22 PERFORATED STONES 



shapes. They have usually been classed as axes, hammers, ami battle- 

 axes. Many of them are described and figured by Evans. 1 When treat- 

 ing - of the forms of these stones, he remarks : 



Looking at the whole series of instruments, it seems probable that they were in- 

 tended to serve more than one purpose, and that while those of adzelike form were 

 probably tools either for agriculture or for carpentry, and the large heavy axe ham- 

 mers also served some analogous purpose, the smaller class of instruments, whether 

 sharpened at both ends or at one only, may with some degree of certainty be re- 

 garded as weapons. 



The origin and the function of these relics thus appear to have been 

 by no means fully worked out. Among the specimens of the above 

 class figured by Evans are some which, from their shape, degree of 

 ornamentation, and their soft material, are extremely suggestive of the 

 so-called "banner stones" from our mounds. Among the "perforated 

 hammers" figured by Evans are a number which also appear to be more 

 properly classed as ornamental or banner stones than as hammers. 

 Such perforated stones, it would seem likely, may have originated from 

 the weapon type, but the highly ornamental character of some of them 

 and the very great amount of labor necessary for their production 

 render it highly probable that their function was not that of actual 

 weapons. 



Perforated stone hammers were also found in numbers by Schliemann 

 in the ruins of Troy. He also found perforated serpentine balls, ap- 

 parently very similar to some California specimens. The use of these, 

 he remarks, "is a riddle to us. May they, perhaps, have been attached 

 to lassos for catching cattle?" This author also states that these 

 steatite disks occur in Cyprus. 



Ceremonial staves. — As having direct pertinence to the subject of 

 stones of a ceremonial character, attention may be directed to a num- 

 ber of illustrations which appear in a work on New Guinea. In sev- 

 eral places the author alludes to "stone clubs," and he figures 2 fifteen 

 "stone clubheads." Most of them are of greenstone and belong to the 

 warshape pattern; others are oval, made of limestone, and in shape 

 much resemble those found in California and elsewhere. The author's 

 reason for calling them clubheads is not given, and nothing whatever 

 is said of their handles or of the manner in which they are hafted by 

 the New Guinea natives. It would seem possible, then, that D'Albert is 

 classed them as clubheads, as others have done, solely because of 

 their supposed adaptability to this use, were it not that many times 

 during his narrative he mentions stone clubs in connection with war 

 parties. So that, unless we assume that such stone clubs were borne 

 only by the chiefs as marks of authority, an assumption hardly permis- 

 sible under the circumstances, the conclusion seems necessary that the 

 stone clubs referred to, such as he figures 3 under the head of "stone 



1 Ancient Stone Implements, &c, of Great Britain, p. 192. 



2 New Guinea, L. M. D'Albertis, Vol. II, opposite p. 86. 

 3 Loc. cit. 



