GO COPPER IMPLEMENTS ANI) ORNAMENTS. 



of such articles was still going on at the time of the discovery of the North 

 American continent.* 



The objects of copper found in the United States, as mentioned, embrace 

 implements and weapons as well as ornaments, all of which are represented in 

 the collection by originals and a number of copper casts. First should be 

 noticed the celt-shaped objects, which bear a great resemblance to correspond 

 ing bronze implements in European collections. There is, for instance, a 

 well-shaped celt derived from a mound near Lexington, Kentucky, which 

 has been exposed to the action of fire, as seen by pieces of charcoal and cin 

 ders still adhering to it (Fig. 224). The implement and the cinders are 

 covered with green rust. From the same mound were taken some axe- 

 shaped, though perfectly blunt objects, terminating at the broader end in 

 lateral curved appendages (Fig. 225). Their significance has not yet been 

 ascertained. Among the copper celts of the collection are several smaller 

 specimens of good workmanship, one of them (Fig. 226) taken from a mound 

 near Savannah, Tennessee. The most beautiful article of a wedge-like char 

 acter is a kind of chisel with an expanding, strongly curved edge, which 

 shows a slight concavity, imparting to the implement almost the character 

 of a gouge (Fig. 227, back view, New York). The upper surface is nearly 

 even, but the back part presents, as it were, two faces, which join in the mid 

 dle, forming a longitudinal ridge. 



There are further to be mentioned weapons of the arrow and spear-head 

 form, of elongated shape, and terminating opposite the points in stems, either 

 truncated or pointed (Fig. 228, Lake Superior district; Fig. 229, Vermont). 

 A well-made crescent-shaped implement with a tolerably sharp convex edge 

 may be considered as a knife (Fig. 230, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin). If it had 

 been a gorget, as has been suggested, it probably would shoAV the usual holes 

 for suspension. One of the most interesting copper tools of the collection, 

 perhaps a unique relic, is a slender awl still inserted in its bone handle (Fig. 

 231). This specimen, which was found on Rhea s Island, London County, 

 Tennessee, reminds one of corresponding iron tools in use at the present day. 

 A copper sinker- from Ohio (Fig. 232), analogous in shape to a certain class of 

 stone objects previously described, deserves particular notice. 



Passing over to the copper ornaments of the collection, we will first mention 



4 Traccs of wrought silver have been discovered among the aboriginal relics, but they are so exceedingly 

 scanty that the technical significance of this metal hardly can be taken into consideration. Native silver, 

 it is well known, occurs interspersed in small masses in the copper of the Lake Superior district, and from 

 that source the Indians doubtless derived the small amount of silver used by them. Gold was seen by the 

 earliest travelers in small quantities (in grains) among the Florida Indians ; yet, to the writer s knowledge, 

 no object made of gold, that can with certainty be attributed to the aborigines (north of Mexico), has thus 

 far been discovered. Squier and Davis found no gold during their extensive explorations in Ohio. The 

 discovery of small aboriginal relics of gold, however, would not be surprising, considering that this precious 

 metal occurs in some of the districts of the United States formerly occupied by the Indian race. 



It is not probable that the natives understood the melting of lead ; but pieces of galena frequently occur 

 in mounds, and there is in the Museum a bead (resembling the original of fig. 200) skillfully made of that 

 ore. 



