504 DEVELOPMENT OE PRIMAL SHAPING ARTS- 



tool is necessary, the result being- reached b}' striking one ston^ 

 against another of proper relatixe durabilit}'. The several acts ar| 

 known as '"battering," '"'bruising," and "pecking," the last teri 

 being in connnon use for the act by which shaping is mostly accom-^ 

 plished by primitive peoples. Materials suitable for shaping by this 

 process are plentiful and very generally distributed. 



ABRADING PROCESSES. 



Shaping by abrasion in its most elemental form results from the' 

 rubbing of one object against another with such force as to remove 

 minute particles from one or both. The operations are generall}^ 

 expressed by such terms as "grinding," "rubbing," and "polish- 

 ing." All stones are abradable, and most stones can l)e made to serve 

 in the active operations of abrading. The act is so simple that it ma}^ 

 be performed by any creature having power to grasp the rubbing 

 stone. Its employment in the shaping arts was undoubtedly primal, 

 although it may be hard to secure tangible evidence on this point. 



INCISING PROCESSES. 



The incising acts are also simple in their nature. In their most 

 elementary form they are practiced ])y all creatures having teeth and 

 nails. In art they include the shaping- of materials by cutting, pierc- 

 ing, picking, scraping, etc. They imply the use of a hard edged or 

 pointed tool and a substance to be shaped somewhat less hard. Though 

 a primal art, it is doubtful whether incising- was applied to the shap- 

 ing- of stone in the earliest times. This appeal's from the permissible 

 assumption that stone soft enough to be cut and scraped would not be 

 required in the simple acts of food-getting and defense, and the mak- 

 ing of vessels, pipes, ornaments, and ceremonial objects did not form 

 a part of the accomplishments of the early da3\s. 



There are a number of well-known shaping operations that combine 

 one or more of these processes, or that pass imperceptibly from one 

 into the other. Cutting and drilling often combine the bruising with 

 the incisive methods. Sawing- may be done with an abrading edge or 

 with serrations that incise. Boring is likewise accomplished either by 

 cutting or by abrading- points and edges. 



From this brief analysis of the four simple primal shaping acts, and 

 a consideration of their relations to the mental and ph3"sical powers of 

 auroral man, as well as to the available materials of his environment, 

 I believe it impracticable to reach any conclusion as to which of these 

 acts would first be consciously employed and intelligently and generally 

 utilized in shaping stone. But there are other criteria which may 

 assist us in the attempt to place them in their proper sequence and 

 relations to culture progress. 



