454 -^'E\V YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Like all other polished stone " problematicals " we may only con- 

 jecture what tubes were used for. It has been suggested that they 

 were used for smoking pipes, drinking tubes, sucking tubes for draw- 

 ing blood from incisions, shaman's paraphernalia, whistles, medicine 

 cases, and for several other purposes. On the Pacific coast C'gar- 

 shaped stone tubes are used for smoking pipes ; tubes of bone and 

 horn were used in historic times for sucking blood or in shamanistic 

 practices. These stone tubes have been found in graves filled with 

 red or black pigment, and others have had internal clay plugs so 

 placed that by blowing at one end a loud whistle was emitted. Tubes 

 may have had various uses according to type. When we try to guess 

 the uses of the Indian's creations and to fix one specified purpose 

 upon one of them we must remember the humble hairpin of today 

 and then challenge archeologists of the eons to come to determine 

 even a dozen of its manifold purposes, and we may likewise prepare 

 our ghosts to rise and confound him if he dares to say that only one 

 use, as that of removing coins from a crack, or that of picking a 

 lock, was the sole and only correct one. 



Use name. A name applied to an object in conformity with some 

 known or assumed use of the object. There are three general types 

 of names applied to archeological materials : ( i ) a descriptive name ; 

 (2) a use name ; (3) an applied name. Thus, a stone hatchet head 

 may be called (i) a petaloid artifact of polished stone having one 

 cutt'ng edge at the wider, thinner end; (2) a chopping blade; (3) 

 a celt. As a rule descriptive terms are longest, use names shorter 

 and applied names shortest. Use names, however, ought not to be 

 employed when the use is not evident. A wrongly applied name 

 becomes a source of constant confusion. To call a hatchet head 

 a '■ skinning stone " is to employ a use name that may be utterly 

 erroneous and confusing. Though the term celt may be less intel- 

 ligible it is preferable to " skinning stone " because it conveys no 

 erroneous impression as to the use of the article, but on the other 

 hand may suggest a cutting blade of some kind. 



Use names, such as ceremonial stone, surgical stone, and the like 

 should be avoided, unless the j^erson emplo\-ing the terms can justify 

 them by an appeal to facts. 



Wampum. The various sorts of shell beads used by the eastern 

 Indians were generally termed wampum. Properlv speaking, how- 

 ever, wampum beads are the small cylindrical beads made from both 

 the shell of the Venus m e r c c n a r i a , or common round clam, 

 and from 1^ y r u 1 a c a r i c a and 1\ C a n a 1 i c u 1 a t a (formerlv 



