THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 35 1 



and all well made forms, will spin upon the point of balance. Consult, 

 11. B. 30, Bur. Am. Eth., Moorehead, The Stone Age, Prehistoric 

 ImpL; N. Y. State Mus. Bui. i8; Bur. Am. Eth., Rep'ts, 1892, 1899. 



Antler, uses of. The antlers of deer, moose and elk afforded a 

 highly valued material for the aboriginal craftsman. From this 

 material were made many tools and even ornaments. Among such 

 objects may be named knife handles, digging blades, awls, punches, 

 pitching tools, pins or plugs, war club points, arrowheads, spear 

 points, combs, gambling buttons, wedges and spoons. 



The aborigines understood a method of softening antler in order 

 to reduce it more easily to a desired form, subsequently allowing it 

 by some process to harden again. Partly worked antler objects, 

 especially on Iroquoian sites, some of them relatively old, show that 

 long shavings were cut from them. The marks of the sharp flint 

 knife or scraper are plainly seen on others. One might suppose that 

 these marks were caused by steel blades, did not experimentation by 

 native methods show that identical marks can be produced by use 

 of sharp flints. M. R. Harrington, who worked out this method 

 as early as 1907, was moved to do so by finding long antler shavings 

 in a refuse heap that yielded no sign of European contact. 



Entire antlers were sometimes used by the Iroquois for the head 

 ornaments of sachems, who, according to the ancient ritual, were 

 " crowned with deer antlers." 



Anvils. Anvils are usually slabs of hard rock or small flattened 

 boulders, used as bases upon which other stones were broken or 

 otherwise reduced. Many are found on all village sites and 

 frequently in workshop and camp sites. Many large hammerstones 

 show that they were also used as anvils. The backs of mortars and 

 grinding or polishing stones also show abrasions. 



In size, stones purposely shaped for flat anvils resemble metates 

 but as any rock might have been employed as a base upon which to 

 hammer other stones, an anvil might be of any size from that of a 

 hammerstone to that of the largest boulder. 



Anvils are seldom to be found in the amateur's collection, for the 

 reason that they are not showy specimens. The scientific collector 

 preserves them because of their cultural significance. They are a 

 part of the tool kit of the aboriginal craftsman and specimens from 

 every site should be preserved with as religious care as any of the 

 finer specimjens. It is impossible to reconstruct a vanished stone 

 age culture unless we have a full complement of its artifacts. Perish- 

 able objects of skin and w^ood have rotted away. Every stone 

 utensil is therefore of importance. 



