POLISHED STONE ARTICLES USED BY THE NEW YORK ABORIGINES J 



POLISHED STONE IMPLEMENTS OF THE STATE OF 



NEW YORK 



In considering polished stone articles as a class, it is necessary to 

 divide some departments, as pipes, ornaments, and vessels of various 

 kinds, much alike in form and use, but not in material. The modes 

 of manufacturing these, however, are sometimes so different that 

 no farther excuse need be made. Clay and stone specially mark 

 eras in human progress. 



Under this head will also be included picked implements, for 

 picking was commonly part of the process of forming polished 

 articles, which are found in all stages of development. The picked 

 implement was rarely finished. Sometimes grinding was the first 

 act of all, but not in general. A few stones, naturally formed for 

 use, might receive an edge at once. More commonly they were 

 chipped, picked and polished as time or needs permitted. This is 

 most frequently seen in the case of celts and gouges, where the 

 same site may yield every gradation, from the rudest to the finest, 

 and sometimes unite every process in one implement. 



The number of unfinished articles of a high grade is quite sug- 

 gestive, many of these being found on small camps, not indicative 

 of long continued residence. Among others, tubes, banner stones 

 and pipes were thus carried about, to be completed in the leisure 

 moments of camp life. Many of the finer finished articles were 

 also carried on journeys, indicating some possible use away from 

 home, more superstitious or common place than ceremonial. Some 

 features of this distribution will appear in considering these. The 

 locality in which others were found will point out modes of travel, 

 and perhaps indicate whence the travelers came. 



Some of the best results of New York work,, however, will be in 

 determining the age of many articles hitherto undated, and in some- 

 times assigning them to their true makers. Much progress has 

 already been made in this comparative study, and a thorough ex- 

 ploration of a few well known sites would give valuable results. 

 Several kinds of stone pipes were made only within the historic 

 period, and the red pipe stone of the West first appeared in New 



