HOLMES] ABORIGUS^^AL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 359 



Utensils, and other artifacts chiefly by means of the pick, gouge, and « 

 chisel, the incising edge being generally quite narrow and merging 

 into the pointed pick, the process at the same time merging into the 

 crumbling type. These tools were used ha f ted or unhafted and were 

 operated by pushing and striking or by indirect percussion, as with 

 the aid of a mallet. 



Our principal information regarding the shaping of stone by in- 

 cising methods is obtained from prehistoric sources, especially from 

 the soapstone quarries, which are found in great numbers in the 

 Appalachian Eanges and to a lesser extent in other regions through- 

 out Northern America. 



The quarry excavations where the stone was hewn from its native 

 bed and the refuse of manufacture left on the shop sites near at hand 

 furnish ample data for the student, and the utensils made of this 

 material and left on dwelling sites where used and abandoned, bear 

 traces of the methods employed in their production, often obscured, 

 however, bv reshaping and wear. But the quarry faces from which 

 the material was cut and the refuse of the shops left practically un- 

 touched since abandoned by the workmen afford traces of the most 

 satisfactory kind. The markings are so perfectly preserved that the 

 size and kind of cutting edges employed are at once apparent. 

 The tools themselves scattered about, often in large numbers, serve 

 to complete the story. We are even able to say with reasonable cer- 

 tainty that the work of blocking out the articles made was often done 

 with hafted rather than unhafted implements, since the deep, direct 

 incisions (fig. 223, a) could hardly have resulted from less forcible 

 methods. There is no doubt, however, that the tools were on occa- 

 sions held in the hand and wielded chisel fashion merely, producing 

 effects such as appear in figure 223, 5. Many of the implements em- 

 ployed in the quarries and shops were improvised natural forms, 

 while others were made especially for the particular purpose. Some 

 were edged tools employed originally for other purposes, as the ax, 

 celt, and gouge. 



No clear distinction is to be drawn between the implements used 

 in quarrying and cutting out the soapstone masses 

 Quarrying ana jj^ ^j^g quarry and those employed in shaping the 

 ments artifacts made of these masses, yet it may be assumed 



that in general the heavier, ruder tools associated 

 with quarry sites were used in excavating and quarrying, and that 

 the more delicate sharp-edged and pointed tools served for shaping 

 and finishing. One variety of pick is roughly grooved by chipping 

 and pecking, while another has a plain shaft, in many speci- 

 mens slightly curved, as if to be attached to a handle, somewhat as 

 are our picks and adzes. In several of the quarries there have been 



