iini.jrEs] ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I '281 



^\■ol•k connected with sculptural and architectural (building) arts, 

 and more especially the incUistries pertaining thereto, are in a meas- 

 ure distinct from those pertaining to the minor art forms, but these 

 diti'erences will appear with suflicient clearness as the several proc- 

 esses are presented in detail. 



Pictography utilized sharp stones and stone surfaces in their nat- 

 ural state, and sculptures generall}^ passed through the same shaping 

 stages and by the same processes as implements and utensils of 

 practical use. The stone gathered for building purposes was em- 

 ployed without change or was dressed by the ordinary shaping 

 processes to suit the needs of the builder, while the quarried niatei'ial 

 had largely to be freed from the solid beds by the tedious processes 

 of pecking and picking and was dressed and carved by the same im- 

 plements employed in the shaping of major artifacts generally. 



JNIucli has been said regarding the time required for the comple- 

 tion of artifacts of certain classes. The fracturing 

 siapiJT""'''^ '" operations were usually not i^rolongod or tedious, ar.'^ 

 numerous eyewitnesses of the native work testify 

 to the i-apidity with which the minor chipped implements, as aiiow- 

 heads, wei-e made; and experiment has shown that even the most 

 tedious pi'ocesses, as crumbling and abrading, permit the comjile- 

 tion of the more elaborate implements in weeks and months rather 

 than in years or lifetimes. That certain highly specialized and elal> 

 orate articles took long periods for their completion is to be 

 accounted for by the fact that the work usually was not carried for- 

 ward at once, but was taken up at intervals possibly widely separated. 

 Speaking of grooved axes and celts, Lafitau says that they are pre- 

 pared by the process of grinding on sandstone and finally assume, 

 at the sacrifice of much time and labor, nearly the shape of our axes 

 (the grooved ax) or of a wedge for splitting wood (the celt). The 

 life of a savage is often insufficient for accom]ilishing the woi-k, and 

 hence such an implement, however rude and imperfect it may be, is 

 considei'ed a ])recious heirloom for the children.^ 



INlcGuire and others who have undertaken experimental worlc have 

 demonstrated the fact that the most elaborate stone 

 Time Froportionoii .^^ is not neccssarily the work of years but rather 

 oration "^ days and weeks (see " Crumbling and x\brading 



Processes"). However, where large woiks were nn- 

 dertaken, as in sculpture and architecture, the labor was pi-olonged 

 and directly in ratio to inci'ease in dimensions. The cai-ving of 

 each of the granite capitals of the Corinthian columns of the portico 

 of the New National Museum, CA inches in height and 50 inches in 

 diameter, occupied a skilled woi'kman, equipped with the most highly 



1 Lafitau, Moeurs dos Sauvagos Anioriquains, vol. ii, p. 110. 



