The next major class of devices comprises shells and cobbles and
bowlders picked up at random to meet emergency needs, wielded in ways
determined by emergency adjustment of means to ends, and sometimes
retained and reused under the budding instinct of fitness, though
never shaped by design. The devices of this class are best exemplified
by the tool-shells and by the hupfs and ahsts of the Seri matrons,
partly because of the practical absence of higher artifacts from
their territory; yet the class is by no means confined to this
notably primitive, folk: the greater part of the implements used by
the California Indians and a large part of those used by every other
known Amerind tribe in aboriginal condition consist of shore cobbles,
river pebbles, talus bowlders, or other natural stones of form and
size convenient for emergency use; and (despite the fact that such
objects are often ignored by observers, for the prosaic reason that
they represent no familiar or trenchant class), there is no lack of
evidence that they are or have been in habitual use among all primitive
peoples. Although zootheistic or sortilegic motives doubtless play
an undetermined rôle in the selection of the objects, and although
wonted zoomimic movements doubtless affect the initial processes, the
essential distinction from zoomimic artifacts resides in the selection
and use of natural objects through a mechanical chance tending to
inspire volitional exercise rather than through a fiducial rule tending
to paralyze volitional effort; while the class is no less trenchantly
separable from those of higher grade by the absence of preconceived
models or technical designs. The class of devices and the culture-stage
which they represent have already been outlined and defined as
_protolithic_.[299]
[299] American Anthropologist, vol. IX, 1896, pp. 317-318.
A transitional series of devices allied to the Seri hupf on the one
hand and to the chipped artifact on the other hand is frequently
found among the aborigines of California and other native tribes; it
is typified by a cobble or other natural piece of stone cleft (first
by accident of use and later by design) in such wise as to afford an
edged tool. This subclass of artifacts is religiously eschewed by the
Seri; but it is of much interest as an illustration of the way in which
artificialization proceeds, and of the exceeding slowness of primitive
progress.
The third great class of devices defined by technologic development
comprises stones chipped, flaked, battered, ground, or otherwise
wrought in accordance with preconceived designs, together with
cold-forged native metal, horn, bone, wood, and other substances
wrought in accordance with preconceived models and direct motives.
Among the Seri this class of devices is represented only by the rare
arrowpoints of chipped stone, which seem to be accultural and largely
fetishistic; but the class is abundantly represented by the artifacts
of most of the Amerind tribes. The class and the cultural stage have
already been outlined under the term _technolithic_.[300]
[300] Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1898, pp.
42-43. The long extant and well-known classification of stone
artifacts as “paleolithic” and “neolithic” may not be overlooked. This
classification was based originally on prehistoric relics of Europe,
and it served excellent purpose in distinguishing finely finished
stone implements from those of rudely chipped stone; but both classes
of artifacts were shaped in accordance with preconceived design, and
hence both belong to the technolithic class as herein defined. It may
be added that the classification was made with little if any reference
to primitive thought, was not based on observation among primitive
peoples, and has not been found to apply usefully to the aborigines
and aboriginal artifacts of America, where the representative tribe
or prehistoric village site is characterized by implements of both
“paleolithic” and “neolithic” types which intergrade in such manner as
to prove contemporaneous manufacture and interchangeable use; while the
preponderance of polished-stone implements is generally indicative of
simpler rather than of more advanced culture.
A transitional series of devices intervenes between stone artifacts
and artifacts of smelted metal; it is represented by malleable native
metals (chiefly copper, silver, meteoric iron, and gold), originally
wrought cold, after the manner of stone, though heating under the
hammer in such wise as to prepare the way for forging, fusing,
and founding. These devices and the processes with which they are
correlated are not represented among the Seri; indeed, the crude use
of iron by the tribe would seem to lie on a lower plane in industrial
development than even the arrowpoint-chipping, in that the artifacts,
though of foreign material, are wrought largely in accordance with
zoomimic motives.
The fourth major class of devices, comprising the multifarious
artifacts of smelted and alloyed metal, was barely represented in
aboriginal America; only a few of the more advanced tribes had
attained the threshold of metallurgy, and even among these the crude
metal working remained hieratic or esthetic, and did not displace the
prevalent stone craft.
* * * * *
Briefly, the several stages in the development of tools and implements
may be seriated as follows:
-------------------+-----------------+-------------------------+-------------------
Stages |Typical materials| Typical products | Essential ideas
-------------------+-----------------+-------------------------+-------------------
1. Zoomimic |Bestial organs |Awls, spears, harpoons, | Zootheistic faith.
| | arrows. |
A. Transitional|Symbolized organs|Piercing and tearing | Faith + craft.
| | implements. |
2. Protolithic |Natural stones |Hammers and grinders-- | Mechanical chance.
| | hupfs and ahsts. |
B. Transitional|Cleft stones |Grinders and cutters | Chance + craft.
3. Technolithic |Artificialized |Chipped, battered, | Designed shapement
| stones. | and polished implements.| by molar
| | | action.
C. Transitional|Malleable native |Copper celts, gold | Designed shapement
| metals. | ornaments, etc. | by molar
| | | action + chance
| | | heating.
4. Metal |Smelted ores |Steel tools, etc. | Shapement by
| | | molar and molecular
| | | action.
-------------------+-----------------+------------------+-------------------
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY