32 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



uses have to be imagined. The larger flat stones, with many cavi- 

 ties, are plainly of a different class, but they are not frequent in New 

 York, and require little attention now. They are quite generally 

 considered nut stones, used for cracking hickory nuts specially, 

 and it may be allowed that many had this occasional use at least. 

 North and south alike the Indians made large use of nuts, and there 

 was general rejoicing among the Senecas in 1670, because hickory 

 nuts were so abundant. From these and from sunflowers they pro- 

 cured an oil which they highly prized. That they had suitable im- 

 plements for cracking or crushing these there can be no doubt. 

 To the wooden pestle and mortar the Mohawks sometimes added 

 the crushing of grain between two stones, and this was more neces- 

 sary when the harder nut-shell was to be cracked. 



That these pits were used as sockets for fire-drills is against all 

 probability. The proper socket for these was the dry wood, which 

 could be set on fire as intended, while the stone could not. That 

 some were used as lap stones is almost certain, and it is perfectly 

 clear that many could not have been hammers. Some may have 

 been used in games, so neatly are they finished, but the subject of 

 their use will not be farther discussed now. The present conclu- 

 sion is that they had varied uses, some of which are now unknown. 



The ordinary hammer stones are too well known to require many 

 illustrations, while, at the same time, there is an almost infinite 

 variety of forms and combinations. A flat polished surface makes 

 a muller; a deeply pitted surface marks many kinds of hammer 

 stones. Those with battered edges probably had this use. Others 

 of soft materials show no traces of this ; some approach the southern 

 chungke stone, and may have been used something like that. Ham- 

 mer stones, so called, are still found on Iroquois sites, but two cen- 

 turies old, and may have come down to the present century. 



Fig. 62 is a circular pebble of brown sandstone, and seems to 

 have been worked into shape. There is an irregular pit in the center 

 on each side, and it never was used as a hammer, being too soft. The 

 diameter is three and three eighths and the thickness one and one 

 half inches. It is from a hamlet on the Seneca River. 



