30 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 95 



Knives were also made from channel flakes, or perhaps it might 

 better be said that channel flakes were used as knives. The razor- 

 keen edge of these byproducts would be ideal for cutting purposes. 

 Study of such flakes suggests that they were first employed as struck- 

 off from the face of the point. Then as the edge became nicked and 

 dulled in use it was touched up with the flaking tool. 



LARGE BLADES 



The tools and fragments from such implements classed under the 

 heading of large blades are leaf-shaped objects which combine both 

 the qualities of a knife and a scraper. This group constitutes 6.3 per- 

 cent of the series. These specimens are suggestive of the so-called 

 blanks of later periods. The latter were the intermediate stage between 

 the original nodule and the finished tool. They were roughed out in 

 the quarry and then carried home to be completed as time permitted. 

 The blades from the Lindenmeier site are actual implements, however, 

 despite their similarity to the blanks. On many of them there is a 

 careful secondary retouch along the edges. Others show minute 

 chipping of the type which results from use. They would have 

 functioned well in the skinning and cutting up of an animal and also 

 in the scraping of a hide. Some of them exhibit a slight rubbing 

 or gloss at the base which suggests the use of handles, while others 

 do not. Even in an unhafted state they would be quite serviceable. 



The blades range in size from 55 to 90 mm in length, 35 to 40 mm 

 in width, and 7 to 9 mm in thickness. The majority fall between 75 

 and 80 mm in length, which might therefore be termed the standard 

 length. 



MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS 



Several varieties of specimens are grouped under this heading be- 

 cause they constitute only a minor part of the collection. In some cases 

 there is only a single example of the class. Other objects are not 

 actual tools or implements, yet are an integral part of the general 

 complex. Included in this listing are the worked bones, channel flakes, 

 hammerstones and rubbing stones, and pieces of hematite. 



Only a few bones show signs of use or of having been shaped for 

 some definite purpose. Many have cuts and marks made at the time 

 when the flesh was stripped from them or when they were split for 

 their marrow, but this is not considered indicative of workmanship 

 preparing them for some special function. One difficulty in judging 

 the bone material lies in the fact that most of it has been decalcified, 



