ABORIGINAL CHIPPED STONE IMPLEMENTS OF NEW YORK 13 



bility to it, and it may well be allowed that they were brought from 

 a distance for purposes of trade, or further development. Quantities 

 of material came here in a still ruder form, which have not been found 

 in caches, and among these were some of the choicer kinds. There 

 are abundant flint flakes in places where they could only have come 

 through the agency of man, and these indicate the arrow maker's 

 temporary home. 



The aborigines made but moderate use of the local hornstone, so 

 plentiful in the corniferous limestone of New York, though it is often 

 recognizable in the ruder articles to which it is adapted. At Black 

 Rock in Buffalo, and across the river in Canada, one can easily see 

 where blocks of hornstone were detached and used. Occasionally 

 something of the kind will be seen elsewhere, but most of the material 

 for the finer arrows, knives and spears came from without the state. 

 Among these implements occur jaspers of every hue, white quartz, 

 chalcedony, argillite, schist and sandstone, as well as the finer flints 

 of bluish or brownish grey; yellow jasper was a favorite material, 

 specially for large implements, and it is comparatively frequent in 

 caches. It was probably derived from a neighboring state. 



In a very broad way it is well known that the prevailing materials 

 used in any region have a somewhat local character. Through Ohio 

 and much of New York, the grey or drab cherts from the limestone 

 are prevalent, with a projection of this material far southward. In 

 the southern Atlantic states a brownish quartzite or coarse sandstone 

 appears, with finer materials in the mountains. Along the Hudson 

 and in New England white quartz was largely used; and in the 

 northern states of the Mississippi valley an opaque white or pinkish 

 flint was the rule. A characteristic dark hornstone also appears there 

 in immense caches in some places. The beautiful arrows and other 

 small implements of the Rocky mountains and the Pacific slope are 

 also well known, and in other quarters yellow jasper is common. 

 An experienced archeologist may thus often feel sure <>f the general 

 origin of an article, without knowing precisely where it was found. 

 That is a question of trade or migration. 



Material is often a better guide in determining ultimate origin 

 than form. The drills and scrapers of the east are often matched by 



