The range in form and material, in size and general character, is remarkable. I have said more than once in this book that chipped implements of a given locality exhibit a certain individuality. I repeat this observation purposely because I have heard it stated, by those who should know better, that chipped implements are more or less alike the world over. It would be as accurate for one to say that because leaves grow on trees and serve the same purpose, therefore, all leaves are of the same form.
To one who has examined chipped implements in a perfunctory manner they will appear more or less alike, just as to him who is not a botanist, leaves convey no more information than that they are leaves. Yet he who is interested in the technology of flint implements will become proficient after a few years of work, and may distinguish the arrow-points of one section from those of elsewhere. Such a student will observe that there are at least thirty already known and localized types. It is probable that this number will be expanded, as we study localities more carefully.
In the following pages I refer to materials of which implements are made and to certain illustrations in my text. If readers will examine the figures cited and compare the variations and form between one part of the country and another, the distribution of these types will be made clear.
Fig. 213. (S. 1–3.) From Trigg County, Kentucky, and Stewart County, Tennessee. These adjoining counties are divided by the Cumberland River. B. H. Young’s collection.
The New Hampshire form of chipped implements is seen in quartz, quartzite, chert, porphyry, slate, and other materials. In quartz, the difference is not great between New England and the South. But there are forms of slate spears or lance-heads found in New England that do not occur elsewhere, whether the same materials are in use or not. Note Figs. 88 and 100 which present typical New England forms. Passing west from New England there is little change in character until one crosses the Hudson, and then we have the Delaware and New Jersey, long slender forms chiefly in jasper, chert, argillite, and a few in quartz. North, in New York and Canada, in the Iroquois country, there is much black chert, some white quartz and jasper, and a multitude of the triangular or war arrow-heads. Illustrations of New Jersey types are in Figs. 64, 90, and 201. About Lake Champlain there was much travel and trade in ancient times, and not only New England but also the western New York forms are present. Types are shown in Fig. 194.
In the American Anthropologist for October-December, 1909 (vol. 2, no. 4, p. 607), Professor G. H. Perkins, of the University of Vermont, describes the Lake Champlain types.
Although resembling the chipped points or knives in their general form, certain smooth objects are found which he observes are quite different in material from the average; being ground and not chipped. Professor Perkins states: “These represent a class of implements which are found on both sides of Lake Champlain. They are all made from slate, red, purple, or drab, such as occurs abundantly in this region. The use of these objects is rather problematical. They are almost always well made, the surface is smooth and almost polished, the edges are sharp and do not indicate that the tool had been severely treated. And yet the material is not very hard and is very brittle, and some of the specimens (knives?) are slender. One is nine inches long and an inch and a half at the widest part; it would easily break, and there are other specimens nearly as fragile.... The greater number are three or four inches long and of varying width. All are stemmed, and usually the stem is notched on each side. In the collection at Burlington there are more than thirty of these objects, and a smaller number in the state collection at Montpelier.”
Leaving New York, passing south into the great Chesapeake region, the slate points of New England and the jasper of New Jersey have disappeared. Instead we have chert, quartzite, argillite, rhyolite, calcareous quartzite, and the peculiar modeled white and pink quartzite. Specimens from this region are illustrated in Figs. 40, 86, and 92. It is quite easy to recognize them, as reference to the plates will prove.
