1881 .] 
123 
[Putnam. 
These he had brought that the members of the Society might 
compare them with those representing the large series of similar 
forms which the Cambridge Museum had recently received from 
Mr. David Dodge, who had collected them at Wakefield in this 
State. 
Mr. Putnam stated that Mr. Dodge had carefully examined 
many acres of ploughed field in Wakefield during the past two 
years, and had obtained several hundred of these rude imple- 
ments. As yet they had not been found in place in the gravel, 
but they had been picked up on ploughed gravelly fields that 
were probably of glacial origin. Thus while they were of rude 
palaeolithic forms we could not yet say that they were true palae- 
olithic implements, for we know that in this country, at least, 
rude forms of the same character are often associated with finely 
polished instruments of the neolithic period, as shown by several 
sj^ecimens exhibited, particularly by two of unquestionable palae- 
olithic form which he had taken from stone-graves in mounds in 
Tennessee, w T hich were found with polished implements, pottery, 
shell beads, and other objects of the higher type. 
Some of the specimens found by Mr. Dodge at Wakefield were 
obtained from a small and very old pile of stone-chips, nearly 
buried on the side of a hill, and it was evidently there that simi- 
lar implements to those found in the fields near by had been 
made. It was also of special interest to note that while arrow- 
heads and similar forms were common in various places near 
where the palaeolithic forms were discovered, none had been 
found on the fields or in the stone-pile whence the rude forms 
were obtained. 
Mr. Dodge was then introduced by Mr. Putnam, and gave 
an account of the locality where he found the specimens, and 
answered many questions that w r ere asked by various members. 
Mr. Putnam remarked that when Mr. Dodge first found some 
of these specimens he had become convinced that they were the 
work of man, and that without aid from others and without any 
knowledge of the terms palaeolithic and neolithic, he had brought 
them to the Museum as the work of a people which he thought 
were before the recent Indians. Thus he had shown himself 
to be an accurate observer, and had added important facts relating 
to the Stone Age of New England. 
