298 



BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bdll. ho 



Tins method could have little \aluc in shaping minor artifacts, but 

 must ha\e been of great service at all stages of progress in breaking 



up stone in the quarries and 

 possibl}^ in rough - shaping 

 stone for building purposes. 

 Closely akin to the pre- 

 ceding is the use of one stone 

 held in the hand as a ham- 

 mer, hafted or unhafted, in 

 fracturing another stone at 

 rest, held or not held, to alter 

 its shape or to remove frag- 

 ments and flakes for use as 

 implements or for (he making 

 of implements (fig. 101 ) . This 

 simple process has doubtless 

 been employed by all primi- 

 tive peoples, and its opera- 

 tion, we may assume, led up- 

 wai'd, as skill and intelligence 

 increased, to the development 

 of other and more refined 

 })rocesses of working stone. 

 Many of the accounts given by casual observers of the use of 

 the hanunerstone in implement making by the aborigines are meager 



Fig. IGO. Fracturing a largo stone with 

 huninicrstone cast as a missile. 



Fig. 161. Use of a haminerstonc in making flakes. 



and im]iei'fect. and allowance must be made for mistakes and mis- 

 interju'ctations. In some cases it is dillicult to determine from the 



