STOXE AGE IN NEW JERSEY. 271 



Mass., by Jos. Story, in 1824. It is now iutlie museum of the Poabody 

 Academy of Science of the same place, and is labeled as coming from 

 x>ew Jersey ; associated "uitli it is a specimen of another class, to be 

 figured and described in a succeeding chapter. It is of the same min- 

 eral, also from Kew Jersey, and presented by Mr. Story in 1824. 



Figure 35 is chipped from yellow jas|3er, the same in every i)articu!ar 

 with the many jasper specimens that we have procured near Trenton, N. 

 J. A glance at the illustration will, it is thought, satisfy any one as to 

 its intended use, however diflicult it may seem to us to securely attach 

 to it a shaft such as would be required to effectively wield so formida- 

 ble a weapon. Certainly, the well-defined point, and the width of the 

 implement, in comparison with its length, both show that its use was 

 for ji'iercxng. Any manner of using other than by thrusting would cer- 

 tainly break a piece of stone so slender and somewhat brittle ; and if 

 an edge had been intended to be used as a knife, would not the opposite 

 ^i\^^ have been left blunt, or at least, not been as well chipped as the 

 cutting-edge? And if a bone handle had been fastened along one side, 

 would not some trace of such handle be visible 1 



As specimens of such large lance-heads are very rare in Xew Jersey, 

 it is more than probable that they were the peculiar property of "chiefs,'' 

 or " kings," and possibly were used on state occasions as a badge of 

 office, rather than on the field of battle. There is too much work on such 

 a lance-head as figure 35 to risk its being broken in a fight. 



Messrs. Squier and Davis* figure a " flint" similar to figure 35 in size 

 and mineral, but varying from it in being pointed at each end. After 

 mentioning the use to which the stemmed examples were put, they add, 

 "There are others, however, the manner of using which is not so obvious. 

 ISTo. 3 is an example. It measures eleven inches in length by two and a 

 halfin greatest breadth. It has been suggested that it was fastened at 

 right angles to a handle and used as a sort of battle-ax." We think this 

 latter suggestion a very plausible one, as the specimen is double-pointed, 

 and with a handle at the center would make a good " double-headed " 

 weapon; but, the base of figure 35 being as markedly blunt as the point 

 is acute, such use cannot be applied to the specimen we have here 

 described. 



Flint lance-head-shaped implements, quite similar to many of our 

 surface-specimens of jasper, but less symmetrical as a class, are charac- 

 teristic of the " drift" in Europe. Tylor says, t"A set of characteristic 

 drift-implements would consist of certain tapering instruments like huge 

 lance-heads, shaped, edged, and pointed, by taking off a large number 

 of facets, in a way which shows a good deal of skill and feeling for 

 symmetry; smaller leaf shaped instruments; flints partly shaped and 

 edged, but with one end left unwrought, evidently for holding in the 

 hand," &c. 



AYhile the Xew Jersey specimens as a class are probably smaller, 



"Anc. Mon. Miss. Valley, p. 211, fig. 99, (No. 3.; 

 t Early History of JIan., 2d ed., p. 197. 



