58 STONE ART. [eth.ann.13 



archeology, and, while not entirely satisfactory in some respects, is 

 perhaps as good as can be devised in the present state of knowledge. 



Careful study of the entire collection has failed to show the slightest 

 difference in the form, finish, or matferial of implements from the same 

 locality, whether found in mounds or graves or on the surface; hence 

 no attempt is made to separate the two classes of objects. Allowance 

 is to be made for the weathering of a surface specimen, but this is the 

 only distinction. 



It is not always easy to identify a stone, even with a fresh surface; 

 in a weathered specimen it is often impossible. For this reason the 

 material of which a specimen is made may not be correctly named; fre- 

 quently the alteration due to exposure will change the appearance of a 

 rock very much, and in such a case the best that can be done is to tell 

 what it looks most like. The material of a majority of specimens how- 

 ever, or at least the classes of rock to which they belong, as granite, 

 porphyry, etc., are correctly named; to give a more exact name would 

 be possible only by the destruction or injury of the specimen. There 

 are a few terms used which may be here explained. 



'' Compact quartzite " is a very hard, close-grained, siliceous rock, 

 sometimes nearly a flint, and again closely approaching novaculite. 

 "Greenstone" may be diorite or diabase, or it may be a very compact 

 dark sandstone or quartzite so weathered that its nature can not be 

 determined from superficial observation. "Argillite" refers to any slaty 

 rock; it may be so soft as to be easily cut with a knife, or nearly as hard 

 as quartzite. Usually it is greenish in color. 



A comprehensive study of all available collections will no doubt mod- 

 ify materially the classification and system of types here presented. 



The quotations from eminent anthropologists given below show the 

 difificulties in the way of establishing a satisfactory system of types, or 

 of assigning certain forms to particular localities. In most of these 

 quotations the substance only of the author's remarks is given. 



According to Dr. E. B. Tylor, the flint arrows of the Dakota, the 

 Apache, or the Comanche might easily be mistaken for the weapons 

 dug up on the banks of the Thames ;' while cores of flint in Scandinavia 

 and of obsidian in Mexico are exactly alike,' and a tray filled with Euro- 

 pean arrowheads can not be distinguished from a tray of American 

 ones.^ Prof. Otis T. Mason observes that the great variety of form in 

 such weapons after they are finished is due partly to nature and partly 

 to the workman's desire to produce a certain kind of implement. All 

 sorts of pebbles lie at the hand of the savage mechanic, none of them 

 just what he wants. He selects the best.* Perhaps the truth about 

 the shape is that the savage found it thus and let it so remain.^ 



1 Anahaac, p. 101. 



»n)id., p. 98. 



^Dawaon. Sir William: Foaail Men, p. 121. 



* Smithsonian Report for 1884, p. 741. 



'Ibid., p. 748. 



