PRIMITIVE MANUFACTURE OF SPEAR AND ARROW POINTS. 379 



tainty the locality on the Middle and Upper Savannah where many 

 forms of arrow and spear points were manufactured, which have been 

 found ou the sea islands and in the territory of Southern Georgia adjacent 

 to the coast. Despite the similarity in forms and style of manufacture 

 which characterizes all objects of this class, to the practiced eye and to 

 one critically conversant with the archaeological products of particular 

 localities there are certain marks or indicia which proclaim unmis- 

 takably the home not only of the material, but also of the artificer. 

 It is curious and interesting to trace and recognize the indestructible 

 proofs of these trade relations among these primitive peoples, and to 

 note with what confidence the origin of the bartered article, alien to the 

 locality where found, may often be assigned. 



These open-air workshops exist not only along the line of the Savan- 

 nah River, but frequently occur ou the banks of the Oconee, the Ocinul- 

 gee, the Flint, the Chattahoochee, and other southern streams. While 

 possessing a remarkable similarity in construction and identity in ma- 

 terial, the products of these various factories often indicate diversities 

 which, to the eye of the careful observer, are capable of ready recog- 

 nition. In the particular region to which our attention has been directed, 

 by far the greater number of arrow and spear points were chipped from 

 milky quartz and chert. Many rude specimens occur made of slate, and 

 attain unusual dimensions, some of them being a foot long and four 

 inches wide across the wings. In the Flint Eiver region these points are 

 broader, thicker, and generally made of beautiful varieties of yellow and 

 striped jasper. Not content with utilizing the milky quartz, chert, and 

 slate which lay at their very doors, the primitive workmen of the Savan- 

 nah obtained from a distance material of varied hue and much beauty, and 

 from it fashioned implements which, for excellency of workmanship 

 and intrinsic attractions of suriace and color, challenge admiration. 

 Those manufactured from pellucid crystals, chalcedony, rose-colored and 

 black quartz, and jasper of brilliant hues, are peculiarly attractive. 

 Within the past few years not less than eight thousand well-formed ar- 

 row and spear points have been collected on both banks of the Savan- 

 nah where it separates the counties of Columbia and Lincoln in Georgia 

 from Edgefield County in South Carolina. Even now the supply is by 

 no means exhausted. The annual plowings and constantly recur- 

 ring freshets reveal each season new examples of the taste and skill of 

 these ancient workmen. In the enumeration of the implements taken 

 from this locality we do not include multitudes partially formed and 

 broken, which, with quantities of chips, still mark the spots set apart 

 for the manufacture. Sometimes we encounter a locality, many yards 

 long and several wide, the surface of which is covered to the depth of 

 several inches with fragments struck off during the process of manufac- 

 ture, and with cores and wasters abandoned from some inherent defect 

 in the material or broken by the workman. Some idea may thus be 

 formed of the extent and duration of the labors of these primitive 

 workers in stone. 



