentucky. The upper row is of specimens found in a cache, Livingston county, Kentucky. The lower ones are from various portions of the same state. Attention is called to the beautiful character and the fine chipping exhibited in these.
Fig. 75. (S. 1–4.) Flint disc, and knives of various forms. S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. These twelve objects show the range of knives through that region fairly well.