38 



AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



ray, found on the Bowman's Brook 

 site, at Mariner's Harbor, Staten 

 Island, may have been used as har- 

 poons or fish spears, for which purpose 

 they were admirably suited by nature. 

 Long, narrow, chipped stone arrow- 

 heads are generally called ' 'fish points " 

 but they do not seem peculiarly adapt- 

 ed for this purpose and the name is 

 probably a misnomer. No bone fish 

 hooks are reported from hereabouts, 

 though suggested by early writers. 



Bone Beads and Tubes. While so 

 abundant on Iroquoian sites, tubes 

 and beads made of hollow bird or other 

 animal bones, polished and cut in sec- 

 tions, are very rare here. 



Draw Shaves, or Beaming Tools, 

 made of bone, and probably used for 

 removing the hair from skins, were 

 made by splitting the bone of a deer's 

 leg, leaving a sharp blade in the middle 

 with the joints on either end as han- 

 dles. The writer has seen none from 

 this immediate region, but they are 

 reported by Mr. M. R. Harrington. 

 A number were obtained for the Mu- 

 seum by Mr. Ernst Volk in the Lenape* 

 sites near Trenton, New Jersey. An 

 implement, evidently made of the 

 scapula of a deer, and perhaps used as 

 a scraper, was found in a grave at Bur- 

 ial Ridge, Tottenville, Staten Island, 

 by Mr. George H. Pepper. 



Worked Teeth. Perforated teeth of 

 the bear, wolf, and other animals, so 

 abundant on Iroquoian sites never seem 

 to be found here. Beavers' teeth cut 

 and ground to an edge, occur, and may 

 have been used as chisels, or primitive 

 crooked knives, or both, as they were 

 till recently by some of the eastern 

 Canadian Algonkin. Other cut beaver 

 teeth may have served as dice or count- 

 ers in gaming. 



Turtle Shell Cups. These are com- 

 mon, and consist merely of the bony 

 carapace of the box turtle (Terrapene 

 Carolina), scraped and cleaned inside, 

 the ribs being cut away from the cov- 

 ering to finish the utensil for use. 



Antler Implements. Deer antlers 

 and fragments of antler, worked and 

 unworked, occur in all shell-heaps and 

 pits. When whole antlers are found, 

 they usually show at the base the 

 marks of the axe or other implement 

 used to detach them from the skull. 

 Cut antler prongs, prongs broken from 

 the main shaft and others partly hol- 

 lowed and sharpened show the process 

 of manufacture of antler arrow points. 

 These are characteristic of this area 

 and are usually conical in shape, 

 hollowed to receive the shaft, and with 

 one or more barbs; not infrequently, 

 however, they are diamond-shaped in 

 cross-section. The shaft fitted into 

 the hollow socket as in the case of the 

 conical bone arrow points. A large 

 number were found in and among the 

 bones of human skeletons in a grave 

 at the Burial Ridge, Tottenville, 

 Staten Island. 



Cylinders, neatly cut and worked all 

 over, or cylindrical tines made of deer 

 antler only cut and rounded at the 

 ends, are not infrequent, and were 

 probably used as flaking tools in mak- 

 ing and finishing arrow points by pres- 

 sure. One broken cylinder or pin, 

 found on the Bowman's Brook site, 

 Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island, had 

 a rounded, neatly carved head. This 

 specimen, however, seems to be unique. 



Pottery stamps, perhaps of antler or 

 bone, but which may be of wood, seem 

 to have been used, judging by the dec- 

 orations of many pottery sherds. A 

 pottery stamp, carved from antler, was 



