HOLMES] QUARTZITE BLADES 87 



may have been iu large or small bowlder.s, fragments, or flakes, but 

 all must have passed through kindred transformations. 



Plate XXXV contains a few examples of the leaf-shape blades, the 

 outlines varying from the oval to the imperfectly ovoid form, with one 

 point sharp and the other blunt, the ratio of length to width also vary- 

 ing. These are the forms produced in the quarry-shops and in other 

 rough ing-out shops. As a rule they show traces of the bold work of 

 the free-hand flaking, and the uutrimmed edges and points bear strong 

 evidence that they were not yet ready to be devoted to any use. They 

 are rarely above three-eighths of an inch thick. They are found occa- 

 sionally in caches, but generally on village-sites Mhere the plow turns 

 them out of the soil along with other classes of relics. Plates xxxvi 

 and xxsvii illustrate manj- excellent examples of the specialized forms 

 of leaf-blade genesis. They include pretty nearly the full range of what 

 may be, with approximate accuracy, designated projectile ])oints. It 

 happens that none of the scraper or perforator forms are included, but 

 these are rare in quartzite. 



<,>rAKTZ IMPLEMENTS 



Quartz implements were derived from the raw material, chiefly in two 

 forms: first, vein rock, procured from outcrops or by quairying; and, 

 second, water- worn pieces in the form of bowlders and pebbles, obtained 

 from surface accumulations, outcroi)S of gravel, or from quarries. The 

 former was used in the highland and down to the margin of the vein- 

 bearing crystalline rocks — a line somewhat outside of the present fall- 

 line. The latter was the great soui'ce of supply to dwellei's in the low- 

 land. It is not ])ossible to distinguish implements made from the two 

 forms of the stone save where portions of the water-worn surface are 

 preserved. This rarely occurs in a well-finished jjiece, but vast areas 

 are s[)rinkled with the wasters of manufacture, all indicating failures in 

 blade making from pebbles. Notwithstanding the fact that bowlders 

 and pebbles are nature-selected material — that is, those bits least weak- 

 ened by flaws and seams — they are still extremely liable to shatter 

 under the hannner. 



Years of study iu the tidewater country have led me to the conclu- 

 sion that pebbles were the source of at least three-fourths of the quartz 

 implements there found. The vein quartz is much more difticult to use, 

 being hard to reduce to the blade form, while the pebbles are readily 

 reduced. An evolution series is given in plate xxxviii, the upper line 

 showing profiles of tlie sjiecimens represented in the lower line. Plate 

 XXXIX contains a series of blades such as were derived from the work- 

 ing of pebbles. The range of form and size is not great. The largest 

 are rarely so much as 4 inches in length and an inch and a half iu 

 width; the smallest are very mLnute. In shape the ordinary leaf like 

 blade is most common, some are long and slender, others wide and tri- 

 angular, while a few are approximately discoid. Some of these may 



