holmes] 



ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUI' ^ES PART I 



331 



Tlie sluiping acts in this class of operations are percussive, and the 

 impact of the implement results in the crumbling of 

 Acts^ ''""'''"''" minute portions of the surface of the stone, which 

 disappear as dust. The implements are necessarily 

 hard and lough, while the stone shaiied is sufficiently tough prac- 

 tically to })reclude fracture by the ordinary blow. Should the im- 

 plement be so used as to dislodge considerable portions of the stone 

 the operation would have to be classed with the fracture processes. 

 No specialized tool was necessary for the primitive artisan in the 

 simpler crumbling work, though such came in time to be nuide or 

 Avere developed through modifications due to long use in the practice 

 of the arts. The several crumbling acts are expressed by the terms 

 pecking, battering, chiseling, and percussive drilling, the term peck- 



FiG. 1S7. Slmiiiiij; ,1 stoiio ax l).v Ihe 

 pecking (erumbliug) process. 



Fl(i. ISS. Method uf lioMiiij,' tl 

 cuiilal liaimuerstuue. 



flis- 



ing being commonly employed for the o]>eration by which shaping 

 Avas more usuall}^ accom])lishe(_l by the aborigines. 



The method most eifective for the shaping of minor artifacts is 



illustrated in figure 1<S7. The implement under treat- 



,!""' . '" ''"" mcnt in this case is an ordinary grooved ax in ijrocess 



1 ercussiou . 



of elaboration from an ovoid bowlder. The blade is 

 being reduced to desired thinness by strokes of the discoidal hanmier. 

 Held thus in the hand, the incipient ax is readily turned to meet the 

 blows of the hammer, wliich are rapidly delivered, and the elasticity 

 of tlie hand support prevents breakage under strokes wliicli, were the 

 ax stationary, would shatter it. Figure 188, a, h^ illustrates the man- 



