PAPERS RELATING TO ANTlIROiM )LOGY 

 TUE KAY COLLEOTrON FKOM IIUPA liESEliVATiON, 



BY OTIS T. MASON. 



"The tiling that liath been it is that which sliall be, and that which 

 is done is that whicli sliall be done, and there is no new thing under tlie 

 sun." 



This axiom having commended itself to a wise man of antiquity, finds 

 a new and wider verification in the court of modern science. 



Could we glean from each or any savage tribe of earth its apparatus 

 for administering to its every desire, and discard therefrom the perish- 

 able portions, we should have a technological exhibit not unlike our 

 smaller cabinets of antiquities collected in a circumscribed area. 



Eeversiug the process, if we add to our ancient stone implements all 

 the wooden, textile, leather, bone, and horn accompaniments of such 

 things, as they are now found in a savage camp, we shall not be far 

 from a correct picture of the industries which that ancient people i)rac- 

 ticed, and we could easily guess the sort of life they led. AVe ought to 

 inoceed with the utmost caution in this matter, for the following rea- 

 son : Iluman inventions, like natural objects, go in companies and af- 

 fect one another by contact and mutual action according to a law of mu- 

 tual modification. Just as the bees and the honey-producing orchids 

 have become mutually modified, so have num's devices in each depart- 

 ment of iiulustry acted and reacted upon one another to produce change 

 of form and structure. It is not enough, then, to compare an arrow-head 

 of the past with an an'ow-head of the present. The student should thor- 

 oughly exhaust the arch;eology of a mound, tomb, campsite, etc. Jle 

 should also thoroughly scrutinize the industries, sociology, beliefs, and 

 ceremonies of each modern tribe, in order to arrive at a broad generali- 

 zation of past human history. 



The older archtcologists and technologists did not foresee the drift of 

 modern studieS; and consequently did not attend to this matter with 

 the minutiie now demanded. 



This fact is far from rendering all their treasures now in our posses- 

 sion worthless. It only enjoins upon their successors the necessity of 

 supplementing their work, and adding fourfold value to their collec- 

 tions by a little cautious gleaning. . 



205 



