ABORIGINAL CHIPPED STONE IMPLEMENTS OF NEW YORK 57 



moderately well in digging, though a sensible savage might have 

 much preferred a sharp stick, horn, or bone. As hoes they would 

 have been more useful, and this may have been their office. They 

 range from four to seven inches in length, with a proportionate 

 width of more than half, and have a wide distribution. Fig. 151 will 

 suffice as an example of these. It is of red sandstone, having parallel 

 edges and rounded angles. It is chipped much like the flat net 

 sinkers, but has no notches. The length is five and seven eighths 

 inches, width three and three eighths, and thickness five eighths of an 

 inch. This is from a village site on the Seneca river, where many 

 were found. On some smaller sites they also occur, while on others 

 they are altogether lacking. It may be added that the nature of these 

 sites does not favor the theory that they were used in agriculture. 



CHIPPED STONE AXES 



Grooved axes are rare in New York and Canada, and probably 

 were never used by the Huron-Iroquois family. Chipped implements 

 of an axe-like form are no more plentiful in New York, while the 

 common celt, or polished stone axe, without grooves, is both abun- 

 dant and variable. These were used by the Iroquois, even after white 

 contact. Although iron axes quickly came into use, yet Champlain 

 said that the Mohawks were not well supplied with these in 1609, 

 and some still employed the primitive axe of stone. Fig. 152 shows 

 a rudely notched implement of brown sandstone, from Oswego Falls, 

 much like a modern hatchet in outline. It is five and five eighths 

 inches long, and is quite flat. This is an unusual form, although other 

 rude implements have some resemblance to it. A much neater and 

 more regularly chipped axe of the same material, is from Brewerton. 

 It is five inches long, with a width of two and seven eighths inches to- 

 wards the cutting edge, and one and one half inches at the top. The 

 lateral edges are straight. Fig. 153 represents a fine article of fer- 

 ruginous flint, somewhat square, and five and one eighth inches long 

 by about three and three quarters wide. It comes from the Oneida 

 river, and is of moderate thickness. There can be no doubt that it 

 was used as an axe. 



Chipped celts were quite abundant almost everywhere, and were 

 sometimes a final, sometimes a transitional form. The usual course 



