TRACES OF A PRE-INDIAN PEOPLE. 3 i 9 



been assigned to an earlier date than the latter, and considered the 

 handiwork rather of the descendants of palaeolithic man. 



What is held to be convincing evidence of this has already been 

 given in the statement of the relative positions of the two forms 

 Indian and pre-Indian as seen in sections of undisturbed or virgin 



soil. 



Negative evidence of the soundness of this view is had in the 

 character of the sites of arrow-makers' open-air workshops, or those 

 spots whereon the professional chipper of flint pursued his calling. 



In the locality where the writer has pursued his studies several 

 such sites have been discovered and carefully examined.* In no one 

 of these workshop sites has there been found any trace of argillite 

 mingled with the flint-chips that form the characteristic feature of 

 such spots. On the other hand, no similar sites have been discovered, 

 to my knowledge, where argillite was used exclusively. The absence 

 of this mineral can not be explained on the ground that it was diffi- 

 cult to procure, for such is not the case. It constitutes, in fact, a 

 large percentage of the pebbles and bowlders of the drift, from which 

 the Indians gathered their jasper and quartz pebbles for working into 

 implements and weapons. 



If the absence of argillite from such heaps of selected stones is 

 explained by the assertion that the Indians had recognized the superi- 

 ority of jasper, then the belief that argillite was used prior to jasper 

 receives tacit assent. If, however, it was the earlier Indians who 

 used argillite, and gradually discarded it for the various forms of flint, 

 then we ought to find workshop sites older than the time of flint chip- 

 ping, and others where the two minerals are associated. This, as has 

 been stated, has not been done. Negative evidence this, it is admitted, 

 but, when considered in addition to the positive evidence of position 

 in undisturbed soil, it has a value that must not be overlooked. Suffi- 

 cient positive evidence to clear away all doubt of the presence of an 

 earlier people than the Indian on the Atlantic sea-board of America 

 will probably never be forthcoming, yet, to the minds of candid inquir- 

 ers, there is a degree of probability in the interpretation of known 

 facts that closely hugs the bounds of certainty. 



Wholly convinced that valid reasons have been given for assum- 

 ing that the chipped stone implements made of argillite are older than 

 the similar patterns of weapons made by the Indians, it is desirable 

 to determine w T hether these ruder objects are the handiwork of the 

 ancestors of the Indians of historic times, or that of the descendants 

 of palasolithic man, and therefore the relics of a preceding, prehistoric 

 race. 



A forcible objection that has been urged against the assumption, 

 as it was held to be, of a pre-Indian occupancy of our sea-coast, is the 

 difficulty of realizing that a people sufficiently advanced to make so 



* "Primitive Industry," chapter xxxi, p. 453, Salem, Massachusetts, 1881. 



