i6o 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXII. No. 555 



Polished Stone. — There is a gradation of chipped articles 

 into those which are polished, often by an intermediate 

 picking. Celts and gouges quite frequently show this. A 

 pebble was first chipped into a form that might be used. 

 Then it was neatly picked, at leisure moments, after being 

 sharpened. Still in use, the final polish was given, as 

 time allowed. The result is that rudeness of implements 

 is no certain sign of age. The finest and rudest may lie 

 side by side, and were used together. Every form of the 

 gouge and celt is found in New York, from the very small- 

 est to the largest size, and the materials for both vary from 

 the poorest to the most elegant. A frequent local form is 

 quite angular, having six faces, one of them very broad. 

 Those of striped slate flare, like the white man's hatchet. 

 The lonCT, tapering gouge is the most common, but there 

 are several broad forms. 



Allied to these is a long stone article, rare, and mostly 

 found in Onondaga County, which much resembles a 

 butcher's steel without the handle. An Indian friend said 

 the old men told him that they formerly used such a stone, 

 with a bow-string, in making fire. It seems too frail for 

 other uses. 



MuUers, polished on one or both surfaces, or combining 

 the hammer stone, seem of early use. Allied to these are 

 the large bowlders, on which tools were sharpened, form- 

 ing shallow depressions ; and the smaller stones, plainly 

 used as whetstones. The so-called sinew stones are rarer, 

 but were of recent use. 



Every form of stone tube is found, and almost through- 

 out the State, but most abundantly in central New York. 

 It would require too much space to describe the many in- 

 teresting examples, some of which are of striped slate. 

 The largest and most remarkable are of sandstone and 

 slate, and were found on Lake Champlain, the Mohawk 

 River, and Otisco Lake. The shorter ones are drilled 

 from both ends ; the longest from one. Some unfinished 

 ones have been found. 



A large ceremonial stone, of my own, plainly shows its 

 mode of making. It is of a hard, light green stone, and 

 has been picked into a form like that of a double hatchet. 

 Polishing was then begun, and a little was done at this. 

 Then drilling began with a tubular implement, resulting 

 in a shallow cii'cle, enclosing a core. There the work 

 stopped. No form of these ceremonial stones has ever 

 been figured which does not occur in the central part of. 

 the State, but all such things are rare in the Mohawk 

 Valley, which travellers avoided, and where for ages no 

 man lived. Along the great lakes, and the St. Lawrence, 

 they are often found. While all finished articles of this 

 kind are perforated from top to bottom, I have seen but 

 one with lateral holes, when unbroken. 



A curious little thing I picked up by Onondaga Lake. 

 It was a small cup of sandstone, about an inch across, and 

 perforated through the bottom. The form was nearly 

 that of a coffee cup. One similar was found in California, 

 and they seem to have been pendants. Quite rarely small 

 and pretty cups or bowls of striped slate appear. In other 

 materials they are more common. Along with these may 

 be placed the well-known potstone vessels, usually with 

 projecting handles. Fragments of these are abundant in 

 many parts of the State, usually perforated, and often 

 with a secondary use. Of course they were imported, 

 and are found only by navigable waters. They were not 

 used by the Iroquis, nor do they occur in connection with 

 brown earthen ware. Many sites have no traces of any 

 kind of vessel, and it is quite possible the hearthstones, 

 so conspicuous in some places, may have been used in heat- 

 ing water in vessels of bark. These stone hearths were 

 not customary with the Iroquis, but they dug holes in 

 the ground for their fires, so that recent relics are often 

 deeply imbedded. Depth has little to do with antiquity. 



The half-circular polished slate knives are of general 

 occurrence, but those with a thickened back are rarer than 

 the simpler form in New York. Another polished slate 

 knife is locally termed a slate arrow, being barbed, and 

 with a similar outline. These vary much in shape, size, 

 and material, being sometimes very delicate. As far as 

 known, they seem confined to both sides of Lake Ontario, 

 the St. Lawrence, and Lake Champlain. A number have 

 been found in Canada, but they are most common near 

 the Seneca and Oneida Elvers. They have curving edges, 

 and were used with a handle. 



Stone plummets are also somewhat local, but often of 

 fine finish and quite variable design and material. Most 

 of them have been found about the lower ends of Oneida 

 and Onondaga Lakes, but they have a general resemblance 

 to those of Ohio. Gorgets, variously perforated and formed, 

 are scattered all through the land, from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific, and yet their use has not been determined. 

 They are often of fine forms and materials. Between 

 these and the bird-shaped stones is another class of perfo- 

 rated articles, somewhat pyramidal in form, and sometimes 

 with a nipple at the top. These are comparatively rare ; 

 quite as much so as those called boat-shaped. 



The bird amulets belong almost exclusively to the coun- 

 try drained by the great lakes, though they have been 

 sparingly found in New England and New Jersey. Some 

 very odd forms occur. The simplest is almost a bar, 

 always with a sloping perforation at each end. A more 

 common form is narrow, with a raised head and tail. 

 Others are quite broad, with projecting knob-like ears ; 

 and similar ones are quite flattened. I have figured many 

 of these in New York and Canada. They are usually of 

 striped slate, and most abundant on both sides of Lake 

 Ontario, where they are sometimes very large and fina 

 They may have been fetiches. Another article of slate is 

 long and triangular, like a bayonet. 



Among the ruder implements are balls, ground or chip- 

 ped into facets, or with grooves for use in war clubs, but 

 many minor articles may be passed over. Not so the pipes 

 of stone, of which the larger part of New York specimens 

 are comparatively recent. Until the coming of the whites 

 most New York pipes were of clay, the Naragansetts mak- 

 ing those of stone, but with the use of steel tools stone 

 advanced in use. Some early examples of such pipes are 

 found, a few of them unfinished. Platform pipes, like 

 those of the mound builders, are hardly rare west of the 

 Mohawk Valley. Catlinite pipes may be called modern, as 

 that material seems to have been almost unknown in New 

 York until near the close of the seventeenth century. By 

 that time ornaments of red slate and jjipestone became 

 quite the fashion. The former abound on most recent 

 sites, and are often quite tasteful. 



Copper Articles. — Many fine examples of native copjjer 

 articles have been collected, some very large, but the 

 socket for receiving a handle is rare in these. They are 

 of early date. When the whites came, brass, copper, and 

 bronze became the rage for use and ornament ; with a fair 

 allowance of iron, pewter and lead. Many things were 

 made on the sj)ot, and shreds of sheet copper occur on 

 most Iroquis sites. Pieces of this, finely notched, supplied 

 good saws ; cut into triangles and perforated, it made 

 good arrows ; rolled into cones, it furnished bangles, 

 while more elaborate ornaments came in other ways. Not 

 far from A.D. 1700, silver replaced bronze for ornaments 

 and has but latelj' gone out of fashion. 



Shell, Bone, and Horn. — Early articles of shell are quite 

 rare in the interior of the State, though occasionally 

 found. I have not seen half a score of shell articles that 

 could be safely placed before A.D. 1600, leaving out the 

 Unio shells found on so many early sites, and which were 

 rarely worked at all. Of shell beads, used in belts, the 



