XXIX. FRACTUEE PEOCESSES 



NUjNIEEOUS somewhat distinct methods of shaping stone by 

 fracture processes are described and illustrated in subsecjuent 

 pages. Many of these methods have been recorded with some 

 degree of fullness by observers of the native work as actually prac- 

 ticed, or as operated by old men who had knowledge of the work 

 in days preceding the coming of the gun, while others are inferred 

 from a study of the implements used, the artifacts made, and the 

 refuse of manufacture. It is not at all likely, how^ever, that the proc- 

 esses cited and described include all of those employed by primitive 

 peoples of the world or even of America alone, but they are sufficient 

 to indicate the wide range of methods available to the Stone Age arti- 

 san. During his many years of close association with the Indians Mr. 

 Gushing accunnilated a great store of knowledge of the native arts, 

 and in his discussion of the arrow ^ he enumerates and illustrates 

 several methods of stone working by fracture alone. His account, 

 which describes numerous processes, is introduced later on. The 

 writer has been able to collect more or less definite information re- 

 garding a much larger number without going beyond the ordinaiy 

 range of processes observed in use among primitive peoples. As 

 a matter of fact, the procedure followed out by the experi- 

 menter, howsoever carefully he may imitate the native processes as 

 witnessed by him or described by others, will always be found to 

 embody more or less decided individual variations and technical 

 peculiarities. 



The fracture processes are of two distinct types: Those which 

 operate by percussion, and those which employ pressure. The former 

 are here presented first for the reason that in the shaping of minor 

 artifacts in which pressure is utilized the shaping work usually 

 begins with percussion. The flakes are made, or blank forms are 

 roughed out by the hammer, preparatory to the use of the bone 

 chipping tool. 



Percussion Fracture Processes 



The stone hammer, the greatest of all Stone Age tools, remained 

 imperfectly understood by students of prehistoric culture until within 



^ Gushing, The Arrow. 



283 



