622 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



ing and fishing were important means of subsistence, and agricul- 

 ture was very generally practiced, the principal staple being the 

 native Indian corn. The corn shown in this group is native Indian 

 corn obtained from the Iroquois Indians of Canada. (See pi. 16.) 



THE MANUFACTURE OF STONE IMPLEMENTS BY THE AMERICAN 



ABORIGINES. 



The Indian tribes of the New World had not advanced beyond 

 the "stone age" of culture, and the quarrying and shaping of 

 stone implements were to them industries of vital, importance. 

 Suitable stone was gathered from the surface of the ground, or 

 was obtained at the expense of great labor from the deposits in 

 place. The quarrying of flint and other bedded minerals was car- 

 ried on in many sections of the country, and the pittings may 

 still be seen among the hills. In like manner, water- worn stones — 

 bowlders and pebbles — were quarried from the river bluffs and 

 ancient beaches, and extensive workings of this class are found in 

 the suburbs of Washington City. 



This group is intended to illustrate the work carried on in the 

 great quarries on Piney Branch and in the associated workshops 

 not long before the arrival of the English, some 300 years ago, near 

 the point where Eighteenth Street would cross that stream. The 

 broken bowlders and fiakage left on the shop sites are in places 10 

 feet or more in depth. 



The man at the left is represented as employing a heavy, wooden 

 pike in prying up the larger bowlders, while the second breaks 

 them up preparatory to selecting fragments of suitable size and 

 shape for implement making. 



The third man roughs out the forms of the implements by means 

 of quick, sharp blows, with a bowlder hammer, using either the 

 selected fragments or the smaller bowlders for the purpose. 



The fourth workman trims the edges and shapes up the thin 

 blades with an implement of bone or antler set in a wooden shaft. 

 The flaking is accomplished by setting the point of this imple- 

 ment against the edge of the roughed-out blade, and pressing it 

 downward with a quick, strong movement, reenforced by the weight 

 of the body. Flakes are thus removed from the under side, and 

 the folded buckskin pad serves to prevent breakage of the blade 

 under treatment. This work, however, was not completed at the 

 quarry, the blades being usually carried away to be finished as 

 the implements were needed. 



The finishing touches are given, as indicated by the fifth work- 

 man, who chips out the notches and shapes the points by means of 

 a small flaker of bone or like material, which is pressed down on 

 the sharp edge of the blade until it " takes hold." Then, by a quick 



