RELICS OF THE STONE AGE IN NOVA SCOTIA PIERS. 51 



These so-called " plummets " or " sinkers " are very rare 

 in Nova Scotia, Dr. Gilpin figures one in his paper on the 

 stone age. There are but two in the Patterson collection : one, 

 3*75 inches long, well-shaped, with a pointed lower end, being 

 from Annapolis County ; the other, two inches long, quite light 

 in weight, with a rounded end, from Lunenburg County. There 

 are none in the collection in the Provincial Museum. Dr. Bailey 

 in his " Relics of the Stone Age in New Brunswick," figures 

 four or five which had been found in that province. 



It is worthy of remark that the sides of such specimens as I 

 have examined, exhibit more or less a tendency toward com- 

 pression, as has been already noted of one example. This slightly 

 flattened form was probably intentional. Dr. Patterson's 

 Annapolis " sinker " has been ground down in one or two places 

 on the side, but I have not found any others in this condition. 

 I may say that although all specimens are carefully fashioned, 

 and of the same general appearance, yet they differ much among 

 themselves in detail of form. In no case have I noted any with 

 a hole for suspension, although such would have been a more 

 secure method of hanging them had they been used as weights 

 for fishing-lines. 



These pear-shaped objects have long perplexed archseologists 

 who have attempted to define their use. We find them variously 

 denominated sling-shots, sinkers for fishing-tackle, stones used in 

 playing some game, personal ornaments, sacred implements for 

 performing some religious ceremonies, plummets, spinning- 

 weights, etc. 



In a paper entitled " Charm Stones ; Notes on the so-called 

 'Plummets' or 'Sinkers,'" Dr. Lorenzo G. Yates has presented 

 the very interesting results of his investigation into the uses of 

 such implements. For reasons given in the paper, he discards 

 all the stated theories on the subject, except that relating to 

 their employment in sorcery. 



A Santa Barbara Indian, California, when asked by Mr. 

 H. W. Henshaw why one of these stones could not have been 

 used as a line sinker, replied with much common sense, " Why 



