AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS
According to our classification, we should place under our first
division, “Chipped objects, without Stem,” all the spades and
agricultural implements except those that are stemmed, or notched. Some
of the Pennsylvania roughly chipped hoes might be considered as stemmed.
But the chipped hoes of the Mississippi Valley are simply angular spades
to which have been added notches by the aborigines. I have, therefore,
thought best to describe them all under the general title of
agricultural implements.
[Illustration:
FIG. 164. (S. 1–3.) These specimens were found in Illinois and made of
Mill Creek, Illinois, material. H. M. Whelpley’s collection, St.
Louis, Missouri.
]
It is quite likely that some of them are ceremonial in character rather
than mere agricultural tools; for one cannot conceive that the fine work
on the lower specimens in Fig. 167 is indicative of use as a common
digging-tool.
[Illustration:
FIG. 165. (S. 1–6.) Typical oval spades. Missouri Historical Society
collection.
]
A classification of agricultural implements would be, it seems to me:—
(a) Notched, flint or stone digging-tools. (See Figs. 163, 164.)
(b) Oval spades. (See Fig. 165.)
(c) Increasing diameter towards digging-end. (See Fig. 166 and several
in 168.)
(d) Flaring or convex or angular digging-end. (See Figs. 167, 170.)
Objects of the general shape of those shown in Fig. 182 are scattered
throughout a considerable portion of the United States. Of course, some
of the notched, chipped objects may be axes instead of hoes or
agricultural implements, and I have illustrated such in Figs. 173 to
177. But there are roughly notched and shouldered objects which may be
hoes instead of axes. These are not necessarily all flint, for some are
of shell, limestone, and other materials.
Fig. 163 is a group of six from Mr. F. P. Graves’s collection, Doe Run,
Missouri. Three of them are certainly digging-tools, whereas the other
three may be axes.
[Illustration:
FIG. 166. (S. 1–5.) Collection of Missouri Historical Society, St.
Louis, Missouri.
]
In Fig. 164 are shown notched or shouldered hoes of more primitive type
than the hoes in Fig. 166. Many of these, together with rough spades,
are found in Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois. The beautifully chipped
flint spade is the exception. But there are a large number of spades
which are graceful in outline and well made, and which are typified in
the exhibits from the Missouri Historical Society shown in Fig. 165.
The long spade-like objects are never notched, but they are frequently
narrow at the top, or flaring at the base. Note the lower specimen to
the right in Fig. 167.
The hoes are really small spades. Hoes may be oval or angular.
A third class, shown at the top in Fig. 167, is a highly specialized
form.
Fig. 168 presents several specimens of oval type, chiefly from Missouri,
Arkansas, and Illinois, from F. P. Graves’s collection, Doe Run,
Missouri. Further study of these will give readers a general idea of the
range through which these implements pass. These are all of the more
simple forms, save some of the larger ones just above the elongated
pestle. The two to the left, in the upper row, are angular and not oval
spades.
In Fig. 169 are shown five interesting notched hoes from B. H. Young’s
collection. These are not as highly finished as those in Fig. 166, but
they exhibit a pointed hoe and hoes with a curved edge and the hoe with
the digging-edge almost straight.
It may be decided, after thorough investigation, that the finer spades
were used for a particular purpose or in the cultivation of sacred
ground. Mr. Sellars thought that the spades evince more care and skill
in their manufacture than the other implements.
Formerly, there was some question as to just what purpose these served,
but we know now that their distribution was confined to the rich soils
of the central Mississippi basin. They do not occur at all frequently in
the far South, neither are they found in the Great Plains proper, save
perhaps occasionally in eastern Kansas and central Iowa. The polished
edges of many of them plainly indicate that they were made use of by the
more sedentary tribes to prepare the ground for the planting of corn,
beans, squashes, and such other seeds as the Indians possessed. Judging
from the prodigious number of these implements in the hands of museums
and private collectors, agriculture was carried on by the natives in no
small measure. The chipping on most of them is rather rough. It was not
necessary for the ancient worker in flint to exert his skill on an
implement designed for a rough, although a very useful purpose, yet
there are specimens not lacking in the museums to prove that the
implement was blocked out after the ordinary fashion, and by means of
secondary chipping, small flakes were detached and the surface made as
smooth and even as that of a large spear-head.
[Illustration:
FIG. 167. (S. 1–3.) Flint spades and a hoe—all three unusually fine
objects. J. T. Reeder’s collection, Houghton, Michigan.
]
As to the polish on these things, there are some who contend that it is
due to action of the soil, that a patina or coating of some sort
accumulates. In other words, the polish is said to be a result of
chemical action. Others have thought it due to long-continued use. Some
spades, hoes, and flint celts exhibit this polish, others do not. The
polish appears on specimens which look as if they had been long used.
Yet all specimens showing much use do not exhibit the polish. But the
most significant thing to my mind in favor of the theory that the polish
is due to use, lies in the fact that it is not found on long flakes,
spalls, or blades from quarries where flint suitable for agricultural
implements was taken out and removed. Some of the quarry pits must be
very old, yet polish does not appear on specimens found there. Again, if
polish is due to some elements in the soil of river terraces, then one
would suppose that the whole surfaces of the implements would be
polished. But only the ends are polished, and always the end used in
digging—that is, the edge of the spade.
May 5, 1910, I lectured in Springfield, Illinois. Spades are numerous in
the region lying between Springfield, Illinois, and the Mississippi
River. Therefore, I took occasion to inquire particularly into the
circumstances observed when spades were found, in order to settle this
question as to polish. A number of gentlemen, who have collected several
hundred spades, furnished me with much information with reference to
conditions under which spades are found. Mr. H. M. Braun of East St.
Louis, who lives near the Cahokia group of mounds, has one hundred and
eighty-seven spades and more than a hundred hoes and two or three
hundred flint celts and rough chipped implements in his collection. Mr.
Braun informs me that no one who has found or collected spades could by
any possibility believe that the polish is the result of chemical
action. His reasons are as follows: First, that the polish is found on
spades irrespective of location; that is, a spade may be found in the
Mississippi bottoms, where the soil is very rich, or on the upland, or
near a quarry. And it may or may not be polished. Second, that
spear-heads, arrow-points, and knives of the same material as the spades
do not show the polish. Third, that spades, hoes, and projectile points
of the same material, from the same field, do not exhibit this polish.
It is only the spade which has long been used, the edge of which is
polished. If the polish is due to chemical action, the same polish would
be found on small as well as large objects, or all the objects of a
given locality would present that polish.
In view of these facts, it is beyond question that the polish is due to
use, and it is quite clear that any one who takes the opposite point of
view is not familiar with the locality and conditions under which spades
are found.
[Illustration:
FIG. 168. (_S. about 1–6._)
_Oval and other spades, from the collection of F. P. Graves,
Doe Run, Missouri._
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 169. (S. 1–3.) Shouldered hoes. Large hoe measures 9½ inches in
length. Material: yellow chert. B. H. Young’s collection,
Louisville, Kentucky.
]
Mr. Charles E. Brown, Chief of the Wisconsin Historical Society Museum
at Madison, reports upon flint spades as follows:—
[Illustration:
FIG. 170. (S. 1–4.) This is a surface find, from near Edwardsville,
Madison County, Illinois. Material: chert, straw color. Collection
of H. M. Braun, East St. Louis, Illinois.
]
“A small number of these have been found in Wisconsin, specimens being
recovered as far north as Green Lake and Sheboygan counties. Most are
oval or elliptical in outline, and are made of the same quality of flint
as are the fine agricultural implements of the middle Mississippi
Valley. It is likely that they were introduced through aboriginal trade
relations with tribes located in that region. One of the largest
measures thirteen and three fourths inches in length. A few spades are
manufactured of materials procurable in Wisconsin. In the collections of
the State Historical Museum is a fine example made of brown quartzite.
“Several notched flint hoes have also been found in southern Wisconsin.
They are made of local flint, but are patterned after those of the
middle Mississippi Valley.”
It is curious that no spades have been found in Southern Indiana and
Ohio.
[Illustration:
FIG. 171. (S. 1–4.) These beautiful spades and the hoe are from the
Mississippi “Bottoms,” near the Cahokia mound. Note the concave base
in the hoe, and the squared stem. Very few such hoes are found.
Material: straw-colored, cherty flint. H. M. Braun’s collection,
East St. Louis, Illinois.
]