20 



AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



the largest and comprises a number of 

 sub-groups to be briefly described and 

 commented upon in this paper. 

 Examples of this type will be found in 

 the table cases previously mentioned. 

 For the following descriptions and 

 historical notes the author has largely 

 drawn on Mr. James K. Finch's and 

 his own contributions to Volume III 

 of the ' 'Anthropological Papers of the 

 American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory" (New York, 1909). 



CHIPPED ARTICLES. 



Arrow Points. Two general types 

 of arrow points may be recognized: 

 these are the stemmed or notched, and 

 the triangular forms. The former are 

 by far the most abundant, and while 

 these are usually made of the nearest 

 local rock possessing the necessary 

 conchoidal fracture, in some cases they 

 are of material brought from a long 

 distance. Specimens made of pink 

 flint resembling stone from the Flint 

 Ridge of Ohio, and of jasper found 

 to the south of this region have been 

 recorded. Blunt arrow points are 

 rare, the Indians probably preferring 

 wooden arrows for this type. Many of 

 the so-called "blunt points" found in 

 collections appear to be scrapers made 

 over from broken arrow points of a 

 large size. 



The triangular type has long been 

 regarded by the local collectors of this 

 vicinity as being the type used in war, 

 the argument being that as it has no 

 stem, it was necessarily but loosely 

 fastened in its shaft and, if shot into 

 the body, would be very liable to be- 

 come detached and remain in the flesh 

 if any attempt were made to withdraw 

 it by tugging at the shaft. While it 

 was no doubt perfectly possible to 



fasten a point of triangular shape to 

 the shaft as firmly as a notched point, 

 the discoveries of Mr. George H. 

 Pepper at Tottenville, Staten Island, 

 where twenty-three arrow points were 

 found in and among the bones of three 

 Indian skeletons, tend to strength this 

 theory. While the majority of points 

 found there were of bone or antler, all 

 those made of stone were of this type; 

 indeed, most of the bone points were 

 also triangular in shape. However, 

 it is well to bear in mind that arrow 

 points of triangular type were used for 

 every purpose by all the early Iroquois 

 tribes of New York. 



Spear Points and Knives. None of 

 the early accounts of contemporary 

 European writers seem to mention the 

 use of spears (other than bone or antler- 

 headed harpoons) by the Indians here- 

 abouts, and it is probable that the 

 larger arrow-point like forms found 

 were used as knives or cutting tools. 

 They are usually notched or stemmed, 

 rarely triangular, and occasionally 

 round or oval. They vary in size, but 

 it must be remembered that one tool 

 may have had various uses, and that 

 drills, knives and scrapers may often 

 have been combined in one implement. 



Scrapers. Scrapers were probably 

 used in dressing skins, in sharpening 

 bone implements, wood-working, and 

 for various other purposes. These are 

 usually mere flint flakes chipped to an 

 edge on one side. Nevertheless, 

 notched and stemmed forms requir- 

 ing some care in their making do occur. 

 Broken arrow points were occasionally 

 chipped down to serve this purpose. 

 A single serrated scraper has been 

 found. These are very rare in both 

 the Algonkian and Iroquoian areas of 

 New England and the Middle Atlantic 



