EADIN] WINNEBAGO ARCHEOLOGY 87 



tory before them; or — but this is extremely unhkely — that they 

 were all of Algonquian origin. 



Implements of Stone and Other Materials 



As pointed out before, we ought not to expect to find much strictly 

 archeological data relating to the Winnebago in their Wisconsin hal)i- 

 tat. As, however, they probably reached this habitat before the dis- 

 covery of America, some of the archeological finds may easUy go back 

 that far. Unfortunately we have no way of determining, even 

 approximately, the age of the artifacts. 



We win now confine ourselves to a description of the more impor- 

 tant types of artifacts and remains found on old Winnebago sites 

 without going into the question of their respective age. 



Implements and utensils were made of stone, clay, yshell, bone, 

 wood, antlers, and turtle claws (pi. 10). According to information ob- 

 tained from the present Winnebago, which is supported by the testi- 

 mony of the myths and tales, but few oUjects were made of stone. 

 The most important of these was the stone hatchet. It may even be 

 questioned whether the Winnebago originally made these, for they 

 are given a supernatural origin by those few Winnebago who men- 

 tioned their existence, and it has been the author's experience that 

 objects to which a supernatural origin is ascribed are generally either 

 of recent origin or have been borrowed. None of the myths or tales 

 even mention their existence. Nevertheless a large number of stone 

 implements, most of them presumably stone hatchets, has been 

 found at Doty Island, near Menasha, Wis. (pi. 11), which had at one 

 time been one of their principal village sites. It is quite probable that 

 the Winnebago obtained most of these from the neighboring Algonquian 

 tribes who were well known for their skill in working stone. 



Copper Implements 



The Winnebago are known to have used copper implements in 

 fairly great abundance, the only question being whether they were 

 the original makers of these objects. We do not think they were, 

 and base our opinion on the answers given by present-day Indians 

 and the total absence of their mention in the myths. Both iron and 

 presumably copper are mentioned in certain myths, but these pas- 

 sages are clearly of European origin. 



Practically all of our knowledge of the nature and distribution of 

 copper objects in Wisconsin has been conveniently summarized in Mr. 

 C. E. Brown's paper entitled "The native copper implements of 

 Wisconsin,"'^ and all that we mention here is taken from this little 

 monograph. 



" The WisconsiB Archeologist, vol. 3, no. 2. 



