802 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, ISO'i 



Fig. 81 represents a dagger from Madison County, Kentucky. It is 

 dark-brown, much Aveatliered, and diflicult to determine its material, 



l)robal)ly flinty chert or hornstone. 

 AVhile not the classic leaf-shaped ini- 

 l)lement which might have been in 

 serted in a shaft and served as a spear, 

 bitt i)artaking more of the character of 

 a sword or long dagger to be held in the 

 hand with awrappingof skin,as showji 

 in specimen from Hupa Valley, Cal- 

 ifornia (fig. 78, Plate 41, Cat. No. 

 12G530, U.S.I^.M.), yet it is a type of 

 many specimens in North America. A 

 similar si^ecimen in the U. S. National 

 Museum is Cat. No. 88122, from Arkan- 



to ' 



g sas, collected by Mr. Edward Palmer, 



« of chalcedonic flint, 12 inches long, 2 



§ inches wide, and three-eighths of an 



< inch thick. It is sharply pointed at 



H ^ both ends and Its fine chipping has 



o ^ ^* served to make its edges slightly 



g' I ^ s serrated. 



^ §",i The specimen, Cat. No. 99823 (U.S. 



%] 



^ ^ ^, N.M.), the first one on Plate 32, is 



be z, 



O M 



a .2 fl o 



M =5 « 

 5 a > 



piece of beautiful work in flint chip- 

 ping. The flakes takeu off have been 

 long, thin, and fine, and ran from the 

 edge to the center, and have given to 

 it a keen, sharp edge. The specimen 

 is of oolitic chert, 12|^ inches long, 3^ 

 inches wide, and three-fourths of an 

 inch thick. 



Other specimens are represented in 

 figs. 82 and 83. They are not, and 

 never were, intended for arrowpoints 

 or spearheads, but rather as swords or 

 possibly ceremonial objects; but as 

 they are leaf-shaped, and from their 

 great length and beauty, with the diffi- 

 culty of their manufacture, they have 

 been admitted to a place in this paper. 

 Fig. 82 is from an ancient earthwork 

 on the Big Harpeth Eiver, near Frank- 

 lin, Tennessee. Fig. 83 is from a mound 

 in Oregon. 



General Thruston ' figures and de- 

 scribes many of these long and finely chipped specimens from Tennessee. 



' Antiquities of Tennessee, pp. 219-252, pis. xi, xiva. 



