I. STONE, 



ArchfBological researches in Europe have shown that the eai-ly inhabitants 

 of that continent nsed for a very long period exekisively rude tools and weap- 

 ons of chipped flint, until they began to render their implements of war and 

 peace more serviceable by the process of grinding. Archjeologists, therefore, 

 divide the European stone age into a period of chipped and one of ground 

 stone, or, technically spealdng, into a 'palfRolitliic (old-stone) and a neolithic 

 (new-stone) period. Palaeolithic implements occur in ancient beds of river- 

 gravel and in cave-deposits of early date, and are often associated with the 

 osseous remains of the mammoth, woolly-haired rhinoceros, cave-bear, cave- 

 lion, and other pachydermatous and carnivorous animals now extinct in 

 Europe. The implements of the later or neolithic period indicate a more 

 advanced state of human development, and the animal remains sometimes 

 found with them belong to species still existing in Europe, or known to have 

 there existed within historical times. Thus the gradual progress in the me- 

 chanical skill of the prehistoric European is illustrated by his works of art, 

 which present, as it were, an ascending scale, beginning with the rude flint 

 flake or the roughly fashioned hatchet-blade, and terminating with the elabor- 

 ately chipped dagger or lance-head, the pierced axe, and other types in 

 vogue immediately before the introduction of bronze. 



In I^orth America chipped as well as ground stone implements are abund- 

 ant; yet they occur promiscuously, and thus far cannot be respectively referred 

 to certain epochs in the development of the aborigines of the country, and 

 hence the here adopted separation of ISTorth American stone articles into a 

 chipped and a ground series has no chronological significance whatever, but 

 simply refers to the modes of manufacture. 



A. FLAKED AND CHIPPED STONE. 



1, Eaw Material. — As such may be considered pieces of flint, etc., rudely 

 blocked out and presenting no definite form. The Museum possesses a series 

 of these roughly prepared fragments, which were obviously designed to be 

 made into implements. They are often of comparatively large size, and gener- 

 ally consist of some kind of silicious material (hornstone, jasper, etc.). 

 They occur, sometimes many of them together, in various parts of the United 

 States. 



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