64 



CHIPPED IMPLEMENTS. 



Fig. 



Flint knife, 



Fig. 7 represents a diminutive knife-blade, such as occur in all parts 

 of the country. Carefully chipped from bluish-green jasper, the cutting 

 edges are all well defined, while the base terminates 

 in a blunt point. Securely fastened to a wooden 

 handle, this little specimen would be an excellent 

 knife, and its shape is one better adapted to cutting 

 than are the sharply-pointed, leaf-shaped knives 

 figured upon Plate IV. 

 Fig. 8 represents a second specimen of this pattern of small knives, 

 but which, in this instance, is much less distinctly knife-shaped; being more 

 Fig. 8. nearly circular, and equally wrought upon both sides, it 



has not as well defined and uniform edges as the pre- 

 ceding. There is no trace existing of any attachment 

 to a handle, and the general ajipearance of the edges 

 seems to indicate that, for whatever purpose the speci- 

 men was designed, it has never been put to use. The 

 Flint knife. material is obsidian, or some closely allied mineral. 



Circular knives or implements of this pattern, made of jasper, have 

 occasionally been found in New Jersey, which are not only more symmet- 

 rical in outline, but ' are chipped with greater care, and so have better 



defined cutting edges. Their size is very uniform, and 

 varies little, if any, from that of the specimen here 

 figured. In classifying these specimens I have fol- 

 lowed the. custom of other writers, and called every 

 chipped implement a knife, the use of which we can- 

 not readily determine. 

 Flint knife, Fig. 9 closely resembles the preceding, but is 



made of jasper. Along the straight base the specimen is quite thick, but 

 tapers rapidly to the edges, which are sharp. Possibly projecting from 

 what now constitutes the base there may have been a stem to act as a han- 

 dle, or to which a handle was fastened. Stemmed knives of this pattern 

 are not uncommon in the Atlantic coast States, and are all characterized 

 by unusual care in their manufacture. 



