800 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



wide. The drawiiij>- was reduced to one-third, and the engraving one- 

 half from tlie drawing. Thus this large and formidable implement was 

 represented by a figure 2f inches by five sixths of an inch, which is but 

 the size of a common arrow or spear head. No rule or scale can give 

 it its true appearance in the eyes of the majority of readers. These 

 engravings are intended to serve as a classification of these implements 

 by which their names, and ])0ssibly their functions, may be known, and 

 by which archu'ologists throughout the country, and i)erhaps tlie world, 

 may be better enabled to understand and describe them. When we 

 consider that it is beyond tlie power of mere words to describe a form, 

 and that a figure, cut, or representation of it must be or must have been 

 made at some time in order to comiiuiuicate knowledge of a form to any 

 person who has not previously seen it, the author trusts he will be 

 iustified in the classification and the engravings by which it is sought 

 to be represented. 



The names of the different parts of stone arrowpoints and spear- 

 heads or knives are: blade, point, stem, base, edge, shoulder, barb, 

 notch. 



The failure of niany archaeologists (and it is not confined entirely to 

 them) to make a distinction between the words "side" and "edge" has 

 led to a confusion in description. " Border," " rim," " margin " are, or may 

 be, synonymous with "edge," but "side," although much used in this 

 sense, is almost always erroneously used. We say the " side" of a table 

 when we mean the edge, the border, the margin, that part farthest from 

 the center or middle. Applying it to a plank or sword or arrowpoint or 

 si^earhead, we should say "edge." "Edge'' is particularly appropriate 

 for swords and arrowpoints and spearheads, as it applies specially to 

 the " sharp and thin cutting border or extremity of an instrument." 



The author has sought to make his classification as simple as possible. 

 Minute or complex divisions will never be adopted in popular usage. 

 They will be difficult to understand and are impracticable in that they 

 can not be easily remembered or readily a]:)plied. 



In the author's classification the primary divisions of arrowpoints, 

 spearheads, or knives are as follows : 



Division f, Icaf-sliaped. — In this clussificntioii the h^af-shaped is phiced at the, head 

 as heiug the oldest implenieut of its kind. This division includes all kinds: ellipti- 

 cal, oval, oblong, or lanceolate forms bearing any relation to the shape of a leaf, 

 and without stem, shoulder, or barb. 



Class A is pointed at both ends, the widest place one-third or one-fourth from the 

 base. 



Class His more oval, less pointed, with base concave, straight, or convex. 



Class C is long and narrow, sharp points, parallel edges, and bases concave, straight, 

 or convex. These belong to the Pacilic coast, 



Division J I, triamjnlar. — This division includes all specimens which, according to 

 geometrical nomenclature, are in the form of a triangle, whether the bases or edges 

 be convex, straight, or concave. They are without stems and consequently with- 

 out shoulders, though in soml^ specimens the extreme concavity of the base produces 

 barbs when the arrow shaft is attached. 



