DEPOSIT OF AGRICULTURAL FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 



405 



in nortliorn France* The similarity in form, however, is the only analog^' that 

 can he claimed for the nule flint articles of both continents, considenn^' tliat 

 they occun-ed midcr totally different circumstances. The drift implements of 

 Europe represent the most primitive attempts of man in the art of working stone, 

 while the Ohio disks arc the nnlinished specimens of n race that constructed 

 earthworks of amazing size, and was already highly skilled in the manufacture 

 of weapons and tools of flint. 



Yet I little douht hut that imjdements analogous in shape as well as in asso- 

 ciations to those of the drift of Europe, will be found also in America; for indi- 

 cations of the In'gh anticpiity of man on the latter continent are not wanting-, aud 

 the similarity in the early condition of the human race in various parts of the 

 globe becomes more and more manifest by the results of archiBological investi- 

 gation. 



Another occuiTcnce of flint disks is recorded in a notice by Dr. H07, published 

 in Lapham's " Antiquities of Wis- 

 consin," one of the Smithsonian vol- 

 umes : *"■ Some workmen, in digging 

 a ditch through a peat swamp near 

 Racine, found a deposit of disks of 

 hornstone, about 30 in number. They 

 were immediately on tlie clay, at the 

 bottom of the peat, about two and 

 a half feet below the surface. Some 

 of the disks were (piito regular; they 

 vary fi'om half a pound to a pound 

 in weight." A few of these are pre- 

 Bervedin the collection of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. 



About ISGO, while I lived in St. 

 Louis, a quantity of rudely-shaped 

 flint articles of similar character were 

 discovered close together on the bank 

 of the Mississippi, between St. Louis 

 and Carondelet. It is probaldcthat 

 the falling down of a part of tlie bank 

 lia<l exposed them to siglit. I could 

 not ascertain their number, but saw 

 about eiglit of them, of whicii 1 ob- 

 tained three. They are nearly all 

 of the same size, oval in shajjc, and 

 consist of whitish flint. Eig. 4 

 represent^s one of my specimens in 

 natm-al size. The original is seven- 

 eighths of an incli tliick in tlie mid- 

 dle i)art. It is evident that they arc 

 not implements in a state of comph;- 

 lion, but rouglily-edged fragments, 

 whicli- were destined to be made into 

 aiTow and spear-heads at some future time. Tlieir present convenient shape was 

 doubtless given them f(n- the sake of easier transportation and for saving space. It 

 is believed that flint can \h\ chipped more readily after having been exposed 

 for some time to thehumi<l influence of the earth, and this may i)artly accotmt 

 for the practice of the aborigines of bin-ying tlieir supplies of flint in suitable places. 



* Implciiieuts very similar in shape to thi^ Ohio disks wore also fmiud ia the cuves of 

 Dordognc, especially that of Lo Motistier Th'^y are described tmd figured in the splendid 

 work by Lartet aud Christy, entitled " Reliquia; Aquitanicae." 



