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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1911. 



THE STONE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA. 

 The Stone Age in North America: an Archaeological 

 Encyclopaedia of 1he Implements, Ornaments, 

 Weapons, Utensils, frc, of the Prehistoric Tribes 

 of North America, it'ith more than three hundred 

 full-page plates and four hundred figures illustrating 

 over four thousand different objects. By W. K. 

 Moorehead. Vol. i., pp. xii + 457; vol. ii., pp. vi+ 

 417. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd.; Boston 

 and New York : Houghton Mifflin Co., 1911.) Price, 

 2 vols., il. us. 6d. net. 



MR. MOOREHEAD has produced two handsome 

 volumes amply illustrated. They deal with a 

 subject that has scarcely ever been treated as a whole. 

 Special aspects of the use of stone by the older inhabi- 

 tants of the American continent have formed the 

 subject of monographs by Wilson, Abbott, Holmes, 

 and others, but no one has ever ventured to deal with 

 the entire field. Mr. Moorehead is an enthusiast for 

 his subject, a condition of mind that inevitably lends 

 a human interest to his book, while, almost as surely, 

 it leads him into sundry exaggerations. He takes up 

 the position of the strongly convinced advocate rather 

 than that of the impartial judge. This attitude is one 

 by no means uncommon in books produced in the 

 United States on subjects depending upon induction 

 and hypothesis, rather than upon observed facts. Nor 

 is the attitude unknown in Europe; but the conditions 

 differ in an important manner. On this side the 

 literature of our prehistoric periods is already fifty 

 years old ; certain facts and a definite terminology have 

 been generally accepted; the main grouping is again 

 an accepted fact, and the result is that, to write 

 intelligibly, the author of a new treatise is compelled 

 to subscribe to these conditions. The common termin- 

 ology may be right or wrong ; it may, and often does, 

 beg the question, but the system is practical, inasmuch 

 as it enables the writer to state his arguments and 

 the reader to understand them, without pausing to 

 disentangle the meaning of the terms in which they 

 are stated. The book can thus be read without 

 impatience, and it may be with profit. 



Now one of the perplexing features of the produc- 

 tions of the Stone ages is the marvellous similarity 

 in form of the implements from the most widely 

 separated districts. This is, of course, a commonplace, 

 for everyone knows that, e.g., implements from South 

 Africa, from the laterite beds of Madras, and, say, 

 from Trenton, New Jersey, differ only in the material 

 of which they are made. In the later neolithic times, 

 such similarities are perhaps even more marked, and, 

 in some ways, more astonishing, though, at the same 

 time, each country has its characteristic forms. 



This being the case, surely it would be wisdom, and 

 tend to the elucidation of the problems of early man, if 

 the writers of new treatises would endeavour to make 

 their local discoveries fall into line with the scheme 

 already accepted in Europe — if they would master and 

 adopt the classification to be found in the text-books 

 of the subject. It is not claimed for a moment that 

 NO. 2187, VOL. 87] 



the scheme or the classification is perfect, or even 

 that it is the last word, but only that it exists, and is 

 generally adopted, while in addition, it is the con- 

 sidered judgment of a great number of men who have 

 given their lives to the study. Mr. Moorehead and 

 his committee, who five years ago undertook the classi- 

 fication on which his book is founded, do not appear 

 to have given any thought to this aspect of the ques- 

 tion, and have treated North America as archaeologi- 

 cally independent of the rest of the ancient world. 

 From one point of view they are certainly justified. 

 In the United States the Stone age was in existence 

 so recently that both I he methods of manufacture and 

 the purpose of many stone implements are matters of 

 fact. Here the field is their own, and they need no 

 external help, but in the main we have no hesitation in 

 saying that conformity with European scholars would 

 have been better. 



While we have thought it desirable to formulate 

 this objection to Mr. Moorehead's method, we can 

 commend the matter of his book. It is called an 

 encyclopaedia, and the term is not inaccurate, for it 

 comprehends practically all the types of later stone 

 tools found in Northern America. Its intention is to 

 supplement the very remarkable " Handbook of 

 American Indians," published by the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution in 1907. This work, reasonably enough, did 

 not treat the Stone age as a special subject, and hence 

 the complement now before us was produced. One 

 cannot but regret that no place has been found in these 

 volumes for a complete statement of the evidence as to 

 the discoveries of Mr. Abbott at Trenton, New Jersey. 

 Controversy raged fiercely at the time, and weighty- 

 opinions were to be found on both sides. A book with 

 this title should certainly have dealt with the matter. 



It may appear surprising to us that the discoveries 

 in the mounds of America, of stone implements, 

 pottery, and the like, are disclaimed by the existing 

 Indians, though a comparison of the relics with those 

 in use by the Indians until late years shows them to be 

 very similar. 



Such disclaimers are, however, common enough 

 among primitive peoples. The negroes of West Africa 

 will have nothing to say to the stone implements and 

 images dug up in their plantations. It is probable 

 enough that even if one or the other possessed either 

 history or trustworthy tradition, they would equally 

 disclaim any knowledge of the remains. In Africa the 

 pressure of a superior civilisation from the East and 

 North has produced a constant shifting of the tribes 

 during, say, the last two thousand years. During the 

 same period, or even less, economic and other causes 

 must have created something like a nomadic condition 

 in North America. For these reasons it might well 

 be that the existing tribes on a particular spot would 

 know nothing of the origin of the ancient burial places 

 among which they lived. 



One feature in connection with North American 

 stone implements that is clearly brought out in Mr. 

 Moorehead's illustrations is the astonishing likeness 

 between some of them and others from Mexico. On 

 p. 93 of vol. i. may be seen a group from Kentucky 

 showing this similarity very strongly. The likeness 



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