BULL. 30] 



FLAKING IMPLEMENTS FLINT 



465 



blades l)y the northern tri)>es is not 

 known, but they Avere proljably set in 

 siiita))le handles as knives, or employed 

 in making small arrowheads, scrapers, 

 and the like. Flakes and chips are pro- 

 duced by identical implements, the lat- 

 ter term being generally applied to the 

 shorter, more abrupt tiakes or l)its pro- 

 duced in the ordinary work of shaping 

 implements l)y both percussion and pres- 

 sure processes. The expression ' ' chipped 

 implements" is however very generally 

 applied to all forms shaped by fracture 

 processes. See Cores, Flaking implements, 

 Hammers, Stoneirork. (w. h. h. ) 



Flaking implements. The shaping of 

 stone by fracture processes is one of the 

 earliest as well as one of the most impor- 

 tant arts of primitive men. Two distinct 

 classes of processes as well as two widely 

 differing classes of implements are em- 

 ployed. Fracture by percussion is ac- 

 complished by means of hammers of 

 stone or other hard material (see Ham- 

 mers, Stone irork), and fracture by pressure 



FUAKER; ALASKAN ESKIMO. THE FLAKING POINT OF 

 BONE IS AT THE LEFT. '.MURDOCH) 



employs a number of devices, perhaps 

 the most usual among the northern 

 tribes being bits of hard bone, antler, or 

 ivory, somewhat resembling an awl in 

 shape and often set in handles of wood or 

 other suitable material. These are em- 

 ployed where the edges of the stone un- 

 der treatment are sharp and rather thin. 

 In using them the edge is firmly placed 

 crosswise on the sharp edge of the brittle 

 stone, or the point is set near the edge, 

 and by a quick movement accompanied 

 with strong pressure the flake is driven 

 off. This operation is rapidly repeated, 

 passing along the outline of the imple- 

 ment, alternating the sides, until the de- 

 sired form is produced. The pieces un- 

 der treatment may be held in various 

 ways; for deep notching, which requires 

 strong force, t^iey are often laid flat on a 

 pad of buckskin or other yielding material 

 supported on a stable surface, and the 

 bone point is made to remove the chips 

 by a quick downward movement. Im- 

 plements of metal are effectual in this 

 particular form of the chipping work. 

 Other devices mentioned by some writers 

 are notched bones and pincers of bone, 

 by means of which the sharp edge of the 

 flint was chipped. For heavier work va- 

 rious contrivances enabling the operator 



to apply greater force were employed, but 

 these are not well understood. It ap- 

 pears that a punch-like tool of bone or 

 antler was sometimes used, the point be- 

 ing set, at the proper jwint, on the stone 

 to be fractured, while the other end was 

 struck with a hammer or mallet to re- 

 move the flake. For writings on the sub- 

 ject, see Stonework. (w. H. h. ) 



Flandreau Indians. A part of the Santee 

 who separated from the jNldewakanton 

 and Wahpekute of the Santee agencv, 

 Nebr., in 1870, and settled in 1876 at 

 Flandreau, S. Dak.— Ind. Aff. Rep. 27, 

 1876. 



Flandreau Sioux, — Barber in Am. Nat., XVli, 750, 

 1885. 



Flathead. A name applied to several 

 different tribes usually owing to the fact 

 that they were accustomed to flatten 

 the heads of their children artificially. 

 In s. E. United States the Catawlja and 

 Choctaw were sometimes designated by 

 the term Flatheads, and the custom ex- 

 tended to nearly all Muskhogean tribes 

 as well as to the Natchez and the Tonika. 

 In the N. W. the Chinook of Columbia r., 

 many of the Vancouver id. Indians, and 

 most of the Salish of Fuget sd. and Brit- 

 ish Columbia were addicted to the prac- 

 tice, and the term has been applied to all 

 as a body and to some of the separate 

 divisions. Curiously enough, the people 

 now known in official reports as Flat- 

 heads — the Salish proper (q. v.) — never 

 flattened the head. Dawson implies 

 (Trans. Roy. Soc. Can. for 1891, sec. ii, 

 6) that they were so named (Tetes-Plates) 

 by the first Canadian voyageurs because 

 slaves from the coast with deformed heads 

 were among them. For the names of the 

 tribes to which the term has ])een applied, 

 see Flatheads in the index; consult also 

 Artificial head deformation. (j. K. s. ) 



Fiat-mouth. See Eslikebugecoshe. 



Flechazos (Span: 'arrowordartVjlows'). 

 A name applied by the Spaniards in the 

 latter part of the 18th century to the 

 upper village of the Tawakoni settlement 

 on the Av. side of Brazos r., near Waco, 

 Tex. The one below it was called Quis- 

 cat. One or the other of these villages 

 was the AVaco village. (h. e. b.) 



Flint. Until recently the use of the 

 term flint was restricted to nodular con- 

 cretions found in chalk beds of Creta- 

 ceous age mainly in England, France, 

 and other European countries, but re- 

 cently obtained from Cretaceous strata 

 in Arkansas and Texas. Although flint 

 is classed as a variety of chalcedony, the 

 name has been extended in popular usage 

 to include various forms of chalcedonic 

 minerals, as chert, hornstone, basanite, 

 jasper, agate, and the like. The princi- 

 pal constituent of all these minerals is 

 silica, and notwithstanding their great 



Bull. 30—05- 



-80 



