holmes] aboriginal AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 101 



Deposits of soapstone occur tlirougliout nearly all the States from 

 Massachusetts to (Jeorgia and were extensivel}' worked by the abo- 

 rigines for the manufacture of cooking utensils, tobacco pipes, and 

 articles of ornament, and the stone pickaxes and chisels used in cut- 

 ting out and shaping these articles constitute a unique feature in 

 American archeology. Mica was mined extensively in Virginia and 

 North Carolina, and quarries of argillite, jasper, and rhyolite are 

 found in Pennsylvania, and of quartz and quartzite bowlder deposits 

 in the District of Columbia. From the materials obtained in these 

 quarries and from other widely distributed sources of supply vast 

 numbers of chipped implements were made, as w^ould be expected 

 with a forest people devoted to war and the chase. It is stated that 

 a single collector amassed, largely within the limits of a single 

 county in South Carolina, 20 bushels of arrowheads. The coarse 

 grain and refractory nature of most of the materials, how^ever, ren- 

 dered impossible the refined work which was produced in the areas 

 to the west. Deposits or caches of large chipped blades, mostly of 

 the narrow oblong type, have been found at many points throughout 

 the area. The spear w^as not in general use on the arrival of the 

 wdiites, the bow and arrow, the tomahawdc (celt hatchet), and club 

 being the principal weai)ons. Dugout canoes antl canoes of bark 

 were in use, and occasional examples of the former have been un- 

 covered in recent years. Petroglyphs of primitive type are found 

 in all sections. The most noted example is that of Dighton Rock, 

 IVIassachusetts, which has greatly puzzled antiquaries and has been 

 the subject of much controversy. 



Relics of stone and bone, believed to have had their origin in 

 glacial and early postglacial times, have been collected in the Dela- 

 ware Valley and elsewhere, but geologists are not yet agreed as to 

 the exact age of the formations with which most of the objects are 

 said to be associated. These artifacts are not specifically different 

 from those of the Indian tribes, and whether they represent an 

 earlier and a distinct culture from that of the remains of the region 

 generally seems to be an open question. The possibilities are that, 

 howsoever ancient the older traces may be, they represent c<mtinuous 

 occupancy of the area by the same or related tribal groups. 



A few remnants of the original tribes (Algonquian and Iroquoian), 



mostly of mixed blood, still live within the more 



Historical Stocks easterly and southerly States, while a considerable 



body of the Iroquois remains in the valley of the 



St. Lawrence. 



That the tribes of this great region should have remained ahvays 

 in a state of culture so ]:)rimitive while other areas witnessed advance- 

 ment must be attributed in large })art to the forest environment. In 

 both physical and intellectual attributes they had few superiors on 

 the continent. 



