Fig. 128. (S. 1–1.) Small, delicate obsidian points, found in a ruin, Mesa, Arizona. Andover collection.
My boyhood days were spent in Greene County, Ohio, and from 1876 to 1886, and during short intervals afterwards, I diligently searched the fields and village-sites of the Little Miami River, Cæsar’s Creek, Massey’s Creek, Oldtown Run, and Shawnee Creek. The observations made by a boy are of no scientific value, save in this respect—that these hundreds of excursions, in which my mind was concentrated on flint implements and flint workings exclusively, gave me a knowledge of a distribution of flint implements in Greene County, Ohio, which has been of value to me in after years. And it is fortunate that a gentleman living in my home town, Mr. George Charters, has since collected from farmers and boys Greene County specimens to the number of three or four thousand. As his collection contains no objects of consequence outside of Greene County, one may obtain from that exhibit the proof of my contention that in Greene County, within a radius of ten miles of Xenia, Ohio, in any direction, there were, perhaps, three or four men who were exceedingly skillful in the manufacture of large spear-heads or lance-points of Flint Ridge material. These are somewhat different from other spear-heads and may be easily recognized. They are of white chalcedony, and are mottled and veined with pink or red or grey. They are usually made of the most beautiful stone to be found in the Flint Ridge quarries. They are not only oval, but if turned on edge one will observe that they are exceedingly symmetrical, being a fourth to as much as one third inch in thickness in the centre and yet tapering to an edge almost as thin as a knife-blade entirely around. The notches are evenly and deeply cut, the shoulders and tangs in sharp relief. No large flakes were detached from these implements during the final stages of manufacture; on the contrary, small minute scales or flakes were thrown off, and the finished specimen is as delicately worked as the average obsidian point from the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
Fig. 129. (S. 1–1 and 3–4.) The large white spear-head is a little over nine inches long and was found near Marion, Grant County, Indiana. It is composed of white flint, slightly mottled. The small arrow-head was found near Laramie, Wyoming. The picture shows the exact size. This arrow-head presents wonderful workmanship. The point is almost as fine as a needle and the chipping is regular, clear to the point. It is of a dark amber color and the spots on it are moss-agate. The arrow-head is translucent. Collection of H. F. Burket, Findlay, Ohio.
Fig. 130. (S. 1–2.) Two spear-heads from near Orange, New Jersey. Stephen Van Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.
Both Catlin and Sellars have said that the knowledge of cleavage in stone is an acquired art. We have in modern times the lapidary who works semi-precious as well as precious stones. He must understand the texture of every stone he works. So with the lapidary who worked carnelian, agate, and chalcedony—which are semi-precious stones.
No ordinary aboriginal workman made these specimens. They were the work of an artist who was a lapidary. He was an expert in selecting his material and he was an expert in bringing it to completion. In color and shape these specimens reminded me as a boy of a certain sun-fish in the streams in that part of Ohio, and we used to call them “sun-fish spears” to distinguish them from the others.
Fig. 131. (S. 1–2.) Flint arrow-heads, spear-points, and knives from eastern Wisconsin. These interesting specimens represent eight types. All of them are of superior workmanship. The beautiful leaf-shaped object below the top row is especially fine. The irregular form in the centre to the right is very rare. H. P. Hamilton’s collection, Two Rivers, Wisconsin.