STONE AGE IN NEW JERSEY. 275 



thus is afforded another reason for the belief that these more carefully 

 wrought specimens were set apart as a most imi)ortant, if not the most 

 important, implements for securing food. 



Figure 40, like the preceding, represents a i)erfect specimen of the 

 hunting-spear, being somewhat shorter and broader than ligure o9. 

 This specimen is chipped from a yellow jasper, veined with glassy 

 quartz, a favorite mineral with the arrow-makers. It is very well, but 

 not as finely cut as are many arrow-points, and shows, by its whole 

 appearance, that it was worked with a view rather to strength and dura- 

 bility than to elegance of finish. The point and sides are still very 

 sharp, and capable of inflicting a fearful wound if thrust with moderate 

 force. This specimen measures three and three-fourths inches in length 

 by a little less than one-half this measurement in greatest width. 



Figure 41 is an elegantly-outlined and admirably-finished specimen 

 of a spear-head, considering that the mineral out of which it was chipped 

 is a tough, micaceous, quartz-like rock, which, in the shape of glacial 

 bowlders, abounds in the drift about the central portion of the State. It 

 has a most uncertain fracture, and was very little used as material for 

 arrow or spear heads, as far as our experience extends. 



This specimen exhibits a peculiarity not observable in any other of 

 the series in our collection, but one which is seen in one of our arrow- 

 points, viz, in having a twist to the body of the S])ear-point, whereby 

 the edges are at a slight angle to the barbs, or projecting i^oints, of the 

 base. This feature, which is most noticeable when viewing the speci- 

 men from the point downward, extends along the whole extent of the 

 sides. We believe this peculiarity to have been intentional on the part 

 of its maker, and was designed to give the spear a rotary motion, by 

 fastening to a short haft, probably feathered, and known as a dart. 

 Although worn now, the point has the appearance of being once very 

 sharp, so that a strong throw would enable it to pierce the skin of small 

 mammals. 



Figure 42 represents a very fine specimen of a beautiful style of spear- 

 heads, which, however, have invariably lost their stems, suggesting 

 that being thrust in only as far as the commencement of the stem, the 

 aninud has been able to break it there, and possibly escape. This sug- 

 gestion conflicts, we know, with a previous assertion that spears were 

 less a])t to be broken than war-lances, but it would bo very strange if 

 occasional hunting-spears were not broken in the chase, and the slender 

 stem, in comparison with the width of the blade of the implement, ren- 

 ders this form peculiarly frangible. This pattern of spear-head is not 

 at all common, but having found several examples it cannot be properly 

 considered as " quite rare." 



In workmanship, the specimen in question excels that of figure 40, a 

 characteristic possibly due to the greater tractability of the mineral, 

 which is a dark-yellow jas[)er, wholly free from veins of quartz or other 

 minerals, and therefore most favorable for working. 



