The conclusion, probably correct, in regard to these implements is that they were employed, like the stone and modern iron implements which they resemble, in stripping bark from trees and for similar purposes.
Gouges. (See Figs. 582, 585.)
These implements are closely allied to the chisels, from which they are distinguished by the presence on their lower surface of a concavity sometimes reaching quite to the middle. They are well adapted for working out rounded or oval holes or hollows, and in Wisconsin are generally considered to have been wood-working tools. Elsewhere they were probably also employed like the more common stone gouges in quarrying and working steatite, catlinite, and similar deposits useful to the aborigines. Such implements are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, Field Museum, and one or two other collections.
Fig. 591. (S. about 1–1.) Copper spears. Found on Bluff Point, near Penn Yan, New York. Collection of L. G. Ogden, Penn Yan, New York.
Several specimens known to the author approach seven inches in length.
Professor Perkins mentions copper gouges as being rare in New England, where stone gouges are a common and characteristic implement. Neither stone nor metal gouges are of frequent occurrence in Wisconsin.
Adzes
These implements have also been called spuds, winged chisels, and hoes. Of these the term “spud,” though unsatisfactory, appears to be that in most general use at the present time. This name, as has already been shown, is likewise applied to a rather numerous class of stone implements of quite different pattern and use. Several theories as to the possible function of these implements have been advanced. It has been suggested that they were ice-cutting tools, or agricultural implements.
An examination of a large series of them suggests the correctness of the now prevailing opinion that they were employed in shaping wooden canoes and executing tasks of a like nature. Properly hafted, their general adaptability to such service is plain.