28 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



There is extreme variation in the length of these objects. This may be 

 attributed to their thinness and Hability to breakage. Specimens range 

 from 2^^^ to 46 mm in length, 13 to 17 mm in width, and 1.5 to 2 mm 

 in thickness. 



A crude, yet efficient implement was the flakeknife (pi. 14, a-e). 

 Tools of this type were made from large, ribbonlike fragments of 

 stone modified only to the extent of chipping along the edges. On 

 some of these implements the chipping is large and irregular. On 

 others it is as minute and precise as could be desired. Both concave 

 and convex edges are present in the series, occuring either singly or 

 in combination on the same implement. Study of such flakes suggests 

 that they were first employed as struck ofif the nodule, the razor-keen 

 edge of the stone being ideal for cutting purposes. Then as the edge 

 became nicked and dulled through use, it was touched up with the 

 flaking tool until, eventually, the whole edge was chipped. Because of 

 their rough, unfinished nature, implements of this type have received 

 scant notice in American archeology and, if mentioned at all, have fre- 

 quently been dismissed with the explanation that they were rejects, 

 scrap " flints " tossed aside because they were not good enough to 

 work into finished tools. This certainly was not true of the present 

 group, as the objects obviously are implements. They would readily 

 function for cutting chunks of meat for the stew-pot or even for the 

 skinning of an animal. The length of the specimens in this group 

 varies from 49 mm to 88 mm, the breadth from 15 to 36 mm, and the 

 thickness from 4.5 to 10 mm. 



A second group of flakeknives consists of a border-line series of 

 larger implements which could serve either as knives or scrapers and 

 which could be included in one or the other category with equal 

 justification (pi. 14, /-«)• The main reason for listing them as knives 

 is that most of them have a peculiar twist to the flake which makes 

 them more adaptable for cutting purposes than for scraping. These 

 implements, as mentioned also in the discussion of other types, no 

 doubt served a variety of purposes, and a hard and fast classification 

 of the form is out of the question. The group ranges in length from 

 53 to III mm, in breadth from 38 to 74 mm, and in thickness from 

 8 to 10 mm. 



BLADES AND CHOPPERS 



Included in the collection are leaf-shaped blades and several large 

 points which appear to be ends broken from such blades (pi. 15, 

 a-h, k). The blades are reminiscent of the so-called blanks which 

 represent the intermediate stage between the original nodule and the 



