ARTICLES MADE OF WOOD. 



By C. C. Abbott. 



Attention has already been called to a beautifully made vessel of wood. 

 (See Fig - . 36.) Its size, shape, and general appearance are such as to indi- 

 cate that it was put to some useful purpose ; but such examples of the use 

 of wood, instead of steatite or sandstone, for making domestic implements 

 of any kind are, as yet, of rare occurrence ; and, so far, we cannot deter- 

 mine whether or not their origin dates previous or subsequent to the 

 period of contact of the native Californians with the Spaniards. If these 

 specimens of wood-working are of comparatively recent date, of course 

 much of their interest is gone. That they should be of recent date, either 

 from the fact of the known rapid decay of wood, or their general absence 

 from localities where stone implements occur, does not necessarily follow; 

 for it is well known that wood was largely used by savages both for 

 making weapons and domestic implements, and that under favorable cir- 

 cumstances, such as might readily occur at times, wood has proved to be 

 as imperishable as stone. 



It may not be out of place to here call attention to a curious wooden 

 implement which was found under circumstances indicating great age. 

 This artificially shaped implement of wood, as it appears to be, was found 

 on the east of the Connecticut River, near Hartford, Conn* It was found, 

 apparently in situ, in a deposit of blue clay, over which extends a deposit of 

 loam of several feet in thickness. The writer of the article in the report, 

 to which we have referred, infers that the clay-bed wherein the implement 

 was found is not a river deposit, but " an older formation than the loam, 

 but not so old as the unmixed clay in the neighboring hills," and also " that 

 the implement, having been found partly imbedded in the clay, and having 



* Smithsonian Annual Report for 187G, p. 445. 



122 



