30 



AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



may have been native to the Eastern 

 Algonkin also. The Eastern Cree still 

 use knives of this type as scrapers. 

 Like most other forms common in New 

 England, it is less abundant in the 

 southern part of this area. 



Stone Beads. Various pebbles gen- 

 erally perforated naturally are to be 

 found on some sites, and may or may 

 not have been used as beads or pend- 

 ants. On Staten Island, at Watchogue, 

 Mr. Isaiah Merrill once owned a 

 number of square beads of pinkish 

 steatite (?), all but one of which have 

 been lost, and which he claims were 

 found on his farm. 



Gorgets. Two types of the gorget 

 occur. These are the single-holed 

 pendant form, which is the less abund- 

 ant of the two, and the double-holed 

 type. The latter is flat, rectangular in 

 shape, and generally well polished. It 

 usually has two perforations a short 

 distance from the middle. The modern 

 Lenape of Canada claim to have used 

 these as hair ornaments. Probably the 

 two-holed variety is typical of the 

 Algonkian peoples of this region, the 

 single-holed form, on the other hand, 

 is the most abundant on old Iroquoian 

 sites. Specimens of the latter have been 

 obtained in use among the Canadian 

 Iroquois, and some of them are in the 

 Museum collections. 



Amulets. Certain problematic ar- 

 ticles of the "bar" and even "bird 

 amulet" type have been found, but 

 these are probably exotic in origin and 

 are not characteristic of the archae- 

 ology of the region in question. 



Banner Stones. These beautiful pol- 

 ished stone implements of unknown use 

 may be divided into three great classes, 

 with several sub-types as follows : 



1. Notched banner stones. 



2. Grooved banner stones. 



a. Groove on both sides. 



b. Groove on one side. 



3. Perforated banner stones. 



a. Plain. 



b. Butterfly. 



All three types seem equally abund- 

 ant, but the notched banner stones 

 appear to be the oldest form and occur 

 under circumstances pointing to great 

 relative antiquity. They are found, 

 however, on the more recent sites as 

 well. Both the notched and the grooved 

 banner stones are usually more rough 

 in appearance than the perforated 

 type, and the writer has never seen a 

 polished specimen of the first class. On 

 the other hand, the grooved variety 

 frequently exhibits the high degree of 

 finish characteristic of the perforated 

 forms. Banner stones grooved only on 

 one side are less common than the 

 other forms. While the latter class is 

 generally made of slate, steatite, or 

 some similar soft and easily worked 

 material, the notched and grooved 

 forms, especially the former, are often 

 formed either from naturally-shaped 

 pebbles or chipped roughly into shape. 

 Implements, usually naturally-shaped 

 stones with little working, without 

 notches, grooves or perforations, but 

 greatly resembling the notched and 

 grooved banner stones in shape, are not 

 infrequently found on aboriginal sites 

 hereabouts and may have served as 

 banner stones. There seem to be 

 neither records nor plausible theories 

 as to their use. 



Pipes. Stone pipes, invariably 

 made of steatite, are very rare. Four 

 types have been noted as follows:- 



1. Monitor or platform pipe, plat- 

 form not projecting before the 

 bowl. 



