The next culture-group is that of eastern Canada, north of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. All of this region is marked by Iroquois influence, and the tribes preceding the Iroquois left exceedingly crude and rude handiwork in stone. The forms which may be considered to be pre-Iroquoian are very like those of the Lake Champlain district. A splendid collection of them is on exhibition in the Provincial Museum, Toronto, where Mr. David Boyle labored for many years to bring about the preservation of Canadian antiquities.
Between the Hudson and the line drawn between Buffalo, New York, and Baltimore, there are at least two cultures and indications of one or two more. In northern New York is the famous Iroquoian culture of which so much has been written—and by more competent observers—that I would not dare describe it here.
Suffice it to say that an inspection of the pipes, pottery, bone implements, etc., from Iroquoian graves and village-sites will acquaint one even superficially interested in archæology with the fact that the Iroquoian culture is plainly different from anything else on the American continent. Whether the Iroquois, previous to their famous Hiawatha, were organized and had developed this peculiar art is a question for others to decide. But the freshness of the Iroquoian pipes and pottery and the general tone of the objects—and by tone I mean that appearance which most of them possess—indicate that they show European influence—lead the archæologist to conclude that as to antiquity they are not in the class with the other objects found in America. It has always been my opinion that five or six centuries of time are sufficient to account for their production. None of them look old in the sense that objects from other sites appear old.
In southern New York and throughout New Jersey and Delaware we have chipped and polished implements which are supposed to stand for the prehistoric Delawares, and these types appear, in the main, very old. They are more than weather-beaten, many of them were on the verge of disintegration. Time alone can account for such condition. The Delaware Valley and the Susquehanna must have been ideal places for prehistoric man. In both the climate was not severe; game, nuts, herbs, fish, and other necessities of life abounded. A careful inspection of the work done by Dr. Charles C. Abbott and Mr. Ernest Volk leads me to believe that these men have, beyond question, established that man lived in the Delaware Valley three or four thousands of years ago. Rude axes and peculiar ornaments also abound. The gouge is rare. The adze is scarcely ever found, while the problematical forms are totally different from those of the Middle West and the Middle South. The roller pestle occurs, but it may not be considered a local type. Copper is found in limited quantities, hematite is almost entirely wanting, and effigy pipes are very rare. The Weaves, now and then discovered, may be considered as strays brought in by means of barter or exchange. The projectile points are as a rule slender, and are easily distinguished from those of New England, New York State, or Canada. Jasper, argillite, quartzite, and rhyolite predominate.
The next culture-group is that of central and western Pennsylvania, wherein many New Jersey and New York State types occur. The problematical forms, the black chert, arrow-points, the jasper knives, and the notched hoes or axes may be said to enable one to distinguish this region from other culture-groups of the East, even if they are more or less related. West Virginia may be said to lie on the border-line between Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Ohio. Hematite appears in the valleys of the Kanawha and other streams in West Virginia. The monitor pipes also appear, together with certain forms of axes, spear-heads, and knives which are found in greater numbers in Kentucky and Ohio.
Ohio and Kentucky stand as two separate cultures separated by the Ohio River. Yet the Ohio River was made use of by prehistoric man from above Pittsburg to its mouth at Cairo. Along the stream itself one may discern, on both north and south bank sites, all kinds of cultures, thus proving that the Ohio River was not only a thoroughfare but the thoroughfare in prehistoric times. It is only when one proceeds up the streams from the Ohio back fifty or a hundred miles in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio that one observes how the local cultures have developed. The culture of the Muskingum and Scioto in Ohio are practically the same; the Miami is different. The Wabash in Indiana is yet another culture and the Illinois yet a third. In Kentucky the Cumberland and Tennessee are in a class by themselves, separate from the others mentioned. These two latter rivers are so long, and as each is navigable far into the State of Tennessee, I feel certain that five or six cultures may be clearly differentiated within their valleys. I have referred to the stone-grave culture of this region elsewhere. It merits further detailed study on the part of archæologists.
In the State of Illinois are long yellow chert spear-heads and lance-heads and knives, some of which have slightly turned points. Many of these are not unlike the Scandinavian daggers. In Michigan and Wisconsin there is a wealth of copper, many of the sugar quartz spears and knives, large numbers of peculiar winged problematical forms which have been quite fully illustrated in this work. The Illinois and Wisconsin cultures are separate and distinct.
Northern Illinois contains types of Wisconsin and Michigan as well as numbers of central Illinois forms. At Sandwich in DeKalb County there is a large collection owned by Mr. Henry W. Franck, who sent me numerous photographs of his exhibit. This collection illustrates the mingling of types of three cultures and is of great archæological importance.
Passing west to the Mississippi in Missouri we have the so-called hematite belt. Along the Missouri River occur great quantities of iron ore, and the natives worked this into hematite axes, celts, plummets, etc. This region of central Missouri appears to be different from southwestern Missouri. Central and western Missouri (outside of the Ozarks) are also different from the cultures bordering along the Mississippi River, or eastern Missouri.
In Kansas and Iowa we have the large notched hatchets which are peculiar to that section of the country, the white flint of Iowa, the dark chert of Kansas, and the minute arrow-heads, the small almost square hand-axes, the profusion of yellow chert and poor jasper hide-scrapers. These are always typical of the buffalo country. But the strangest culture, it seems to me, in America is that of the cave region of the Ozark Mountains, where Dr. Peabody and myself made several investigations. In southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, and Indian Territory, in both limestone and sandstone formation, are some thirty-five or more natural caverns which had been inhabited by man. In these are great quantities of ashes and debris. Our inspection of four or five of these caves, the study of local collections, and an examination of village-sites in the region revealed the fact that chipped implements of the village-sites are of different stone from those from the ashes in the caverns. That man in the Ozark region had no pipes, no slate articles, no problematical forms, no roller or bell-shaped pestles, no shell ornaments, no copper, no hematite, no celts, no grooved axes, etc. I say none, although in the entire region one slate article, one pipe, and two axes have been found. These may be considered as brought in by later Indians. The chipped implements are rough—save here and there a long, slender, well-chipped object; they are seldom well made. There is a profusion of sandstone mano-stones and mortars. There is every indication that the culture is extremely old and very primitive, as stalagmites have formed (notably in Jacob’s Cavern) over some of the human remains. This Ozark culture, as stated above, was carefully worked out by Peabody and myself, and was found to be an anomaly in American archæology. I am persuaded that there are other and equally peculiar local cultures to be found if one searches diligently.