414 



which, by the freshet's flow, have been washed away, leaving the 

 heavier stone implements at rest among the pebbles and sand of 

 their shores. 



What their age is no man can tell; but we do know that their 

 use gave way to the advent of the white man; some of them 

 undoubtedly buried or abandoned, like the tomahawk of war on 

 the approach of the peaceful Penn and the benevolent founders of 

 our State. 



With regard to the use of the implements under immediate con- 

 sideration we are left entirely to conjecture. They have not the 

 pointed or lance form of the true spear-head, of which there are 

 abundant specimens (a few are laid upon the table) ; but have an 

 oval form, frequently without sharp edges, and have been distin- 

 guished by the term, ^'almond-shaped implements/^ That they 

 were " sling-stones,'^ as some have supposed, is much less probable 

 than that they were inserted, in rows, into wooden handles or staffs, 

 like certain ancient weapons of war, — the beak of the saw-fish, or 

 the shark's tooth, offensive weapons of the South Pacific islanders of 

 the present day. 



In connection with this subject, the attention of the Society is 

 solicited to the interesting fact, that during the Stone Period the 

 manufacture of pottery was simultaneously practised, in a rude state 

 it is true, but sufficiently perfect to answer most of the needs of a 

 savage existence, with attempts at ornament, and in some instances 

 graceful forms, that show an effort for the beautiful. A band 

 frequently surrounds the brim, occasionally turned over, although 

 they were sometimes moulded without this ornamental form; for 

 the makers of these utensils, like the makers of arrow-heads, had 

 different degrees of excellence in their art, and exhibit as striking 

 differences in correctness of eye and neatness of hand, as we see, in 

 this our day, of skilful workmen, and the botched jobs of appren- 

 tices who have mistaken their calling. 



The attempts at the ornamental decoration of pottery are fre- 

 quently, if not invariably, exhibited in diagonal^ lines, alternating 

 at intervals, and parallel lines, and dots ; the first reminding us of 

 the rude attempts, with a like object, in certain early samples of 

 Saxon architecture. There is also exhibited a graining of the sur- 

 face, evidently made by or with the ^^cob," from which the Indian 

 corn has been removed. 



These pots were round on the bottom, plain, and without legs. 

 The material is clay, in a crude state, nothing but the stones 



