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BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



ImiLL-. 60 



ner of holding- tlic liaiiiaier .siisptMided behvwn the thumb and finger 

 tips, thus niininii/iuLi' the iar and strain. 



Examples of hammerstones regarded as especially adapted to the 

 Avork of shaping minor artifacts by crumbling are 

 The Implements shown in ligurc ifSl), d.^ b. These are specialized by 

 more or less decided flattening of the face or by slight 

 indcntalions. D;)ubtless these discoidal forms, which are in some 

 localities very numerous, served on occasion for other purposes. 

 Although the discoidal pitted hammer is regarded by some students 

 of the subject as the pecking tool par excellence, it is observed that 

 in very many cases the periphery bears no traces of the battering 

 which necessarily results from this use. It is also true that stones of 

 other available shapes were employed in the crumbling work. The 

 pitted disk may have been a favorite form in some sections, especially 

 for minor work, but deep carving required pointed tools, and the 



V\( ISO Thiki' li^ ill liaiiinirrsliiiii 



(One half actual sis^o.) 



greater work of sculpture and building was accomplished with heavy 

 tools, gi'<)o\ed or olhci'wise suitably sha})ed for attaching a haft. It 

 is molt' than i)r()l)able that celts, axes, picks, and chisels normally 

 de\()ted to other uses were often di\crted, as the need arose, to stone 

 cutting and sculpture. 



liough shaping by ])ecking usually [)recedes the grinding-polishing 

 processes and is preparatory to them, although nmltitudes of imide- 

 ments and utensils are devoted to their i'es[)ccti\e uses without the 

 finishing treatment or with but slight grinding to sharpen the edges 

 and points. The technical history of individual i)olislied artifacts is 

 thus usually complex and often obscure, since they have passed gen- 

 erally through stages irnolving two or more processes. When in 

 such cases the finishing processes are complete, traces of the earlier 

 stages are obliterated. However, there is no longer any mystery 

 about the processes, which are now fully remo\'ed from the category 

 of lost arts. This result has been brought about largely by intelligent 

 exi)erimeiit and by the study of sites of manufacture where the shop 



