3/2 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In New York interesting caches have been found in various 

 localities. One was discovered by George Harris of Roches- 

 ter near the bluffs on the west side of Irondequoit bay. There 

 were several hundreds of leaf-shaped forms, with straight bases, 

 all covered with a red pigment. Caches of jasper implements have 

 been found along the Seneca river, on the Susquehanna near 

 Oneonta, and on the west bank of the Hudson near Catskill. Caches 

 of flints are reported from the Allegheny county forts, from War- 

 saw, Wyoming county, from Binghamton, from Dutchess county 

 and from Saratoga county. 



Collectors should take care to keep all cache blades together, pre- 

 serve the pigment covering, if any, and before removing the blades 

 from the hole where found, make accurate observations as to the 

 depth of the deposit, the manner in which the implements are piled 

 and the way any dieffrent kinds were grouped together. Groups of 

 specimens found in caches are units and should be kept as such, none 

 being given away, traded or sold. 



Celts or hatchet heads. The term celt is derived either from the 

 Latin celtis meaning a chisel, or from the Welsh cellt meaning a 

 flint stone. Celts are ungrooved hatchet heads and in several 

 instances have been found in the original handles, but it seems prob- 

 able that some were used without hafting. Adzes, that is, celtlike 

 blades with a flat under surface, are considered in another place. 



Celts constitute an almost universal type of implements and are 

 found in every region occupied by stone-age man. So similar in 

 form are specimens from widely separated localities that it is difficult 

 to distinguish certain universal types when the labels are concealed. 



In New York State celts are particularly numerous and there are 

 very few sites that yield artifacts that do not contain celts or parts 

 of them. It thus appears they were a common and necessary part 

 of the red man's tool and weapon outfit. With these utensils it was 

 possible to cut soft wood, particularly if the wood had been charred 

 by fire. Indeed it is thought that the chopping process was seldom 

 accomplished without the aid of fire, the celt or hatchet being used 

 to remove the burned wood and give a fresh surface for the flame. 

 As a weapon the celt would serve admirably, but a little experiment- 

 ing will show 1 that a heavy club, particularly if spiked with a prong 

 of antler or long point of flint, would be much more effective. Cer- 

 tain celt heads may have been used only in the hand and without 

 handles, others may have been bark peelers, chisels and wedges. The 

 term " skinning stones " is perhaps the poorest term that can be 

 applied, but it is a widely known one and is probably used by the 

 uninformed because hunters, farmers and some modern Indians 



