THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 399 



fort, the Buffam site, Buffalo, the Richmond Alills site and in vari- 

 ous Jeft'erson county sites, especially near Watertown. 



Barbed hooks in some places appear just before the era of the 

 white man, as at the At well site, Onondaga county, near the Madison 

 county line. 



Hooks are found in the above-mentioned sites in all stages of 

 manufacture. It appears that the Indians in making them first 

 cut oft" a section of flat bone or a long segment of a cylindrical bone, 

 and drilled a hole the width of the inner part of the hook at each 

 end. Then by careful incision they worked away the bone between 

 the holes, making a long link rounded at either end and straight on 

 each side. Then up from the curve of each end the bone was sev- 

 ered, making two hooks which were afterward sharpened. 



A complete series was found by Alvin H. Dewey at the Richmond 

 Mills. Some fishhooks have heavy bottoms perhaps for the double 

 purpose of strengthening the hook and for attracting fish. Many of 

 this type claimed from the Pompey sites are spurious. 



Consult Beauchamp, N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 50, Horn and Bone 

 Implements ; Rau, Smithsonian Contrib. 25, Prehistoric Fishing. 



Flaking tool. A flaking tool is a fragment of bone or antler from 

 I to 6 inches in length used for pressing against the edge of a piece 

 of broken flint for the purpose of still further reducing it to a desired 

 shape. Flakers show the marks on one or both ends, of their con- 

 tact with flint blades. Long flakers might be used without handles 

 but if specimens used by Indian tribes in historic times are any 

 guide, all were securely fastened to bone or wooden handles to 

 afford a stronger grip and greater pressure. 



Flint. A variety of translucent chalcedony that occurs in the form 

 of nodules in chalk or limestone. In color it is dark gray, brown 

 and black, varying according to locality and the coloring matter that 

 it contains. In substance it is composed of silica and the siliceous 

 residue of fossil sponges and radiolarians. True flint is very rare in 

 North America and occurs mainly in Arkansas and Texas. Flint is 

 found in abundance in the chalk and limestone regions of England, 

 France, Belgium and in other places along the northwest European 

 coast. Flint, so called, was used by the aborigines of both hemi- 

 spheres for making chipped implements. 



Fossils. Fossils are frequently found on Indian sites and in such 

 places as to indicate that they were collected by the aborigines. Some 

 are w^orked as ornaments, as stamps or as pipes. The Iroquois in 



