24 STONE IMPLEMENTS [eth.asn.15 



Lafayette periods, were diMived by erosive forces as fragniciits from 

 heavy strata in tlie iiioiiiitaiiioiis regiou to tlie iiortliwest. Heavy 

 deposits of these stones acciiinulated about tlie months of the rivers; 

 by subsciqiient erosion tliey were exposed to view in many places and 

 most advantageously for human use in the steeper blufls that border 

 the streams. Countless numbers, loosened from the well compacted 

 beds by erosion, descended to the low er slopes and into the streams to 

 be again deposited at lower levels. The surface or float cobbles were 

 extensively used, but the aborigines came to need more than could 

 thus be obtained, and resorted to digging them from their places in 

 the bluffs. The implement makers seem to have found that the freshly 

 removed stones were more easily worked than surface finds, and quar- 

 rying, thus encouraged, was carried, in at least two places, over acres 

 of ground. The bowlders were not always easily loosened and removed, 

 as the rounded stones were held together by a matrix of sand and clay 

 which had assumed almost the consistency of a sandstone; but the 

 miners did not always penetrate the formation from above or even 

 directly from the face of the outcrop. It happened that in many cases 

 the bowlder beds rested on a surface of disintegrated gneiss exposed in 

 bluff' slopes, and by removing the upper surface of this with such pikes 

 as were at hand the bowlders were undermined and easily knocked 

 down. So far as observed, the bowlder deposits containing workable 

 stone in any considerable quantity rest on the gneissic surfaces where 

 they were laid down by the waters of the ancient sea. 



Quartz, which was more generally if not more extensively used than 

 any other material, is found in two forms. It occurs in countless veins 

 which penetrate the gneissic rocks over a large district west of the 

 falldine. TJeing much less destructible than the gneisses, it weathers 

 out in dike-like ridges and breaks ui) into blocks and angular pieces 

 which spread over the grouud in vast numbers. Choice varieties of 

 this vein rock were, without doubt, quarried to some extent, but it 

 was so i)lentiful on the surface that (]uarrying was not generally neces- 

 sary. Carried down by the streams of all periods, it occurs i)lentifully 

 as pebbles and bowlders in all formations in the tidewater region, and 

 Avas selected or quarried along with the quartzite. 



Jasper, flint, rhyolite, and other v^arieties of stone were rather rare 

 within the tidewater districts, occurring sparingly as pebbles, small 

 bowlders, and worn fragments in gravel deposits and in the beds of 

 rivers. They were procured, however, by the tidewater tribes from 

 masses in ])lace in the njilands and mountains, the quarries being 

 quite extensive, as will be shown subsecjuently. 



MANUFACTURE 



Initial Stages 



Having secured the raw materials from the surface or by quarrying, 

 the next stei) was either to utilize them unchanged or to shape them 

 for use. Sharp-edged and pointed stones were used for cutting, 



