CHIPPED STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



By C. C. Abbott. 



Prominent in the collection are several specimens of long, narrow, 

 dagger-like blades of a nearly black flint (Plate I, Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7); all 

 of which are very finely chipped over the entire surface, and brought to 

 very sharply defined edges and acute points. The three largest specimens 

 collected by Dr. Yarrow measure, respectively, ten, eight and one-fourth, 

 and six and three-fourths inches in length. Fig. 4 is a representation of a 

 specimen from San Miguel Island, collected by Mr. Schumacher. Through- 

 out their entire length, they are of nearly uniform width, the tapering at 

 the point being quite abrupt, but varying somewhat, so that, in connection 

 with the rounded base, they have much the appearance of an exaggerated 

 elongated leaf-shaped arrowhead. 



These implements, when compared with typical lance or spearheads, 

 exhibit a noticeable difference in that the blades are thickest at the middle, 

 and slope uniformly to the edge, which is very sharp, and remarkably 

 straight. They are, therefore, although varying in this respect, distinctly 

 oval in section; which gives them greater strength than thin flat spear- 

 heads of the same size. 



To determine the use of this form, if indeed these implements were 

 used solely for one purpose, is manifestly impossible. The want of strength 

 in such slender blades would seem to forbid their use in warfare, for while 

 admirably adapted for thrusting into the body of a man or animal, with 

 fatal effects, it is doubtful if they could be withdrawn unbroken; and, 

 however skillful the California coast tribes may have been in chipping flint 

 and other minerals, they could scarcely afford to produce so elaborate an 

 implement for purposes that would almost certainly destroy it the first time 

 it was used. 



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