holmes] aboriginal AMEBIC AN ANTIQUITIES PAKT I 149 



probal)ly better suited than any other to the s^'steniatic discussion of 

 the antiquities of tlie continent, yet its exclusive adoption would 

 pro\'e unsatisfactory. To describe separately in full tletail, by ethnic 

 areas, the many classes of anti(iuities would necessitate a vast amount 

 of useless repetition, descrii)tive and comparative. The necessary 

 comparative stud}^ of the multitude of anticiuities is carried out to 

 advantage only by taking up each class of artifacts separately, area 

 by area, as a special unit of research. The same is true of the nu- 

 merous nonmaterial branches of culture, which the archeologist is 

 expected to aid in elucidating. 



(3) The culture of historical and existing peoples is readily treated 



by ethnic units, as by tribes, stocks, nations, and 



ciassiflcation by ^^^ according to the needs of the ethnologist, and 



Peoples . t^ ' 



the archeologist may join him in elaborating these 

 units, carrying the story of i^articular peo[)les backward into the 

 deepening shadows of anti(|nity ; luit the culture remains of the im- 

 perfectly recorded past refuse to be assigned definitely to particular 

 peoples and the archeologist, when the ethnic connection fails, must 

 change his point of view and so manipulate his data — the prehistoric 

 antiquities — as to make them tell, so far as he may, the story of the 

 groups of imnamed prehistoric peoi)les, applying the data more es- 

 pecially, however, to the solution of the broader problems of chro- 

 nology and of race and culture history. 



(1) It is a well-established fact that the continent has been occupied 



for a long, though imperfectly defined period, and 



citii^sificntiou i)y numerous well-authenticated discoveries bearing tes- 



Time or Soquence _ t:^ ''^ 



timony to this fact have been made, but attempts to 

 correlate particular grades or stages of culture with geologic or other 

 time periods have had a very small measure of success. The classifi- 

 cation of the anticjuities of the continent as a whole, or even of any 

 large part of them, on a time basis is thus not feasible. The salient 

 features of the clironologic record are given under the heading 

 " Chronology."' 



(5) For puri)oses of research antiquities may be classified by kinds 



of artifacts and under designations originating 

 kIuT^ '^*^°" '^^ largely in common usage. Function is an important 



factor in determining these groups, yet the use of 

 many kinds of artifacts of antiquity is not known, and in many cases 

 may never be determined. This is true especially of articles of su- 

 perstition and ceremony — a very numerous class — the significance of 

 wdiich, or the precise use of which, is not easily determined, even 

 where found in use among living tribes. With this class of material 

 probable function as inferred from form may serve as a means of 

 classification and treatment. 



