22 PECKED, GROUND AND POLISHED STONE. 



out any groove, have been discovered in the ancient copper mines of the Lake 

 Superior region. They were the tools employed by the aborigines for obtain 

 ing the much-valued virgin metal. Some hammer-heads were evidently con 

 verted into their present forms from grooved axes whose edges had been 

 damaged by fracture or by constant use. There are in the Smithsonian 

 collection some hafted mauls derived from the Sioux and Assineboins, who 

 still use them for breaking bones, pounding pemmican, etc. (Fig. 79, quartzite, 

 Assineboins; two pounds). These tools, including their handles, are tightly 

 cased in raw-hide, excepting that part of the head which is used for striking. 

 One of these modern handled mauls, derived from the Sioux, is rather heavy, 

 weighing more than nine pounds. The Blackfect, Sioux, and other still 

 existing tribes sometimes use war-clubs with stone heads. The latter, con 

 sisting of quartzite, greenstone, etc., are of a more or less elongated regular 

 egg-shape, well polished, and deeply grooved around the middle for the 

 attachment of the handle. Specimens of this class and of others are in the 

 collection. The different kinds of stone war-clubs in use among the Indians 

 of our time will be described hereafter. 



The tools designated as hammer-stones are mostly roundish or oval pebbles 

 of a somewhat compressed or flattened form, presenting in their side view 

 the outline of a more or less elongated ellipse. Quartzite appears to be 

 the prevailing material. Their only artificial alteration consists in two pits 

 or cavities, which form the centres of the opposite broad sides of the pebble. 

 In these cavities the workman placed the thumb and middle finger of the right 

 hand, while the forefinger pressed against the upper circumference of the stone 

 (Fig. 80, quartzite, New York; Fig. 81, quartzite, Pennsylvania). In some 

 instances the depressions are so shallow that they almost escape observation, 

 though specimens with deep and well-defined cavities are not rare. Many 

 hammer-stones bear distinct traces of rough use, being battered and bruised 

 at the circumference. Their longitudinal diameter generally measures from 

 three to five inches, and they may average about a pound in weight. 



In Europe similar hammer-stones occur, which have been called Tilhu^ger- 

 steene by Danish archaeologists, and it has been conjectured that they were 

 used as tools for chipping weapons and implements of flint. It cannot be 

 doubted that the corresponding American implements served as hammers, 

 since they show the most distinct traces of violent contact with hard sub 

 stances, and there is much probability that they were used in blocking out 

 flint implements; yet they are by far too clumsy, and possess too much round 

 ness on all sides, to have been the tools for finishing barbed arrow-heads and 

 other delicate articles of flint. Quite different implements were employed in 

 that operation.&quot; 



7 There arc in the National Museum several of the tools employed by modern Indians in the manufacture 

 of stone arrow-heads, perforators, etc. These dripping-implements consist of bluntly pointed rods of deer 

 horn, from eight to sixteen inches in length, or of short slender pieces of the same material bound with 

 sinew to wooden sticks resembling arrow-shafts. The aboriginal &quot; arrow-maker&quot; holds in his left hand the 

 flake of flint or obsidian on which he intends to operate, and presses the point of the tool against its edge, 

 detaching scale after scale, until it assumes the desired form. 



