438 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 





tliem, by stretcli of tlie imagination, might represent four-footed ani- 

 mals; the rest have no likeness to any known object. All of them are 

 worked from Hint or some similar vstone; one is of obsidian; they are 



represented about nat- 

 ural size. This series, 

 with fig. 93, shows 

 what the prehistoric 

 artist in flint was able 

 to do in the manage- 

 ment and control of his 

 tools and materials in 

 making fanciful ob- 

 jects. 



The foregoing speci- 

 mens are small, and, 

 consequently, might be 

 considered as toys or 

 playthings and of no 

 value to the prehistoric 

 artist, yet it would be 

 an error to predicate a 

 theory ujion this, for 

 there have been others 

 equally trivial and ap- 

 parently of as little 

 utility which bear evi- 

 dence of fine art work 

 and yet are of large 

 size. Fig. 94 repre- 

 sents one of a series of 

 these large flint imple- 

 ments- chipped in to fan- 

 ciful form. This par- 

 ticular one is from 

 Humphreys County, 

 Tennessee, and was 

 collected by Mr. Ed- 

 ward W. Hicks. It is 11^ inches in length and 4i inches in width. 

 Other specimens of similar workmanship, but of diflerent though of 

 equally fanciful form, have been found in the same as well as other 

 localities. Gen. Gates P. Thruston' has described these at length. 



' Antiquities of Tennessee, pp. 230-252. 



