ARROWPOINTS, RPEARTTKADS, AND KNIVKS. <S41 



beautiriil arrowiieads found in sucli profusion on or so near ihis battle- 

 field are believed by those a rel geologists who have had the best oj^por- 

 tunity for inspection and knowledge not to have been used in that 

 battle, uor to have had any relation to it, but belonged to an earlier 

 epoch and another people, whether tlu' result of a battle, the chase, or 

 habitation of man, is as yet undecided. 



III. SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING ARRO\A/^POINTS AND OTHER 

 PREHISTORIC STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



AntiqnUii of this supcrsfition an evidence of their long disuse as 

 u-eapons — Elf darts or idfchcs^ arroirs — Pierre de foudre, pierre de 

 tonnerre^pietra dufiioco — Amulets — Xo superstition concerninf/ arroir- 

 heads in America — Used hii Indians as weapons and only occasionally 

 as charms. 



The superstitious regard for stone arrowpoints and the belief in 

 their su})ernatural origin, in most Oriental and European countries, is 

 inconsistent with the knowledge of, or belief in, their huniau manufac- 

 ture for use as arrows. 



Xo people, however primitive or ignorant, having an object in (com- 

 mon use, known by them to be of human manufacture for utilitarian 

 purposes only, will regard it with superstitious reverence or accept it 

 as having a heavenly origin or supernatural power. That these arrow- 

 points, with other objects of similar age and origin, have been so 

 regarded by the people of the Oriental and. European countries is easily 

 demonstrated. 



The superstition concerning the polished-stone hatchet and the stone 

 arrowpoint has existed all over Europe and a large portion, if not all, 

 of Asia and Africa; and these objects have been, and in many places 

 still are, regarded as of a heavenly origin and as having supernatural 

 powers. While this superstition usually belonged to the peasantry, 

 there were many educated persons who believed it. Like the belief 

 that the fossil animals found in the rocks were bits of broken stars 

 fallen from the skies, until their true character was discovered by 

 Leonardo da Vinci and Bernard Palissy, there was no way of account- 

 ing for them. So when in the nineteenth century prehistoric man was 

 discovered, these stone implements were immediately recognized as his 

 work, and the belief in their supernatural character began to die out. 

 Of course, a tradition as old, as widespread, and as firmly believed 

 among the peasantry, who read little and traveled less, would natu- 

 rally be slow to yield, and so in certain localities and with certain 

 peoples its remains are yet to be found. They have been (tailed 

 "lightning stones" and "thunderstones" in many languages. These 

 names are frequently ai)plied to both the stone hatchet' a7id the arrow- 



' Descriptions <anfl figures of these are given in the author's paper ou Prehistoric 

 Art, contained in the report of the U. S. National ^[nseuni for 1896, pis. .34-37, figs. 

 95-99. 



