440 



report of national museum, 18%. 

 Polished Stone Hatchets. 



While the chipping' of stoue coutiuuecl throughout the Neolithic, as 

 it had in the Paleolithic jjeriod, there was added to it a newly discovered 

 art by which the implement might be made smooth and sharp. This 

 discovery was the grinding or polishing of stone implements and bring- 

 ing out the beauty of their form and symmetry, showing with truth and 

 accuracy the fine lines upon which they had been wrought, and adapting 

 them to utilitarian objects, tools, and weapons. 



The characteristic implements of the Neolithic period are the polished 

 stone hatchets. They are found practically all over the world, showing 

 that the Neolithic civilization must have comprised an extensive ])opu- 

 lation and endured for a long period of time. The material of winch 

 these implements were made differed according to locality, but, not- 

 withstanding all differences, their general likeness prevails througliout 

 the world. While an experienced prehistoric archicologist may deter- 



Pig. 94. 

 FANCIFUL FOKM (LOISSTER CLAW) OF FLINT. 



Leugth, lliuches; "width, 4 inclie.s. 

 Huiupliieys County, Teuiiessee. 



Cist, Cat. No. ilsGlo, U.S.N. M. !j natural size. 



mine, from an inspection of a X)olished stone hatchet, from what country 

 it comes and possibly to what locality in that country it belongs, yet 

 the statement is true that they are substantially the same implement. 

 The invention of the arts of grinding and polishing, together with the 

 form of the hatchet, have been transmitted by migration or communi- 

 cation from ])eople to people and from country to country; and the 

 knowledge of the implement and the o[)eration by which it was made 

 descended from generation to generation and spread until it covered 

 the five continents. A series of the polished stone hatchets from 

 almost any one of the United States wiH stand as fair representatives 

 of the same imi^lemeut of any other country. The single exception to 

 the universality of this statement is Scandinavia. Fig. 95 shows the 

 flat side of a i)olished stone hatchet at the close of the first stage in 

 the manufacture. The object is reduced to its general form, and in this 

 stage it has often been mistaken for a Paleolithic implement. Fig. 96 

 represents the second stage of manufacture. Here a smaller hammer 

 (fig. 28) is used, or possibly a bone tiaker; the chips or flakes removed 

 are smaller, and, in the opinion of some archaeologists, were made by 



