882 



KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



flint iu modern times steel hammers are employed. (See Plates 8-10, 

 figs. G2, G3.) 



Mr. J. D. McGuire has i)iiblished the result of some experiments on 

 the hammerstone.' 



In the inventory of tools the tiaker must not be overlooked. Many 

 of these have been found. The Eskimos use those of ivory fastened 

 to a handle (ligs. <»8-71). These were used for chipi)ing by pressure. 

 The real prehistoric tlakers have been found. They were simply pieces 

 of bone or horn, usually the i)oint of a deer horn, with sufficient length 

 to insure a firm grii). The workman, having chipped his piece to proper 

 form by percussion, desiring to bring it to an edge, took it iu one hand, 

 the flaker in the other, and by placing its point against the portion to 

 be removed, with a pressure in the right direction and an artistic or 



■iniiTiiiiiMifrifiiir-'rr"'- inw^in 



Fin-. 72. 



Fig. 73. 



Fig. 74. 



FLAKEKS OP ANTLER OR BONE IN HANDLES OF WOOD. 



Fig. 72. — Nevada Indians. 



Siiiithsoniau Contributions, XXIIj Ran, Aicliu'ology, p. »5, tig. 340. 



Figs. 73, 74.— Hupa Indians. 



Suutlisoniau Report, 1SS6, Ray Collection, pi. XXI, hgs. 92, 96. 



ine(;hanical twist of the wrist, he started a small tiake of greater or 

 less breadth, thickness, and length. 



Figs. 72-74 are arrow flakers, the former used by the Indians of 

 Nevada,- while the latter are from the Point l>arrow Eskimos, Alaska, 

 collected by Ool. P. H. Eay, and described by Dr. O. T. Mason.' 



The art of the i^rehistoric flint chipper requires a high order of 

 mechanical dexterity. Some of the specimens show marvelonsly line 

 work — Ihikes so thin, wide, long, and regular as to extort our wonder 

 and admiration. (Figs. 92, 151, from a mound near Naples, Illinois.) 



The flaking tools of Europe have never been satisfactorily determined. 

 In the present condition the number of finely flaked objects is enor- 

 mously out of proportion with the number of flakers found. Of those 



1 American Anthropologist, IV, pp. 301-12, 1891. 



2 Charles Rau, Archa-ol. Coll. U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 95, fig. 340. 



3 Ray Collection, Smithsonian Report, 1886, pi. xxi, figs. 92, 96. 



