314 ETHNOLOGY. 



pression or groove for the bantlle-fasteiiings. At the eud or point there 

 is a small pecked surface which may have been intended to produce a 

 blunter end, or caused by hammering upon other stones, as ia using the 

 chisel or gouge. We have sometimes thought it possible that such ham- 

 mers as figure 135, which are by no means rare, may have been intended 

 as axes at first, but in consequence of the amount of work required, or 

 from other cause, they were rejected by the implement- maker. Were 

 there not also hammers to which these remarks cannot be applied, and 

 tools that require the use of hammers of some kind, we should be in- 

 clined to adopt this view of " unfinished axes," especially since, at that 

 time, as now, any stone of suitable weight and size, and conveniently 

 manipulated, might serve as a hammer. 



Figure 136 represents a cobblestone hammer, which has puzzled us 

 considerably. There is a well-defined depression extending all around 

 the stone at one end, but it is so smooth, and uniform in color with the 

 natural surface of the stone, that we are a little puzzled to determine 

 whether the groove is natural, or whether the whole surface of the speci- 

 men was polished or worked. That the stone is well shaped for a hammer 

 is undoubted, w hether it be a chance bowlder or not j also, it is equally 

 available for hammering purposes, with or without a handle, not being too 

 large to enable one to secure a firm grip about its head, or grooved por- 

 tion. There is no indication of pecking at any part of this hammer, 

 nor does it show those slight inequalities which indicate use against 

 other equally hard or harder stones. This specimen was found near 

 Lambertville, N. J., and was presented to the author by Mr. William Dean, 

 of that place, whose interest in Indian antiquities has resulted in preserv- 

 ing many valuable specimens. The neighborhood from which this ham- 

 mer came is quite rich in the various classes of relics, and the fact of this 

 specimen being found associated with other implements is largely in 

 favor of the idea that it, at least, was in use as a hammer by the Indi- 

 ans, even if it w^as not grooved by them in the manner in which it now 

 appears. 



Figure 137 represents a very handsome form of stone hammer, found 

 near the Delaware River, at Scudder's Falls — a locality quite rich in the 

 commoner form of relics. This specimen, kindly lent by John H. 

 Scudder, esq., of Trenton, N. J., for purposes of description and figur- 

 ing, was found some forty years ago, and has been used as a nut-cracker 

 ever since. The specimen is a finely-grained sandstone, and has been 

 carefully worked out into a very handy shape for hammering purposes. 

 It measures eight and one-quarter inches in length, about four of which 

 form the handle. The head of the hammer is quadrangular in outline; 

 the whole outer and inferior inner lateral outline being at an angle of 

 about forty-five degrees with the line of the handle, Both head and 

 handle have a uniform thickness of two inches. There are now but few 

 traces of tool-marks upon any part of the specimen, the inferior outer 

 angle and extremity of the handle alone showing a roughness of the sur- 



