374 PALEOLITHIC PERIOD, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WILSON. 



paring them with like implements from England and France, we extend 

 our comparison to those from Africa and India, we find them all alike, 

 and consequently all are true palaeolithic implements. 



Paleolithic implements from the District of Columbia, indeed from all 

 over the United States, are always chipped, never polished ; are almond- 

 shaped, oval, or sometimes approaching a circle; the cutting edge is at 

 or towards the smaller end, and not, as during the neolithic period, 

 towards the broad end. They are frequently made of pebbles, the 

 original surface being sometimes left uuworked in places (see b and c, 

 Plate xxi), sometimes at the butt for a grip, sometimes on the flat or 

 bottom side, and sometimes, in cases of these pebbles, on both sides. 

 The differences between the natural and artificial portions are readily 

 distinguishable. 



These implements are exceedingly thick compared with their width, 

 so much so as to make it apparent that they were never intended to 

 have a shaft or handle after the fashion of either the axe or the arrow 

 or spear head. This statement does not apply solely to the larger 

 implements, weighing several pounds; for there are small ones of vary- 

 ing sizes, perfect in themselves, with an evidently intentional protuber- 

 ance which renders hafting impracticable. 



The above-noted features bring into greater prominence the important 

 fact that the implements are all of a common type. They are all alike, 

 and yet not alike. They are not copies, yet there is no mistaking their 

 likeness to each other. When this likeness is found to extend to thou- 

 sands of implements, coming from every part of the United States, it 

 produces in the mind of the examiner a conviction impossible to escape. 



The palaeolithic implements found in the District of Columbia compare 

 favorably with those collected by Dr. Abbott at Trenton, and they are 

 equally if not more like the Chelleen implements found in Europe and 

 Asia. 



The greater portion of palaeolithic implements from Europe are of flint. 

 Flint is scarce in the United States, and we have but few flint imple- 

 ments in any prehistoric epoch. We have, however, some of these flint 

 palaeoliths from Texas and more from Utah and New Mexico, and I 

 invite a comparison of them with the Chelleen implements of flint from 

 western Europe. 



The palaeolithic implements of the United States were mostly made 

 of quartzite. I invite a comparison of specimens of the same material 

 from the Bois-du-Eocher, from Toulouse, from the caverns of Creswell 

 Crags, Derbyshire, England, and those from the laterite near Madras, 

 in India. 



The culture of the neolithic period spread over the world, and the 

 implements are well defined and known to all archaeologists. The 

 Americau Indian belonged to this period of culture, and the majority of 

 his implements are similar to those in other parts of the world. Their 

 dissimilarity from the palaeolithic implements now under consideration 



