STONE AGE IN NEW JERSEY. 305 



the iuiplemont figured iu 108 would cut tbe tendons of a lamb, and aK-.o 

 the skin, but not with as clean an incision as was desirable. 



Figure IIG representsa comparatively common style of skinning knile, 

 made from a piece of serpentine, pecked to a blunt point at the back, 

 and from about the middle of the implement to the ed^i^e is very smoothly 

 polished. The specimen measures a little less than three inches in length, 

 and two inches in Avidth along the cutting-edge, and is a very good aver- 

 age specimen of this class of implements. It approaches in general 

 character the cylindrical hand axes with pointed butt, but is considerably 

 flatter and somewhat broader. It docs not appear as well ada[)ted to 

 skinning as does either of the preceeding examples. 



Figures 117 and 118 represent two more skinning-knives, one from 

 New Jersey, figure 118, and the other from Indiana, figure 117. 



Figure 117 is a better specimen than the other, inasmuch as it is 

 thinner, and originally had a better edge. It is of very compact stone, 

 similar to serpentine, but not exactly like this mineral as found in New 

 Jersey. Figure 118 is also of a very comi^act mineral, approaching 

 porphyry, but very heavy, as though largely charged with iron. It has 

 been carefully polished over its whole surface, to accomplish which, 

 considering the mineralogical character of the specimen, must have cost 

 much labor. The specimen measures just three inches in length by one 

 inch and three-quarters in width, along the cutting-edge. As figure IIG 

 approaches the cylindrical, pointed hand-axes, so does this specimen 

 come near the square-ended, nngrooved axes, of which figures have 

 been given. Such skinning-knives as these appear to be common over 

 the whole territory of the United States. We have seen them from 

 nearly every State in the Union. Messrs. Squier and Davis* give illus- 

 trations of two such specimens, differing only in mineral, and remark: 

 "There is another variety (besides knives proper) of cutting instrument, 

 which it may not be out of place to notice here. These consist of hard, 

 compact minerals, worked into a chisel-shape. Some have a very sharp, 

 smooth edge, and form quite a good substitute for metal. Engravings 

 of two, of full size, {both are much smaller than our si)ecimeus of a 

 similar shape, i. c, figures 117 and 11 8,) are herewith i)resented. They are 

 formed of very compact nodules of brown hematite, which have been 

 ground into form and polished with great labor. They have a sub- 

 metallic luster, and very nearly the specific gravity of iron. A file pro- 

 duces a scarcely perceptible impression upon their rounded surfiices." 

 We have, as yet, not collected any specimens of these skinning-knives or 

 other implements made from nodules of known henmtite, although this 

 mineral is abundant in the northern portion of New Jersey, but proba- 

 bly there are specimens iu collections made in that section of the State, 

 not only of knives, but of grooved axes, and other of the larger imple- 

 ments of stone. Figure 119 is a rude skinningknife, ground down from 

 a globular jiorphyry pebble, and, considering its thickness at the com- 



* Anc. Mon. Miss. Valley, p. 215, fig. lOG. 

 S. Mis. 115 20 



