92 STONE IMPLEMENTS fETHASNls 



wLere bowlders were used by tens of tbousaiids in Idailc making, the 

 cbances are a binidred to one that they are rejects of l)hi(le niakiii*:^. 



It may occur to some that jmssibly this vilhi},'e site tool was proihiced 

 in the <iuarries and that the rejected forms of like tyi)e are the rejects 

 resnltinfj IVom its niannfacture. That tliis is not the case may be 

 inferred from the facts that it usually occurs in the immediate vicinity 

 of supplies of bowlders, and that it could l)e made of bowlders of 

 inferior material, such as are found in countless phices all over the 

 Potomac region. By those who have studied the various forms on tlie 

 ground, the idea that it is in any sense connected with the quarry work 

 would not be entertained. 



The notched ax is foiiiul scattered over an extended area which 

 includes all the western tributaries of the Chesapeake. It is especially 

 abundant in districts which, like portions of the Potomac valley, are 

 supplied with abundance of large bowlders. In some localities these 

 tools are quite numerous, and on sites such as the Popes creek shell 

 heaps the}' are obtained by scores. As a rule they are extremely rude, 

 and seem like tools intended for temporary rather than permanent use. 

 They were certainly not sutticiently valuable to be transpoited to any 

 great extent, and I have seen few that show pronounced marks of use. 

 Thej' were usually made by striking ofi' half a dozen chii)s from one 

 end of a tlattish, oblong bowlder and by breaking rude notches in its 

 sides, as shown in plate li. The appearance is mostly that of a very 

 elementary form of the grooved ax, the notches evidentlj' having served 

 to facilitate halting. They could have been used for chopping, for dig- 

 ging and hoeing, or for cutting up game and breaking boiu's. In very 

 many cases the edge is made by i-emoving the flakes from one side of 

 the bowlder only, leaving an adz-like profile. It is hard to say wliether 

 the haft was attached with the edge at right angles to the handle, as in 

 our adzes or hoes, or whether the blade was placed as in our ax. .Some 

 idea of the vaiiety of forms taken by these tools is conveyed V)y the 

 specimens shown in plates lii and Liii. Occasional specimens show 

 considerable elaboration, and it is quite possible to assemble a series 

 showing a conqdete gradation from the simplest notched ax to sym- 

 metrically sha])ed and well finished forms of grooved axes. 



All of the forms referred to as picks, and which pertain largely to the 

 quarrying and working of soapstone, are abundantly illustrated under 

 the head of cut-stone iaqtlements, with which they are placed, not 

 because they are themselves in any sense cut stones, but because they 

 were employed in cutting the soai)stone and because it seems better 

 that all phenomena pertaining to that interesting and important sub- 

 ject be kei)t together. To obtain a complete notion of the ruder forms 

 of llaked-stone implements it will therefore be necessary to turn to 

 the pages treating of steatite. 



A few other inqdements of correspondingly rude character are 

 shaped exclusively by flaking, though iu many cases continued use 



