THE STONE AGE IN EASTERN CANADA, UTAH, AND DAKOTA
(_Written for “The Stone Age” by Henry Montgomery, Ph.D., University of
Toronto_)
EASTERN CANADA
For the most part throughout Ontario, Quebec, and the more eastern
provinces of the Dominion of Canada, the ancient stone and bone and
other objects of handiwork of the aborigines are similar or nearly
similar to those found in the New England States of the Union. There
are, however, some exceptions more or less marked. The history of the
seventeenth century tells some interesting things about the aboriginal
peoples of this part of Canada. To some extent the location and
movements of the Algonquins, Hurons, and Iroquois (“Five Nations”) have
become known. But the knowledge of these and of their predecessors in
that region is far too limited. Much remains to be learned about the
occupation of the country during the preceding centuries. Archæological
work appears to have revealed several occupations, and the implements,
utensils, and ornaments of different tribes have probably been mixed.
Hence, it is often difficult to distinguish them with certainty.
Some of these objects of manufacture have been found uncovered upon the
surface of the ground, or partially covered by the soil; others have
been dug or ploughed out by the farmer and road-maker in their
operations; and other artifacts as well as human skeletons have been
taken from pits or excavations six to eight feet in depth. In only a few
localities of eastern Canada have mounds been discovered containing
specimens of the work of ancient or prehistoric man. There have been
found, however, numerous aboriginal village-sites with many bits of
pottery, caches of charred corn, and various sorts of kitchen refuse and
primitive domestic tools and ornaments.
The following are the principal kinds of ancient artifacts found in this
part of the Dominion:—
Bone articles, such as needles, awls, knives, scrapers, and harpoons.
Shell objects, mostly made from marine shells which had been obtained in
tropical or sub-tropical seas.
Rude chert, quartzite, and flint objects, some of which are
ovate-leaf-shaped, much like the form of certain palæoliths of Dordogne,
France.
Drills or borers made of chert and quartzite.
Arrow-heads of chert, quartzite, and flint, barbed and unbarbed, and of
various forms.
Spears of slate, often having the tang laterally serrated.
Stone knives and scrapers, rude or well-finished; generally made of
limestone or of chert.
The chert used in the manufacture of scrapers, drills, and arrow-heads
was doubtless procured from the Devonian rocks in southwestern Ontario,
where it occurs in abundance near Lakes Erie and Huron.
Stone axes and adzes, often called “celts.” These are usually made of
amphibole and hornblende, related minerals, one a light-green and the
latter dark-green in color, and both being hard, tenacious, and durable.
Occasionally, however, celts of gneissoid material are found. In nearly
all cases these wedge-shaped axes or celts have good form and are highly
polished. No doubt they were sometimes used as spades or digging-tools.
Well-made gouges, of the same minerals as those in the “celts,” also
occur in many localities.
Pipes of sandstone, limestone, and quartzite. Usually these exhibit good
workmanship. Examples from Ontario are not wanting in which the bowl
alone consists of stone, each having a horizontal opening for the
insertion of a bone or wooden stem. Some have a perforation at the
bottom bored diagonally, probably for the suspension of an ornament.
Occasionally one is found having stem and bowl in one piece, and these
are chiefly made from a comparatively hard variety of steatite or
soapstone. Such are more frequently found northwards toward Hudson Bay,
and they may perhaps be referred to the Eskimo, as steatite is used by
this people in the manufacture of pipes as well as of culinary utensils.
A pipe made from Mexican or Utah onyx, and having a human face-mask
carved upon it, has been found in southwestern Ontario.
Gorgets. These are of many kinds as to their form and also the stone
from which they are made. Circular, oval, cylindrical, tubular, and
elongate flattened forms occur. The last-named are often nearly
rectangular, flat, polished pieces of stone, perforated by one, two, or
three holes. These are sometimes known as banner-stones. The smaller
ones may have been used as ornaments in the head-dress, a cord of the
hair of the head being fastened through one of the perforations, and
feathers inserted in the others. The banner-stone with a single central
perforation is somewhat rare, those with two or three perforations being
more numerous. Banner-stones of reddish hematitic slate have recently
been found here; but striped Huronian slate from the rocks of northern
Ontario is the usual material from which they have been fashioned.
Amulets, charms, or ceremonial stones. These are bird-like or
animal-like in shape, or rather they have the form of some imaginary
animal partly avian and partly mammalian. There are holes bored
diagonally through portions of the lower side, apparently for suspension
of these stones by strings. Amulets are usually three or four inches
long. Most of them are regularly formed and beautifully polished. The
material is Huronian slate. But one recently obtained by the writer is
of limestone, and has a length of nineteen inches, a height of six
inches, and a thickness of five inches. The holes are large and extend
from side to side in the upper part of what represents the neck and back
of the bird.
Copper artifacts are not uncommon in Ontario and some other eastern
localities, although they are not at all plentiful. The material is
native copper from Michigan in the vicinity of Lake Superior.
Occasionally native silver occurs in spots throughout the article.
Well-formed celts or axes, and spears are found. Knives and beads also
occur. The copper celt often has a flat side and a sloping raised side,
the latter consisting of two flat faces sloping laterally from a central
longitudinal elevation. Both sides of the spear slope toward the edge in
a similar manner; there is a tang for insertion into a wooden or other
handle, and there are usually two lateral projections at the base of the
blade. The beads are of two kinds, namely, small, circular beads rudely
fashioned, yet in shape somewhat like the ordinary modern beads of white
people; and the long, thin leaf of copper loosely rolled, to constitute
a small tube through which the string had to pass.
Pottery or earthenware objects. The pottery of this region is greatly
broken. It consists principally of sherds or fragments of vessels of
different sizes and designs. There are, however, a few perfect vessels
of pottery, and there are many unbroken pottery tobacco-pipes here. The
forms of the pipes and their decorative designs are numerous. Some of
these are shown in Fig. 434, Toronto University collection.
With regard to the date of the aforesaid objects of man’s handiwork, it
may here be stated that none of them are very recent, and that only the
simpler forms, such as some of the arrow-heads, scrapers, and skewers,
were made within the last four or five hundred years. There can be
little doubt that most of them were made many centuries ago; although,
of course, many of them may have been used in more recent times by the
aboriginal successors of their manufacturers.
THE PLAINS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL CANADA
In the region of the great plains between Lake Superior and the Rocky
Mountains the prehistoric artifacts differ greatly from those of eastern
Canada. Here are many earthworks of the ancient mound-builders, some of
which have yielded characteristic mound products, differing considerably
from the stone-age relics of the East; and in this region also are found
large numbers of grooved hammers and mauls rarely found in Ontario and
Quebec. In Ontario the stone “celt” or wedge is very common; but in
Manitoba, with the exception of the extreme eastern part of the
province, the celt is practically absent. With its decline and
disappearance farther west, and especially towards the borders of
Saskatchewan, the grooved hammers appear in great numbers, and in a
great variety of forms and sizes. Stone discs and grooved axes likewise
occur on the plains. Another stone tool absent from Manitoba is the
amphibole gouge, of which well-formed, beautiful specimens occur in
Ontario and farther east.
Stone hammers and mauls. The hammers and mauls are long and short, broad
or thick, and narrow, nearly uniform in thickness, or else tapering more
or less toward one end. Most of them are between four and six inches in
length, but some have been found almost a foot in length and six inches
in thickness. These latter are, of course, very heavy, and must have
been used in pounding or splitting hard or tough, heavy substances. The
correct name for such is beetle, maul, or mallet. One specimen of a
grooved hammer found in the region is made from a true hematite nodule
and is only three fourths of an inch in length. Some mauls and hammers
have a complete continuous groove near the middle of the stone; but in
most cases there is half an inch or more ungrooved, the furrow ceasing
at the point from which the handle of the implement is directed. The
usual rocks employed in their manufacture are gneiss and granite; but
limestone and amphibole sometimes occur. Ungrooved mauls and hammers
have been found, and occasionally one almost spherical in shape. No
fluted specimens have been reported.
Stone discs. Circular stone plates or discs are not of frequent
occurrence in this region; yet quite a number have been found. Like the
beetles and hammers, they are generally turned up by the farmer’s plough
in the cultivation of his farm. These discs are made of fine-grained
sandstone and gneissoid rocks, and a few have been found bearing
carvings upon them. In a measure these Manitoba discs remind one of the
interesting stone discs and plates of Alabama described by Mr. Clarence
B. Moore, but they are usually of a simpler type than those of the
South.
Stone spade or shovel. In a mound in 1907 the writer found a stone
implement which strongly resembles the modern shovel in form and size.
Stone axes. Only a few axes are known here, and they have prominent
ridges bounding the central encircling groove.
Arrow-heads of quartzite and flint are tolerably numerous. Very few
examples have been taken from the earthworks, nearly all having been
discovered by digging or ploughing the soil. Most of the latter are
rudely finished, while those discovered in the older mounds usually
exhibit superior workmanship.
One specimen of blade or unbarbed arrow-head in the possession of the
writer has a well-marked patina over its entire surface. It is about
three inches in length, and an inch and three quarters wide at its base.
Its material is translucent flint or agate. The patination of this flint
artifact must have required a long period of time, perhaps one thousand
years or more. It was ploughed out of the prairie at a depth of five or
six inches.
A few flint scrapers have been collected.
Pipes of stone. These are straight tubular bowls made of catlinite or
red “pipestone” from Minnesota, beautifully formed and polished. They
have been found only in the burial-mounds, and they do not at all
resemble the modern Indian pipes.
Objects made from bone. These are not numerous in this district. They
consist chiefly of bone skewers and awls, whistles made from the ulna of
the wing of the eagle or other large bird of flight (see Fig. 528), bone
armlets and beads. The armlets have holes by which they were evidently
laced or fastened upon the arms, and they are usually decorated by
grooves and notches. They are made from broad, flat bones, generally the
scapulæ of the larger animals. A bone blade or knife is sometimes found.
A comb-like hide-dressing bone tool, an arrow-nock, and primitive bone
beads have been recently taken from mounds by the writer. Only a very
few simple ornaments of deer antler have been found.
Shell objects. There is a variety of articles here made from sea-shells
and river-shells. A large spoon is made from one of the valves of the
shell of the fresh-water mollusc Unio. But the majority are ornaments,
and are made out of univalve shells from the ocean. Oblong, flat
pendants, large circular rings, oval, circular, and tubular beads of
shell occur.
Objects of copper consist chiefly of thin sheets of native copper rolled
in such a way as to form tubular beads. Sometimes larger pieces of rude
sheets of copper have been found. This copper must have been brought
from some locality near Lake Superior, where copper-mining was carried
on in prehistoric times.
Pottery or earthenware objects. Numerous fragments of pottery bowls,
dishes, cups, and other vessels occur in some localities, usually in
fields where the sod has been ploughed for the first time, and where the
location is convenient to a stream or lake. Occasionally pottery sherds
have been found at greater depths, even to two or three feet. In such
cases they were evidently covered by olay and sands deposited from the
overflow of the waters in some former period of time, no doubt many
centuries ago. In some of the most ancient burial-mounds a few perfect
vessels of pottery have been discovered. These are small urns with
flaring rims and more or less decoration, the principal part of which
consists in most instances of a continuous, deep groove running spirally
around the entire body of the vessel.
Only one example of a pipe made of pottery has yet been reported from
this region. This is a large pipe, having bowl and stem in one piece,
found by the writer in a burial-mound in 1908. Both the stem and bowl
are decorated with grooves.
The urns here referred to and the straight tubular stone pipes
previously mentioned are precisely similar to most of those found by the
writer in numerous mounds in Dakota some years ago. The shell articles,
pendants, rings, and beads also afford strong evidence in support of the
view that they who reared most, if not all, of the mounds of Manitoba
and North Dakota were one and the same people.
THE STONE AGE IN UTAH
The remains of prehistoric and ancient people hitherto discovered in
Utah consist principally of the ruins of various houses in the cliffs
and valleys, and the contents thereof. Besides these there are ancient
irrigation ditches of some size and importance in the southern part of
Utah. There are also petroglyphs or rock carvings of various kinds upon
the vertical faces of many of the rock cliffs; and what appear to be
tracks or prints of the human foot in volcanic rock have been found in
one or two places.
While the houses whose ruins occur in the broad valleys of Utah vary in
size and in the number of rooms, and also in the structure of their
floors and the interior finish of their walls, they may all be regarded
as belonging to the same class of mud or adobe structures. The
cliff-houses, however, differ in so far as some are stone buildings,
others mostly adobe, and others small caves just large enough for
occupation as dwellings or for use as storage-bins.
The more important artifacts obtained from the ruins of Utah are here
enumerated and described:—
_Objects made of Wood_
Wooden pail or bucket, from a cave (see Fig. 632). This is formed by
digging out a piece of the trunk of a tree.
Flails of several shapes are found. These are from three to four feet
long, and have one end wide and flat for a length of fifteen to eighteen
inches. They were used for beating the yucca plant and cedar bark in
making yarn or thread. Doubtless some of these wooden articles may have
been used also for digging in the earth.
Two atlatls from this region have been described, one by Professor Otis
T. Mason in 1892, and the second by the present writer in 1894. (See
_The Archæologist_ for November, 1894, “Prehistoric Man in Utah,” by
Henry Montgomery.) The latter atlatl or throwing-stick had two loops of
rawhide and a shallow groove upon it. There had been a piece broken off
the upper part.
Wooden pipes were discovered in 1894, along with mummies and relics, in
cave-house ruins in eastern Utah. These are nearly ovoid in shape; the
passage is not curved or bent; and they have short bone stems cemented
in position for use.
_Textiles_
Knitted and plaited articles occur.
Corn-sacks made of the fibre of the bark of the cedar tree have been
obtained by me in the caves of some of the canyon Cliff-Dwellers.
Baskets, mats, and sandals, chiefly of yucca fibre, have been found with
the bodies of half a dozen mummies and elsewhere in caves in eastern
Utah. These show artistic skill in their manufacture. In January,
February, and March, 1894, Mr. C. B. Lang made an important collection
in three caves of San Juan County, Utah, which he asked the writer to
examine at that time and to make report thereon to the scientific and
other journals. With that end in view I made an examination and had a
number of photographs of the collection made. Only a few of these were
used in publication. Some of the remaining unpublished photographs are
herein reproduced for the edification of our readers. (See Fig. 631,
pair of leggings, and Fig. 634, birch bark.) Mr. George H. Pepper
described a number of similar articles from other localities in Utah,
and referred them to a distinct race or tribe to which he gave the name
“basket-makers.” As sacks and mats of much the same character have been
found by the writer in other caves along with the ordinary
Cliff-Dweller’s artifacts and skeletons, the propriety of separating
these people from the Cliff-Dwellers proper seems, for the present at
least, somewhat doubtful.
_Feather Objects_
Robes and mantles or shawls made of the feathers of wild turkeys were
also taken from cave-house ruins in eastern Utah. Several mummies were
found clothed with such feather robes, and some wearing sandals of yucca
fibre, and others having deerskin coverings upon their feet.
_Bone Objects_
Pipe-stems, pieces of hollow bone of suitable length, cut from the
hollow wing-bones of birds.
Skewers and awls of bone are numerous.
Circular and oblong pieces of bone. No doubt some of these were used in
playing games.
Beads of bone of various sizes.
_Objects made from Teeth_
Beads made out of teeth, probably of the mountain lion, an animal which
is present in considerable numbers in the Wahsatch and Uintah Mountains.
_Shell Objects_
Beads made out of shells from the ocean.
_Stone Objects_
Metates and rubbing-stones, for grinding maize. These corn-grinding
mills are often quite large, and sometimes weigh as much as a hundred
pounds. In the year 1892 the writer found a heavy metate in a
cliff-house in a place one thousand feet above the stream in the bottom
of the canyon, and in a spot very difficult of access.
Arrow-heads of obsidian, chalcedony, and quartz. They are mostly small,
barbed, and well-formed. Many of them are translucent, and some are
transparent. Both obsidian and chalcedony occur in nature in southern
Utah.
One straight pipe-bowl of catlinite was found in a cave-house in San
Juan County. This may perhaps indicate intercourse with the tribes of
Dakota or Minnesota.
A nearly pear-shaped pipe-bowl of beautifully polished onyx was found
with mummified human bodies and wooden flails and fibre mats in a cave
in eastern Utah (see Fig. 436). It had a stem of bone in position,
fastened in place by some sort of black cement or fireproof substance,
which also lined the inside of the pipe-bowl.
Stone mauls and hammers are to be mentioned as occurring in Utah. They
are generally provided with a groove in which the pliant, tough, wooden
handle is fastened.
Grooved stone axes likewise occur.
Oblong and other-shaped pendants and ornaments of turquoise and green
variscite have been found in the valley houses.
_Pottery Objects_
Pipe-bowls of several kinds, straight and curved. Some well-formed
pottery pipes were found by the writer in 1890 in valley-house ruins.
Balls an inch or two in diameter made of partially baked clay. Probably
used for games of some sort.
Vessels in the form of bowls and jugs. The bowls are of regular form,
well glazed and tastefully decorated with painted designs, mostly on the
inside.
The jars have one or two handles, and are of many sizes, some being very
large. Occasionally the jars are highly embellished externally by
painted designs of various and interesting kinds. Similar bowls, jars,
and pipes of pottery are found in both the valley- and the cliff-house
ruins.
That the people who built and inhabited the cave- and cliff-houses and
the valley houses were one and the same race of people can hardly be
doubted. This was pointed out by the writer in 1894. The stone
corn-mills, the pipes, the arrow-points, the bowls and jars of pottery,
are similar. The house structures were, of course, slightly different,
owing to the difference in their environment. But both peoples were
agriculturists, both built small rooms or houses for storing corn,
gourds, water, and implements, both had arrows for defense and the
chase, and both manufactured superior pottery similar in the quality of
the material and also in decoration.
THE STONE AGE IN DAKOTA
The former Territory of Dakota included that portion of the country now
forming the States of North and South Dakota.
The ancient specimens of handiwork in the Dakota Territory of the early
“eighties” comprised surface “finds,” which were mostly stone mauls,
hammers, and axes, rude bone and pottery articles of old village-sites,
and also various kinds of mound products.
The principal artifacts are here enumerated:—
_Hide and Bark_
Leather or tanned hide, found occasionally in mound burial-pits.
Although evidently very old, it appears to have been carefully tanned,
and to have been part of the hide of a buffalo.
Baskets made from the bark of the birch tree. These are small and are
nearly all of similar pattern. Usually the basket consists of but one
piece of bark cut in such a manner that it could be bent and fashioned
into a neat basket and stitched together where the parts overlapped.
Sometimes two and even three rows of holes are present, showing great
regularity, and that a small needle and thread must have been used in
the work.
_Objects made from Deer Antlers_
Pear-shaped deer antler pipe-bowls, three and one half inches long, and
two and one fourth inches wide at the top, have been found by the
writer. (See Fig. 428, F.)
Deer antler, perforated near one end.
Deer antler tyne, perforated and notched. Perhaps this served as a
message stick.
Deer antler tyne, peculiarly cut and furrowed. Probably a tool. (See
Fig. 542.)
_Bone Objects_
Bone harpoons for spearing or catching large fishes such as the Great
Lake pike of Devils Lake.
Bone anklet, with ornamental carving, and having holes near two opposing
margins for lace-strings, and other holes perhaps for the attachment of
ornaments.
Bone tubes or pipe-stems, cut from the hollow bones of birds’ wings.
Bone awls, needles, and knife-blades.
_Shell Objects_
These comprise objects made from fresh-water shells as well as those
made from ocean shells.
Among these are the following:—
Circular pearly ornaments like buttons, with a central aperture and four
marginal notches at regular intervals. Large pearly shell rings thicker
and wider on one side. (See Fig. 543, E.) Usually more than twenty of
these rings have been found together near a human skull and in such a
position that there seems no doubt they had formed the principal part of
a necklace.
Oblong pearly pendants, notched near one end for the cord of attachment,
and decorated with four or five notches on the other extremity. (See
Fig. 528.)
Long beads made from the columella of shells of the ocean gasteropod,
_Fulgur perversa_, of frequent occurrence also in the mounds of the
Mississippi Valley. (See Fig. 543, D.)
Small shell beads made by grinding the ocean shells Nerita, Natica, and
Marginella on the shoulder of the spire. (See Fig. 543, G.)
Scoop or spoon, made from a valve of the bivalve mollusc Unio, the
common fresh-water mussel. This has a very short handle cut on it, and
it is ornamented with a few notches on the margin.
_Stone Objects_
Sharpening-stones. Ovoid objects made of coarse sandstone and having a
groove in the centre of one side. These were for sharpening bone awls
and needles and probably for grinding shells and other articles into the
desired shapes.
The stone mauls and hammers were plentiful in the southern portions of
Dakota; but were absent from a large part of the Territory near the
forty-ninth parallel. Most were grooved near the middle, and they varied
considerably in size and shape. There were also some grooved stone axes,
some of which possess a prominent ridge beside the furrow and upon the
side between the furrow and the edge end of the axe.
Barbed flint and agate spears. Some are very large. All are translucent
and exhibit workmanship of a high order. They are found in the
burial-mounds, and are very rare. (See Fig. 214 A.)
Flint and agate arrow-heads. Only a very few of these occur. They are
also well made.
Effigy stones. Two slender stone serpents have been reported from South
Dakota. One of these is said to have six curves or convolutions.
Stone pipes. (See Fig. 428.) These are made of catlinite or red
pipestone, and are regularly formed and beautifully polished. They are
all straight tubes constituting bowls, and vary in length from two to
ten inches. One taken out of a mound by the writer was ten and one
quarter inches long (twenty-six cm.). The stem was at least in some
cases made from the hollow ulnar bone of the wing of a large bird; for
bone stems of this character were found with several of the pipes.
Hollow pieces of wood may perhaps also have been used as pipe-stems.
This straight tubular pipe is very characteristic of the mounds of North
Dakota, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, very few of other kinds having as
yet been reported from this prairie region.
Stone tablets. Flat pieces of stone are sometimes found; but they are
very rare. One of these found by Montgomery in 1889 is made from
pipestone or catlinite and has the figure of an animal carved upon each
side. (See Fig. 310.) One of the carvings is probably meant to represent
a beaver, and the figure upon the other side of the tablet is a
representation of a buffalo cow with open mouth, and the figure of a
stone spear-head with shaft attached, pointing to the heart. It would
seem to indicate that the buffalo had been shot in the heart by the
spear or large arrow, and in consequence the mouth is represented as
being wide open. Some, however, interpret the position of the spear and
shaft to mean the “line of life,” which may possibly be the correct
interpretation. Another tablet found by Montgomery in a burial-mound has
the figure of a beaver carved upon each side, one representing the upper
surface of the animal, and the other being a side view.
_Objects of Copper_
The articles made of copper are few in kind and number. They are chiefly
simple cylindrical tubular beads and rudely formed spear-heads of native
copper.
_Objects of Pottery_
The writer has found a number of vessels of pottery in the burial-mounds
of northern Dakota. All of them are small urn-shaped vessels of coiled
ware, and almost all of them were found in a perfect condition. In most
cases their decoration is a continuous spiral groove around the body of
the urn, terminating near the centre of the bottom of the vessel. In a
few instances the decorative design is different; and some are provided
with four holes in the rim for suspension by cords.
On the Mandan village-sites and in the more southern parts of Dakota
many fragments of pottery jars and vessels are found. These have various
incised decorative designs, and in some cases ears or small handles are
present. Much of this pottery closely resembles the pottery of the
eastern part of the continent.
_Objects of Unbaked Clay_
There have been tobacco-pipes of unbaked clay found by the writer in the
burial-mounds of this region. One form of these consists simply of a
bowl with a straight tubular passage. (See Fig. 429.) It is nearly of
the same design as that of the catlinite pipe.
A second kind (see Fig. 429) has stem and bowl in one piece and is bent
or curved so that the stem is at right angles with the bowl as in modern
pipes. These pipes, like some of the catlinite pipes taken from the
ancient mounds, showed evidence of much usage, there being a
considerable incrustation or deposit within the bowl from the burning of
kinni-kinnic of some kind.
While some of the artifacts herein enumerated and described were
undoubtedly made by Sioux and Mandan Indians, it appears quite certain
that the products of the mound burial-pits, that is, the spirally
grooved urns, the tubular pipes, antler tynes, and sea-shell ornaments,
belonged to some other ancient tribe, possibly to the ancient Arikaras,
or to a yet earlier tribe.