FLINT IMPLEMENTS AND FOSSIL REMAINS. 245 



unshaped fragments. All the implements were shaped by flaking, 

 and the work was for the greater part exceedingly well done. The 

 finished forms appear to be such as would be appropriate to the buf- 

 falo hunter equipped for the chase. The spear was, it is believed, the 

 main reliance of the ( neat Plains hunter, but bow and arrow were also 

 in general use, especially for the smaller varieties of game. To pierce 

 successfully the tough hide of the buffalo and penetrate to a vital part, 

 the projectile point had to be thin, long, and incisive; the sulphur 

 spring has furnished many perfect specimens of such implements 

 (Plate 18). Our museum collections contain nothing comparable with 

 them, and, except such as were probably broken by our excavating 

 tools, nearly all are in perfect condition, as if just from the finishing 

 shop. It is a noteworthy fact that a large number of the spear points, 

 as well as the knives, had been freshly sharpened when the deposit 

 was made, the old discolored surface being easily distinguished from 

 the more recently chipped portions (Plate 22). 



The knife also, of which there are many specimens, was of primary 

 importance to the hunter. The thin blades are from 3 to (> inches in 

 length and from 1 to 4 inches in width, and show various stages of 

 specialization and wear. Many are. apparently, freshly made, sym- 

 metric, leaf-shaped blades, while others have been sharpened and 

 resharpened on one side so as to be scarcely more than half the origi- 

 nal width (Plate IT). One end of the blade is in all cases wider than 

 the other, and, taking the narrow end as the point of the implement, 

 the sharpening is such as to indicate a right-handed use in nearly all 

 cases. 



The chert of which the implements are made is of excellent quality; 

 it is Avhite and bluish-gray in a majority of cases, but some specimens 

 are. quite dark. It is not of the variety found so plentifully in the quar- 

 ries of the region about Afton, but is of liner grain. The quarries 1 

 miles south of the village, as well as those on the Peoria reservation, 

 25 miles to the northeast, furnish a coarser material, generally some- 

 what yellowish in color. It is manifest that the flint is nearly all from 

 a single quarry or from a group of sites yielding identical material, 

 and there is no doubt that these quarries will be found in good time 

 not far distant from the Afton Springs. A very few pieces are of 

 other varieties of flint, such as are sometimes found scattered over the 

 surface of the country, and some of these may have been brought in 

 from distant points. 



Owing to the unusual interest attaching to this collection, I deem 

 it wise to present a full series of illustrations. The objects are shown 

 actual size or as nearly so as circumstances permit. Plates lo to 16 

 are devoted to arrowheads and spear points, the two classes being 

 placed together because it is quite impossible to draw the line sepa- 

 rating them. We assume that the smaller forms (Plate lo) were 



