HOLMES] STAGES OF MANUFACTURE 25 



digging, etc, mid rouuded cobbles from the river or from gravel beds 

 were well suited for striking, pouudiiig, grinding, etc, but with these 

 unmodified forms we have little to do, as it is not easy to say that any 

 given specimen was used at all unless it bears decided marks of use; 

 and decided marks of use may be regarded as giving the object au 

 artificial form, as in the case of the improvised mortars, mailers, and 

 hammerstones so common in the Chesapeake-Potomac region. 



Shaping Processes 



The shaping processes by means of which stone was made to assume 

 artificial forms adapted to human needs are varied and ingenious and 

 their mastery is of the greatest importance to all primitive peoples. 

 These- processes are distinguished by such terms as breaking, flaking, 

 cutting, drilling, scraping, pecking, grinding, and polishing. All are 

 ])urely mechanical; none are chemical, save a possible use of fire to 

 induce changes in the rock in some jiarts of the quarry work. A wide 

 range of manual operations is represented, and these may be conven- 

 iently arranged in four groups: 1, fracturing, represented by the terms 

 breaking, Haking, and chipping; 2, incisiufi, including cutting, pick- 

 ing, and scraping; 3, battcrim/, including such acts as bruising, pecking, 

 and hammering; 4, abrading, as in rubbing, drilling, boring, sawing, 

 and itolishing. These acts are employed according to the nature of the 

 stone or the I'csults desired ; as, for example, fracture is employed where 

 the stone to be shaped is brittle, like flint,jasper, or quartz; incision is 

 employed where the stone is relatively soft, such as soapstone, serpen- 

 tine, and the like; battering is applied to tough materials, capable of 

 resisting the shocks of percussion, like granitic rocks and many of 

 the eruptives. Nearly all varieties are capable of being shaped by 

 grinding and rubbing. 



The i)rocesses employed in a given case were determined by the 

 nature of the material, by the intelligence and skill of the worknuin, 

 by the character of the object designed, and by a number of minor con- 

 siderations. Ninety percent of the stone implements produced in the 

 tidewater ccmntry were shaped by the fra'-turing processes. For con- 

 venience of treatment, I shall present the implements in groups deter- 

 mined by the processes mainly employed in their production as follows: 

 1, fractured or flaked implements; 2, battered or pecked implements, 

 and, 3, incised or cut implements. Abrading processes were mainly 

 auxiliary to the others and will not be presented at length. 



Frncfnrinfi or flal;ing — The art of flaking stone was very extensively 

 practiced in the tidewater region, and ample opportunity is furnished 

 for observing the work in all its phases. The first step in the process, 

 where masses were dealt with, consisted in breaking the material by 

 heavy blows into somewhat approximate shapes and sizes; the second 

 step was roughing out by free hand percussion the blank forms of the 

 various classes of tool desired; the third step was the specialization of 

 forms by direct or indirect percussion, or by pressure. As to the order 



