640 



EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



LEAF-SHAPED IMPLEMENTS. 



These, or similar implemeuts, generally called leaf-shaped, have been 

 found nearly all over the United States, many times deposited inten- 

 tionally in nests or caches, sometimes to the number of a hundred or 

 more, placed on end or on edge, and together as close as they can 

 stand or lie. It is curious to note that in that portion of the United 

 States east of the Eocky Mountains we are practically without informa- 

 tion concerning their use or purpose, whether they were used as spear- 

 heads or knives; whether they were objects of ceremony, as mentioned 

 by Powers above, or whether they were intended for practical use. 

 No one knows whether they were used naked in the hand or were at- 

 tached to a handle. Dr. Metz and Professor Putnam discovered in 1884 

 in the Mariott Mound, No. 1, Little Miami Valley, ten points of deer 

 antlers, which were grooved or chamfered, so that they might have 

 served as handles for these leaf-shaped implements. But no leaf- 

 shaped implements were found in connection therewith. Of the ten 

 handles one had a piece of bone inserted for a cutting or piercing im- 

 plement, and another a bit of worked flint, but it was triangular, and 

 had no relation to the leaf-shaped implements, and was to be classed 

 among the arrow-heads of common form. 



Leaf-shaped Implements. 



These implements are found in plenty on the Pacific slope, but it is 

 remarkable that in only two localities have they ever been found with 

 their use indicated either by attachment to a handle or otherwise. 



