A PREHISTORIC CEMETERY. 



455 



The stone implements are much the same as those found in various 

 parts of the country. There seems, however, to be a remarkable pau- 

 city of grooved axes, there having been but two found so far. There 

 are numbers of the ungrooved " celts," as well as of sling-stones, 

 blunt at each end, but with a groove in the middle by which to fasten 

 the handle. Some of these stones were also probably used as sinkers 

 for nets in fishing, and are very similar to those found in Swiss lakes, 

 as noticed by Dr. Keller. Rubbing-stones for polishing celts, ham- 

 mers, anvils, pestles, and corn-pounders, are also abundant. Some 

 pieces of a coarse, gritty sandstone have shallow grooves worn into 

 them, which are supposed to have been used in rubbing down some of 

 the bone or flint implements. Other pieces, with similar grooves, but 

 made of close-grained sandstone, were probably used to straighten the 

 shafts of the arrows. The shaft, at first wet and green, was rubbed 

 up and down in the groove, and all the bends or twists thus taken out. 

 Stones like these have been used by the Indians of the historic period. 



Reference was made in the early part of this article to the name of 

 the " Pottery-Field," given to the burying-ground. It may be in- 

 ferred from the name that pieces of pottery were abundant, and the 

 number of vessels taken out fully confirms the appropriateness of the 

 name. These are all of one general shape and character. The mate- 

 rial is a clay mixed with finely-powdered shells, and was baked in the 

 sun. Nearly all the vessels are furnished with four handles, and are 

 generally devoid of any ornamentation. Some have salamander-shaped 

 handles, and the few that are ornamented have simply cross-lines and 

 stripes with lines running round the vessel 

 near the top, and perhaps a few dots. 

 Though some of them are very well 

 formed, they do not show any great ad- 

 vance in art. 



Among the most interesting remains of 

 any race of people, are the rude beginnings 

 of art they have left behind them ; and, 

 though the people under consideration did 

 not have, as far as we know, any written 

 language, they have left a few memorials 

 of their artistic feelings in the shape of 

 some carvings on bone, and a few in- 

 scribed stones. The most interesting of 

 these are here figured. Fig. 20 represents, 

 on a piece of limestone, the head and fore- 

 legs of some curious animal. What is 

 meant is hard to imagine. The teeth are 

 marvelous, but still, in their arrangement, 

 are like the teeth of the wolf -pipe in Fig. 19. Fig. 21 is a portion of 

 a bone having peculiar marks cut on it. The marks are the same on 



Fig. 20. 



