MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS
After one has attempted to describe and illustrate most of the types of
ancient artifacts occurring in America, one discovers that there are
numerous objects which scarcely fall under any of the classifications.
These I have placed under this chapter devoted to miscellaneous objects.
At some future time I hope to consider these at greater length, for it
will be quite possible to devote an entire chapter to the club and
paddle-like implements of the Pacific Coast, another to the slate knives
of New England, and additional ones to the arrow-shaft straighteners, or
the cup-stones—all of which are illustrated in the ensuing pages.
In Figs. 702, 703, and 703 _A_ are shown some of the curious stone club
and paddle-like implements of the Pacific Coast. Reverend H. C.
Meredith, a collector of some experience in California, called these
“stone ceremonial swords,” and described those shown in Fig. 702 as
follows:—
“This figure shows two rare ceremonial knives. No. 2 is of fine
sandstone, about sixteen inches long, with a broad blade that is reduced
to a sharp edge. It was found on a village-site near Vacaville, and
would make a formidable weapon.
“No. 3 is a double-edged and beautiful specimen. The material is mottled
green and white serpentine. It is finely polished, and not much less
than eighteen inches long. It is in the collection of Mr. A. B. Carr,
Etna Mills. Two specimens similar to this one, but not nearly so fine,
are in the Jewett collection. All three specimens are from Siskiyou.
Like the chipped ceremonials, these knives are of extreme age, if not
prehistoric. Work of this class is not done by the Indians of to-day.”
Whether the paddle-shaped implements in the two following figures are to
be considered as “ceremonial swords,” I am not sufficiently familiar
with California archæology to state.
Fig. 703 presents three remarkable specimens from Oregon and Colorado;
collection of E. D. Zimmerman, Kutztown, Pennsylvania. The purpose of
these strange objects is unknown to me. They are wrought with
considerable skill and evidently performed some function in ancient
times.
[Illustration:
FIG. 702. (S. 2–7.) Stone ceremonial knives. California. Collection of
A. B. Carr and H. C. Meredith.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 703. (S. about 1–3.) Stone clubs, from Oregon and Washington.
Collection of E. D. Zimmerman.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 703 _A_. (S. about 1–5.) Stone club from near Florence, Lane
County, Oregon; found on a village-site about three miles from the
Pacific Ocean. A duplicate club was found at the same place later.
Collection of A. F. Barrott, Owego, New York.
]
Fig. 704 _A_ illustrates four of the curious club-heads, or perforated
stones, common in California and Arizona. Various theories have been
advanced as to these; the most sensible of which appears to me to be the
statement that they were made use of as weights, to facilitate the use
of digging-tools or sticks. There is some reason for the acceptance of
this theory, as the discs are found in regions where the raising of
crops by means of irrigation was known to the natives.
Fig. 705 is an illustration of a singular tool-handle, somewhat common
near the Columbia River and farther north along the Pacific Coast. A
fine one is in the possession of Dr. John Fargo of Los Angeles,
California, and it is identical with this one.
Slate was made use of by the New England Indians not only for arrow- and
spear-points but knives as well. Fig. 707, reproduced from Dr. William
Beauchamp’s article,[31] shows nine slate knives from sites along the
Seneca and Oneida rivers and Oneida Lake, western New York.
In Fig. 710 are figured two beautiful slate knives from the Peabody
Museum collection, Salem, Massachusetts.
I was very fortunate in procuring for examination the remarkable
specimen shown in Fig. 711. It presents a woman’s knife of black slate
in the original handle. When Mr. B. W. Arnold of Albany went north to
Alaska some years ago, he found this knife in the hands of a woman who
was using it in cutting open fish. He purchased it from her and placed
it in his collection. It illustrates the method of mounting.
[Illustration:
FIG. 704. (S. about 1–3.) Three remarkable specimens from Oregon and
Colorado. E. D. Zimmerman’s collection.
]
The handle is crudely cut out of wood, and the only things modern about
it are the strings which hold it in place, they being ordinary twine.
[Illustration:
FIG. 704 _A_. (S. 1–3.) Four curious club-heads or perforated stones,
common in California. Beloit College collection.
]
But perhaps as interesting as any other of the objects are the oval and
flat stones with creases or depressions across them, which are supposed
to be the result of straightening or reducing arrow-shafts,
lance-handles, and other long, slender objects. All of those shown in
Figs. 706, 708, and 709 exhibit differences. Those in Fig. 706,
collected by Professor Montgomery, are neatly made and ornament-like in
shape.
Mr. Bardwell’s specimen, Fig. 708, is an ordinary bit of sandstone on
which there are two deep grooves at right angles. We have a number of
them in our Andover collection, and I have shown five in Fig. 709.
Most archæologists agree that the stones were used for the purpose
named. Near caverns, rock-shelters, and along bluffs we find that the
surface of gritty stones or ledges exhibit such grooves. Fig. 712 is a
sinew stone, or an oval stone much creased and worn, not by friction
caused by arrow-shafts, but because sinews or cords have been drawn back
and forth against the edge of it. There is another singular grooved
stone in the State Museum of Iowa. The curator calls it a stone
“corn-sheller,” and if one will draw an ear of corn back and forth over
the surface of this stone, one is surprised at the ease with which the
kernels are removed. Fig. 715 illustrates three unknown objects found in
Pueblo Bonito. Fig. 716 is interesting in that it may or may not be a
natural formation. It was found on the site of an old encampment and may
have been considered by the Indians a medicine-stone. Figs. 717, to and
including 721, I shall refer to in the Conclusions of “The Stone Age.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 705. (S. 1–4.) Stone tool-handle. Collection of Frank O. Putnam,
Campbell, California.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 706. (S. 1–2.) Grooved sandstone arrow- and needle-sharpeners
found near the surface of a mound, North Dakota. Collection of Henry
Montgomery.
]
I wish to speak at some length on Fig. 713. This specimen is one of the
cup-stones about which there has been so much discussion. It is
something over ten by seven and a half inches in diameter, and on the
upper surface are fifteen distinct cup-shaped depressions. It is of
sandstone and about two inches thick.
[Illustration:
FIG. 707. (S. 1–1.) Slate knives. New York State Museum collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 708. (S. 1–1.) Grooved stone found on the island of Martha’s
Vineyard by Ralph D. Bardwell. Collection of Robert D. Bardwell,
Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 709. (S. 1–2.) Grooved stones found in various parts of the
United States. Phillips Academy collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 710. (S. 1–2.) Slate knives. Peabody Museum collection, Salem,
Massachusetts.
]
A great deal has been written about cup-stones, as reference to the
Bibliography will attest. The pitted hammer-stone, the cup-stone, and
the crude discoidal are more or less related. Cup-stones themselves have
never been satisfactorily explained, and it is my opinion that such ones
as are shown in Fig. 713 mean more than that they were ordinary
depressions in which nuts were cracked. However, one must do justice to
those who believe that they were used for that purpose. There is a
suggestion along the lines of that theory which I would wish to make.
The Indians used large quantities of hickory-nuts, walnuts, and
butternuts. The early historians tell us that they threw these into
kettles of hot water; the oil rising to the top, they skimmed it off for
future use.
[Illustration:
FIG. 711. (S. 1–1.) Slate knife in handle. B. W. Arnold’s collection,
Albany, New York.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 712. (S. 2–3.) Sinew stone found near New Berlin, New York, on
the surface. Collection of Henry W. Bagg, New Berlin, New York.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 713. (S. 1–3.) Cup-stone from the Mohawk Valley, western New
York. Phillips Academy collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 714. (S. 1–4.) Stone corn-sheller(?); made of gray quartzite. The
plane surface is eight by fifteen inches. Shows fractures on nearly
all sides, as though it had been much larger. The corrugations have
a sharp, cutting-like edge. Found in a creek in Kansas. Collection
of the Historical Department of Iowa.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 715. (S. 1–6.) A stone, with square hole (for unknown purpose), a
sandal last, and a stone sword from the Chaco Group. Phillips
Academy collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 716. (S. 1–2.) Cup-stone. Collection of Logan Museum, Beloit,
Wisconsin.
]
On such a stone as is illustrated fifteen nuts could be placed at one
time and crushed by a single blow of a heavy, flat slab. If they used
cup-stones for this purpose, they would naturally employ stones in which
there were many cups rather than the average stones containing one or
two cups. If so used, the work proceeded rapidly; one person crushing
and two others placing the nuts in position. As the stone weighs no more
than six or seven pounds, it could be quickly raised and the contents
dumped into a receptacle.
[Illustration:
FIG. 717. (S. 1–2.) Skull from a Florida shell heap. (See page 351.)
Peabody Museum collection, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 718. (S. 1–1.) Grooved stone axe from Allington, Washington
County, Wisconsin. Collection of the Milwaukee Public Museum.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 719. (S. 1–5.) A group of bird-stones, boat-shaped objects and
other problematical forms. J. T. Reeder’s collection, Houghton,
Michigan.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 720. (S. 2–3.) Problematical forms from near Burlington, Vermont.
Collection of G. H. Perkins.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 720 _A_. (S. 1–4.) A group of mound pipes. L. W. Hills
collection, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
]
But while this may be true, it has always seemed to me that the pitted
stones may be made use of in some way as controlling or regulating the
apparatus used in drilling. While all the details of such an explanation
were never clear, yet it seemed more plausible than the statement that
the stone was used as a common nut-cracker. There is another observation
to be made which, it seems to me; militates against the theory that it
was necessary to work out circular depressions in order to make a
nut-cracker. If one will select a flat, smooth slab and place a dozen
walnuts upon it, and strike with another flat slab evenly upon these
nuts, one finds that they are crushed quite as completely as if placed
in the cup-stones proper. The Indians wished the oil rather than the
kernels; and preferred the nuts completely crushed. And for all
practical purposes in nut-cracking, two flat surfaces are fully as good
as a surface which has been cupped. Again, stones having deep pits on
their surfaces prevent the crushing of more than half of each nut. If
one studies the cup-stones carefully, one will observe that some of the
pitted stones are very smooth, others may be rough. In the exact centre
of the pits is a small depression. In some instances this depression
appears as if it was the result of a revolving object; in other words, a
drill. I cannot believe that the cracking of nuts in these depressions
would produce the effect just described.
[Illustration:
FIG. 721. (S. 1–2.) Front and side view of an effigy in stone.
Collection of Edward Beatty, Santa Rosa, California.
]