Chapter III 



FLAKi:!) STONE IMPLEMENTS 



GENERAL FEATURES 



Tlio treatinent of this division of the suliject will be brief, since the 

 object of the present paper is chiefly to develop the history of tlie great 

 industries connected with ([uarrying, manufacture, and distribution, 

 rather than to discuss the tiiiished iuii)lenients and their uses. Up to 

 the i)reseiit time a rational account of the earlier stages of the work of 

 the aboriginal artisans, of the history of the implement up to the point 

 where its functions as an implement began, has not been given. The 

 finished objects have been voluminously discussed by many authors, 

 but this discussion began in the middle of the subject as now developed 

 and is thus incomplete and unsatisfactory. Unfinished forms and 

 rejects have not been clearly distinguished from implements proper, 

 and nuich time has been wasted in classifying and finding uses for 

 objects that are not implements at all. 



Attention has already been given to the destiny of the blades pro- 

 duced in such great numbers in the (juarryshops and in the workshops 

 scatteied over areas aflording the raw material. From these sites were 

 distributed, often in unfinished condition, the innumerable specimens 

 found in caches and on dwelling, hunting, fishing, and other sites all 

 over the tidewater country. The processes of elaboration, by means of 

 which the blades are roughedout and prepared for final shaping, have 

 already been considered at some length. 



We are not able tosay at just what point in tiie shaping of the blade 

 or implement from quartzite and each of the other stones (for the point 

 would not be uniform with all varieties) the percussion procicsses ceased 

 and the pressure processes took up the work. It was certainly later in 

 the quaitzite than in any of the others, because of its coarse grain and 

 exceeding toughnes.s and the consequent lack of thin and sharj) edges 

 on which the pressure tool must take hold. The pressure methods were 

 applied somewhat as indicated in the following paragraphs. 



In tiie method mostreadily available for the final -steps a blank form 

 or a tiake having the approximate shape was held firndy between the 

 fingers and thumb of the left hand. A firm piece of bone having a 

 rather thin edge or angle like that of a. three-cornered file was taken in 

 the right hand and set upon the sharp edge of the stone and at right 

 angles to it so firmly that a slight cut or notch was nuub' in the bone, 

 then, with a (piick, firm movement of the right hand, met by a similar 

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