592 STONE IMPLEMENTS FROM SHORES OF LAKE MICHIGAN. 



of the cobblestone and owe their lack of symmetry to the overlapping 

 of previously detached flakes. Inner flakes are for the most part rough 

 splinters of small size, but a few large flakes appear from the inside of 

 the stone, lacking the waterworn surface except perhaps in a limited 

 j)ortion of the margin. Other facts relating to the form of the flake 

 are developed in experimental flaking, of which an account is given 

 later on. 



A study of the fracture and outline of these flakes serves to establish 

 nothing beyond the fact that they are artificial, and their number and 

 association with the camp site might lead to the conclusion that they 

 are flaking waste. Close examination, however, makes it apparent 

 that they are often more than this. They exhibit modifications, some 

 slight while others are more decided, that point to extensive and sys- 

 tematic use on the one hand, and to designed modification on the 

 other, and I wish to lay particular stress upon the fact that here, at 

 least, flakes were made for definite purposes. 



Use of unmodified flakes. — There is abundant evidence that flakes 

 were employed as implements on all of the sites examined. Similar 

 use of " teshoa" flakes has been noticed by Mr. H. 0. Mercer,^ but, so far 

 as I have learned, by few other writers. 



"Let us only insist," says this writer, "that here were six cases 

 where the stone chipj)ers' object was to make flake knives, and that at 

 these sites one distinct process has been added to those already studied 

 and classified as illustrative of prehistoric life in America." * * * 

 "And can we easily help regarding this chip knife next ouly to the 

 hammerstone that made it as the type of the most venerable of all 

 stone implements'?" 



Modifications of the edge and surfaces, due to wear, occur in numerous 

 cases, and several kinds of use are readily distinguished. The sharp 

 edge is often dulled to roundness or even to flatness, and is polished 

 or striated in a variety of ways. It is also chipped, notched, and 

 battered. 



Of 228 flakes thus modified 81 have the edge smoothed and striated 

 by use. (Plate III, figs. 1 and 2.) Sometimes the amount of wear is 

 such that more or less of the edge is replaced by a narrow rounded or 

 nearly flat surface. In a few instances the striae are oblique and show 

 a variety of relations both to the direction of the edge and the plane in 

 which it lies. It is commonly the lateral edges that are most worn, and, 

 especially in broad flakes, the strite run at right angles to the edge. 

 The whole circumference or only a small part of it may show these 

 characters. Flakes showing these modifications" have an average long 

 diameter of about 3 inches. 



In the few instances where the striations are directed obliquely to 

 the edge there is no other mark of use. In cases where the striations 



' "Pebbles chipped by modern Indians as an aid to the study of Trenton Gravel 

 Implements." H. C. Mercer. Proc. A. A. A. S. 1892, page 287. 



