CHIPPED IMPLEMENTS
TYPES WITHOUT STEMS
The complete classification of chipped implements was presented on pages
23 to 30 of this work. It is now my purpose to describe and illustrate
each form or type mentioned in the classification.
Therefore, we begin with types without stem, which are considered to be
knives and projectile points. I have referred to figures, in the
following table, in order that readers may have no difficulty in
distinguishing one type from another.
A. Without secondary chipping (knife flakes). (See Figs. 26 and 35.)
B. With secondary chipping (rougher knives). (See Figs. 44 and 46.)
1. Pointed at one end, base straight. (See Figs. 47, 50, and 58.)
2. Pointed at one end, base convex. (See Figs. 54 and 69.)
3. Pointed at one end, base concave. (See Figs. 50 and 56.)
4. Pointed at one end, sides convex. (See Figs. 55 and 74.)
5. Pointed at one end, one side convex, one side straight. (See Figs.
52 and 53.)
6. Pointed at both ends. (See Figs. 67 and 131.)
7. Decreasing diameter towards end, ends convex. (See Figs. 61 and
72.)
8. More or less oval, or circular. (See Figs. 72 and 75.)
Before I take up the large class cited above, I wish to state that in a
classification of flint implements much depends upon one’s point of
view. Some observers may classify according to whether the stem
contracts or expands. Others might adopt yet another form of
classification. There are some specimens that on classification because
of variation in the stem might be included along with more simple forms,
yet there are not a few which the Indian apparently specialized, which
he purposely made different from the others. These doubtless represent
individual fancy and should not be entered as types. Many specimens not
included by the committee in its classification seem to me to be types,
and I have therefore added such in subdivisions. These, I am firmly
convinced, are as representative type specimens as are the others that
have been entered. Along with these, illustrations of certain beautiful
flint implements are submitted herewith.
[Illustration:
FIG. 63. (S. 1–4.) Knives of various forms and material, from Maine
sites. Collection of E. T. Wing, South Portland, Maine.
]
Most investigators in archæology assume that man’s first stone
implements were palæolithic, or rude stone hatchets used without
handles, and through a long process of evolution was obtained the
leaf-shaped and later the shouldered and stemmed chipped objects, the
heads of arrows and spears. I am willing to accept the conclusions of
these observers, but while it is true the implements made by man passed
through regular process of evolution from the simple form to more
complicated and serviceable, yet it is undoubtedly true that many tribes
living in the past thousand years made use of as crude implements as
those of glacial times. In the same tribe were in use flint implements
of superior workmanship and high finish and rudely chipped objects as
well. The rudeness of an object is no evidence of its antiquity. The
locality, rather, is the deciding factor. All depends upon the position
in which the implement was found and the surrounding soil or gravel or
clay.
[Illustration:
FIG. 64. (S. 1–2.) Typical New Jersey knives. Material: black flint
and argillite. Stephen Van Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New
Jersey.
]
We have remarked in the foregoing pages on types of implements assumed
to be very old. Independent of whether an implement is finished or
unfinished, thousands or hundreds of years old, it is susceptible of
classification. We find that chipped implements include all objects
worked from flint, chert, quartz, argillite, chalcedony, obsidian,
agatized wood, carnelian, jasper, rhyolite, etc. The range is from a
large flint agricultural implement to a minute arrow-point. This
division embraces everything from a block of quarry flint to a delicate,
perfect flint hairpin. Not excluding broken pottery, chipped objects are
more numerous in America than other artifacts. Classifications have been
made by Mr. Gerard Fowke and Dr. Thomas Wilson. With some changes the
Committee on Nomenclature accepted these classifications. However, I
have thought best to add numbers to the list, as I think that certain
types have been omitted.
[Illustration:
FIG. 65. (S. 1–2.) Types of Northern knives. Collection of F. M.
Caldwell, Wisconsin
]
Many insignificant bits of flint scales or chips show worked edges.
Hasty examination of a given amount of material from a village-site does
not give one adequate conception of the use to which ancient man put the
material. The savage was saving, the white man is extravagant.
[Illustration:
FIG. 66. (S. about 1–2.) One Tennessee disc, one drill, two scrapers,
and one small oval knife. C. Albee’s collection, Redrock, Montana.
]
Most persons familiar with the handiwork of prehistoric man agree that
when man began to use stone implements he selected such natural or
water-worn stones as required little work to make of them effective
weapons. Along the shores of a river or lake, about the foot of a cliff,
or on stony ground, he was apt to find fragments of rock broken by
natural agencies. Some of these had sharp edges, and it is quite likely
that his first knives and scrapers were flakes or spalls which served
him as crude implements. This theory has been worked out at length in
several publications and need not be repeated here. The chipped
implements themselves evince all kinds of workmanship; some are well
made, others appear to be either childish attempts or the work of
artisans unskilled in flint-chipping. Some are finished, others are
unfinished. Many an implement is open to question as to whether it is a
rude complicated form, or an unfinished object, and numbers of these
rude forms may be exceedingly old so far as we know; again some of the
finer implements are doubtless old.
[Illustration:
FIG. 67. (S. 1–2.) Lance-heads: obsidian, from California. H. P.
Hamilton collection.
]
In classifying flint implements it is generally conceded that the oval
form is the more simple, and Dr. Wilson’s classification begins with
these. While the Committee accepted, as stated previously, his scheme,
together with that of Mr. Fowke, yet it seems to me that a careful study
of the oval forms convinces one that many of them are unfinished, and
may have been intended for implements that would on completion be placed
in another class. Also, that many of the oval and circular forms are
thick and rough and do not appear to be implements. However, in the
classification it is best not to consider whether these objects are
finished or unfinished or for what purpose they were intended, but in my
descriptions I have separated those which appear to be implements from
those that do not. I have presented original specimens rather than
tracings as did Dr. Wilson.
The ordinary form of knife and the simplest form of projectile point is
shown in Fig. 44, collection of Mr. D. N. Kern. These specimens were
found in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and are made of yellow jasper,
except the central one, which appears to be Flint Ridge stone. I have
selected this group as typical. They represent the first stage of
complete work after the turtleback or discs have been scaled to a proper
size. Some of these are knives, some may have been arrow-points, all
look old, and most of them fall in Class 1 B, although none of the bases
are concave.
Fig. 45 represents two rough knives which are just beyond the stage of
turtlebacks. Fig. 46 is taken from a large flake of flint detached while
chipping spades and other implements of unusual size on the site of the
Indian Territory quarries. This flake has been edged and used as a
knife.
The next stage in the evolution of the knife is shown in Fig. 47. These
objects will fall under type 1 B, some being pointed, some with base
convex, base straight, sides convex. The workmanship on these is better
than that exhibited in Fig. 44. They were all found near Allentown,
Pennsylvania, by Mr. Kern.
While these two illustrations are of Pennsylvania specimens, they are
typical of B, 1, forms whether the specimen came from California,
Georgia, or Wisconsin. I shall present in this work specimens from every
portion of the United States, but, of course, it would be impossible to
show all the type specimens of a given locality.
The pointed flint objects without stem are, for the most part,
triangular war points. The story of their use is so old, having been
printed in many publications, that it is only necessary to state that
these are called war points because there is no means of fastening them
securely to the arrow, and they became detached from the arrow when the
victim attempted to withdraw the shaft. But of these triangular points
there are such numbers and so many diversified forms, I have presented a
plate of thirty-one of them in Fig. 50, taken from the collection of
Phillips Academy Museum. These points are from the following
localities:—
Top row, from left to right; first three, banks of the Ohio River, Brown
County, Ohio; next, Indiana; concave base, Oregon; last two to right,
Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania.
Second row—First two, Oregon; next two, Natchez, Mississippi, Professor
E. H. Williams’s collection; next, Santa Anna, Texas; next two,
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Third row—White quartz, Georgia and Virginia.
[Illustration:
FIG. 68. (S. 1–2.) Maine knives, and two spear-heads. Material: block
flint, porphyry, quartzite. A. E. Marks’s collection, Yarmouth,
Maine.
]
Fourth row—Two to the left from Massachusetts; central long one,
Illinois; four small ones to right, Willamette Valley, Oregon; three
small ones over these, from Natchez, Mississippi, Professor E. H.
Williams’s collection.
[Illustration:
FIG. 69. (S. 2–3.) Lance-head. Material: jasper. Stephen Van
Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 70. (S. 1–2.) Lance-head (?). Dudley A. Martin’s collection,
Duboistown, Pennsylvania.
]
In Fig. 51 I have shown the projectile points and knives without stems.
Some of these are clearly triangular arrow-points, others are knives
with flat bases or concave bases. The convex base, except in minute
projectile points, is rare. Most knives have straight or concave bases.
Some of the implements pointed out have one end straight, and the others
are beautiful specimens of aboriginal workmanship. Fig. 58 exhibits a
knife of porphyry, half-size, found by A.E. Marks, near Sebago, Maine.
This knife is one of similar types found in Maine graves, but is a
better specimen than the average.
[Illustration:
FIG. 71. (S. 1–2 to 1–3.) Lance-heads. Beautiful forms of art in
flint. Materials: argillite and jasper. Stephen Van Rensselaer’s
collection, Newark, New Jersey.
]
Fig. 57 presents long, slender lance-heads, or possibly knives from Mr.
Braun’s collection, East St. Louis. The originals of these are about
three times the size of the figure. About East St. Louis is the famous
Cahokia Mound, with some thirty other mounds. The art in stone of this
region is very high, and some of the best implements in the country have
been found on either side of the Mississippi River, near the present
site of St. Louis.
Specimens pointed at both ends are more common on the Pacific Coast and
in the Colorado Valley than elsewhere in the United States. Some of the
large problematical forms in flint from Tennessee and Kentucky are of
this type.
Fig. 67 presents two pointed at either end. Some simpler forms are shown
in Fig. 55, and in groups of chipped objects of all kinds are some more
or less pointed at either end, notably Figs. 68 and 73.
[Illustration:
FIG. 72. (S. 2–5.) Wisconsin-Michigan types of knives and slightly
shouldered objects. S. D. Mitchell collection, Ripon, Wisconsin.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 73. (S. 1–2.) Five knives and two spear-heads. These are typical
Wisconsin objects of sugar quartz and argillite. The one to the left
has two ends and convex sides. The next, E 268, has a straight back
and a convex edge. It is a remarkable knife. The others are all
interesting specimens. Beloit College collection, Beloit, Wisconsin.
]
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.
[Illustration:
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.
]
[Illustration:
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.
]
“They said that a man wandered through the country whom they called
Badthing; he was small of body and wore a beard, and they never
distinctly saw his features. When he came to the house where they lived,
their hair stood up and they trembled. Presently a blazing torch shone
at the door, when he entered and seized whom he chose, and giving him
three great gashes in the side with a very sharp flint, the width of the
hand and two palms in length, he put his hand through them, drawing
forth the entrails, from one of which he would cut off a portion more or
less, the length of a palm, and throw it on the embers. Then he would
give three gashes to an arm, the second cut on the inside of an elbow,
and would sever the limb. A little after this, he would begin to unite
it, and putting his hands on the wounds, these would instantly become
healed. They said that frequently in the dance he appeared among them,
sometimes in the dress of a woman, at others in that of a man; that when
it pleased him he would take a _buhio_, or house, and lifting it high,
after a little he would come down with it in a heavy fall. They also
stated that many times they offered him victuals, but that he never ate;
they asked him whence he came and where was his abiding-place, and he
showed them a fissure in the earth and said that his house was there
below. These things they told us of, we much laughed at and ridiculed;
and they, seeing our incredulity, brought to us many of those they said
he had seized; and we saw the marks of the gashes made in the places
according to the manner they had described. We told them he was an evil
one, and in the best way we could, gave them to understand, that if they
would believe in God our Lord, and become Christians like us, they need
have no fear of him, nor would he dare to come and inflict those
injuries, and they might be certain he would not venture to appear while
we remained in the land. At this they were delighted and lost much of
their dread.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 76. (S. 1–2.) Oval knife, fine workmanship. Stephen Van
Rensselaer’s collection, Newark, New Jersey.
]
Along with the types not stemmed are such specimens as are shown at the
bottom at the right of Fig. 77; possibly that one was a drill, but I
have included the three under the classification we have been
following—without stem, base straight, base convex and pointed. Yet
these typical Pacific Coast leaf-shaped artifacts are different from the
forms found East. In specimens with stems especially in the Susquehanna
and Delaware Valleys, and the greater part of the Mississippi Valley are
occasionally found chipped implements with straight sides and the points
sharply contracting. Some of these will be shown under the proper
divisions. This angular effect of the object is intentional and merits a
class by itself as much as do the objects which are classified according
to stem form alone. In Fig. 68 are beautiful specimens from Maine, Mr.
Marks’s collection. In these six we have the simple form of knife, well
chipped, the pointed knives, the oval and pointed knife, and the two
beautiful spear-heads, which, of course, come under a later
classification. The spear-head to the left is of that cloudy quartzite
approaching agate, which is also found in Arkansas and Wisconsin, and a
material of which some of the finest specimens in the United States have
been manufactured by our aborigines.
[Illustration:
FIG. 77. (S. 1–1.) Serrated obsidian points (or knives). Typical of
California artifacts. F. M. Gilham’s collection, Highland Springs,
California.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 78. Obsidian problematical chipped objects. Sizes and locality
stated on the specimens. Dr. H. M. Whelpley’s collection, St. Louis,
Missouri.
]
Figs. 72 and 75 represent the sub-class C, more or less circular. A
splendid example of the knife with square ends is shown at the left in
Fig. 73. Also a knife with one edge straight and the other convex is
shown in the same figure, and the specimen is labeled E 268. Fig. 72
marks the transition stage from the oval knife to the slightly stemmed
or shouldered spear-head. All these are Wisconsin specimens from Mr. S.
D. Mitchell’s collection and the collection of Beloit College.
Oval knives, or oval chipped objects, may range from minute specimens a
half an inch in length to magnificent problematical forms in obsidian
shown in Fig. 78. A few such as these have been found in ancient graves
or burial-places in California and Oregon. The workmanship on them is
not quite as fine as on the “ceremonial swords” from Tennessee shown in
Plates 161 and 162, but obsidian was more easily chipped than Tennessee
chert. An inspection of the Tennessee objects referred to and these
immense obsidian blades, and a comparison between them and the objects
found elsewhere in the world, proves that the American aborigine did not
have a superior on this globe in art forms of neolithic types.
Fig. 75 illustrates the circular discs, and the almost circular knives,
and by way of comparison is added the oval knife.
Discs may be material in convenient form for exchange or transportation,
or to be worked down into implements. Hopewell discs shown in Fig. 42
are of this character.
The smaller discs and circular knives may also have been scrapers, thus
representing a double purpose. Figs. 59 and 60 show the more beautiful
oval knives, one of which is mounted in its original handle. Fig. 60 was
brought down from the Northwest coast to the Peabody Museum at Salem,
Massachusetts, many years ago.