NO. 4 A FOLSOM COMPLEX ROBERTS 25 



only a rare, sporadic example shows the reverse, with the chipping 

 sloping away to the right. Perhaps this constitutes a record of right- 

 and left-handedness in the group which made and used them. A few 

 specimens in the collection do not correspond to the general pointed 

 type, but have broad, unworked ends. Their sides, however, are 

 beveled in characteristic fashion. The beveled edge is not confined to 

 tools of this type ; it occurs, singly, on some of the side scrapers. Per- 

 haps the beveled points should only be considered as broken tips from 

 knife blades. Yet basal portions have not come to light, and it would 

 seem that the implements found represent the complete tool. They 

 would serve well in the capacity of a knife, particularly in the skinning 

 of an animal, where the cutting motion was toward the user. Those 

 with the broad, unchipped ends would not do for such a purpose and 

 must have been employed as a variety of scraper. The triangular 

 examples could also be used as reamers in enlarging holes started with 

 a small punch or borer. 



The bevel-edged tools in this collection are not unique for North 

 America, but it is interesting to note that the form occurred in the 

 Folsom horizon. Henry B. Collins, Jr., has examples that he found in 

 Alaska.'^ Kidder obtained a number of knife blades in his work at 

 Pecos which exhibit the feature.^^ There are examples from late 

 Plains sites, and they are fairly numerous in certain districts in Ohio, 

 Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.'' These forms are more definite 

 in their shaping, however, and are presumably of a much later date. 



The triangular forms of the bevel-edged tool found at the Linden- 

 meier site range from 25 to 30 mm in length, 26 to 32 mm in width, 

 and 4 to 6 mm in thickness. The flat-ended forms are from 27 to 

 40 mm in length, 29 to 33 mm in width, and from 6 to 8 mm in 

 thickness. 



The tools given the designation " gravers " constitute one of the 

 most interesting groups in the whole collection (pi. 13). This is due 

 not so much to the actual nature of the specimens themselves as to 

 their indication that some form of the engraver's art was practiced 

 by the makers of the Folsom points. No objects exhibiting such handi- 

 work were found, but the character of the implements suggests that 

 further work may uncover pieces of bone or other material, similarly 

 resistant to the agents of decay, upon which designs were scratched. 



Collins, 193 1, 1932. 

 ' Kidder, 1932, pp. 30-34. 

 'Fowke, 1896, pp. 160-161, 177-178. Wilson, 1899, pp. 931-934. 



