STONE AGE IX NEW JERSEY. 335 



Figure 175 represents a form of banner-stoue allied to lignre 172, but 

 is noticeably different in not being perforated for a handle or suspensory 

 cord, but simply grooved upon one si(?o; the groove, too, beiug narrow 

 and very shallow. The specimen is of hornstone, and was first pecked 

 into its i)reseut shape, and subsequently polished over the whole surface 

 of one side and one-half of the surface of the other side. The groove 

 is polished over its entire surface. The margins are all blunt, and, 

 jilthough quite regular in outline, have had no care in finishing. 



"We have met with no other specimen of banner-stone that v.as 

 grooved on only one side, and it may be, indeed, that we err in con- 

 sidering figure 175 under this heading; but its size, shape, and gen- 

 eral appearance show very plainly that it was never intended either as 

 a weapon or a domestic implement, unless it is unfinished and was in- 

 tended to be a double-bladed skiuning-knife. This conjecture, however, 

 we do not believe to be in any way correct. 



Figure 17G is the half of a banner-stone of the pattern of figure 172, 

 but much smaller than that specimen, and pointed, instead of bluntly 

 rounded at the end. This fragment is interesting, as it shows that such, 

 banner-stones were highly valued by the people who fashioned them, 

 and that a piece of one was not to be discarded if it could at all be 

 utilized. The broken edges of this specimen, which has been fractured 

 along the perforation, has been carefully smoothed down, and through 

 the middle of one of these projecting edges a small hole has been drilled. 

 This hole has been drilled from both sides, showing that the specimen 

 was broken after the large hole had been completed. Along the lower 

 margin, on one side only, is a long row of narrow, closely-placed lines, 

 which appear to have been carved there by design as a "record," such 

 as we have shown on specimens of the breast-plates. 



As a class, these banner-stones are found scattered over the country, 

 at or very near the surface. They are turned up occasionally by the 

 plow or spade, but are not found more numerously at one point than at 

 another, as at localities known to have been sites of Indian villages for- 

 merly. We have not met with any specimens of this stone in graves, as 

 we have with the breast-plates described in chapter xvi. 



These elaborate banner-stones bear witness to the great patience pos- 

 sessed by those who fashioned them. Although it is true that time was 

 not taken into consideration in the various undertakings of the aborig- 

 ines, yet, in view of their well-known aversion to labor, these specimens 

 are the more marvelous, since steady hard labor was required to bring 

 them to their present respective conditions. 



It must be noticed that these banner-stones are now no longer made 

 by any of the western tribes. The rude brass trinkets obtainable at the 

 trading-posts, and the bright-colored beads, have taken the place of 

 these less gaudy, but far more beautiful ornaments. The contact of the 

 Indians with the whites has certainly been fatal to their taste for art, 

 from the banner-stone to the bead beiug a long step backward. 



