THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NK\V YORK 405 



forms made of hard shell. Specimens are uncommon west of the 

 Alleghenies, but relatively frequent in New England, Quebec, 

 Ontario, New York and Pennsylvania. 



Gouges may have been hafted as adzes and used as working tools 

 for hollowing out wooden utensils (by aid of the charring process), 

 as mortars, bowls, masks and like objects. Some may have been used 

 in the hand only, and without handles. Some early writers suggest 

 their use as sap-spikes or spouts, but unless they had some ceremon- 

 ial value, we can not see why a wooden tube would not have better 

 served the purpose. 



Gouges are found in nearly all parts of the State, particularly 

 where Algonkian evidences are to be found. In Oswego county one 

 was found in a grave with a pendant gorget. On other sites they 

 have been found associated with grooved axes, adzes, beveled celts, 

 plummets, slate knives and steatite pottery. None is found on 

 Iroquoian sites. (See Celts, Adzes). 



Consult Handbook 30, B. A. Eth. ; Fowke in i3th Annual Rep't 

 B. A. Eth. ; Moorehead, Prehistoric Impl. ; Fowke, Arch. Hist. Ohio ; 

 Willoughby in Prehistoric Burial Places in Maine ; Peabody Museum 

 Papers, Cambridge, v. i, no. 6; Beauchamp in N. Y. State Mus. 

 Bui. 1 8. 



Grinding stones. Stones used for grinding other stones are fre- 

 quently present on sites of aboriginal occupation, but very few col- 

 lectors have taken the trouble to collect and to study them. There 

 are several types of grinding stones, each suitable for some specific 

 purpose. Some flat slabs of sandstone have depressed surfaces, or 

 long shallow grooves that appear to have been used with sand and 

 water for polishing celts or other similar implements. A number of 

 grinding stones of this kind have been found on certain Iroquois 

 sites. It is quite probable that numerous gritty stones were used in 

 polishing the large number of implements made and used, but most 

 of these abrasive stones probably show few signs of work that 

 would distinguish them from those only weathered or water worn. 

 Another type of grinding stone has a flat surface incised by fl ; nt 

 cuts. These seem to have been used for grinding bone implements, 

 as bone awls. A third type is found in certain long, flat pebbles 

 having curved outlines. Many such stones are sometimes found 

 together on sites or in graves. They are gritty and some show 

 signs of having been worn down on one end. 



The importance of good grinding stones and other abrasives was 

 fully known to and appreciated by the aborigines. To them abrad- 



