stone Age in Indiana 



113 



of religious rites in which fire was made use of, and otliers bearing no 

 trace of their real use. In the sepulchral mounds the objects buried 

 with their various owners indicate the predominant traits of character 

 of that people, being mostly the stone weapons for self-defense and the 

 slate gorgets or charms of supposedly supernatural power. Of the 

 weapons, most are of a flint nature, breaking with a splintery fracture 

 and chipping- to a sharp edge with a conchoidal fracture. The very 

 first weapon, that of a spear head (fig. 4), is taken to be the first stone 

 implement fashioned by man, and was done in a crude way, — simply a 

 pointed stone of a shape which could be fastened to a shaft to form a 



Fig'. 4. Rude flint speaihead, Paleolithic type. Original. 



spear. This marked his entry into the realm of investigation and art 

 craft, and is taken to mark the latest phase of Paleolithic life. Follow- 

 ing this came the multitude of artifacts marking the stages in Neolithic 

 culture. 



The spear or lance came early to hold a prominent place on cere- 

 monial occasions, being suited for prominent display in processions and 

 dances. Flint from which the spearhead was formed appears most 

 abundantly in Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, and large aboriginal quarries 

 were worked in the two former states. Kaolin, a clay desirable for 

 pottery, also abounds in this territory, so that two things most con- 

 ducive to growth in the earliest period were present, and the multitude 



8—25870 



