PEEFACE 



THE present work forms one of the series of handbooks of 

 the Bureau of American Ethnolog}^, whicli was conceived 

 as the natural and necessary outgrowth of the Handboolc 

 of American Indians (Bulletin 30), a comprehensive treatise com- 

 pleted and sent to press while the writer was Chief 



The Handbook ^f ^j^^ Bureau. It was planned to have a. series of 



Series ^ 



at least 1'2 separate handbooks which should cover as 

 many grand divisions of the sul)jeet matter embodied in brief form 

 in Bulletin 30. The first of this series to be submitted for pub- 

 lication was the Handbook of American Indian Languages (Bul- 

 letin 40), Part 1, and the second, the present memoir, the Hand- 

 book of American Antiquities. This work is not designed as a 

 formal presentation of American archeology in which the antiquities 

 are described and discussed country by country, or region by region, 

 in geographical sequence, but rather as a reference 

 w^k^^'^^"'^^ work or manual, the principal purpose of which is 



to assemble and present the antiquities of the conti- 

 nent in such a manner and order as to make them readily available 

 to the student who shall undertake to present a comprehensive view 

 of the evolution of culture among men. 



The present volume is, in large measure, introductory to the 

 systematic presentation of the antiquities; it deals with the scope 

 of archeologic science, the character, extent, and classification of its 

 subject matter, the progress of research ; with the several important 

 problems which present themselves for solution, including those 

 of race origin, migrations, culture evolution, and chronology; with 

 the ethnic characterization areas; with the acquirement of the sub- 

 stances employed in the arts; and finally with the manipulation of 

 stone. 



The second volume is to be devoted exclusively to the implements, 

 utensils, and other minor artifacts of stone. These are given pre- 

 cedence over other grand divisions of the subject matter for the 

 reason that they lie at the foundation of Stone Age culture, and, 

 for that matter, at the foundation of all progress toward the civilized 



