NORTH AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY. 
5 
black oak, partly preserved by immersion in water. Various imple¬ 
ments and tools of the same metal were found with it. The com¬ 
monest of these are the stone mauls or hammers, of which from one 
place ten cart-loads were obtained. With these were “ Stone axes of 
“ large size, made of greenstone, and shaped to receive withe-handles.” 
“ Some large round greenstone masses, that had apparently been used 
“ for sledges, were also found. They had round holes bored in them 
“ to a depth of several inches, which seemed to have been designed 
“ for wooden plugs, to which withe-handles might be attached, so that 
“ several men could swing them with sufficient force to break the 
“ rock and the projecting masses of copper. Some of them were 
“ broken, and some of the projecting ends of rock exhibited marks 
“ of having been battered in the manner here suggested.” # 
Wooden implements are so perishable that we could not expect 
many of them to have been found. Two or three wooden bowls, a 
trough, and some shovels with long handles, are all that appear to be 
recorded. 
It has often been stated that the Indians possessed some method, 
at present unknown, by which they were enabled to harden the copper. 
This, however, from examinations instituted by Prof. Wilson, seems 
to be an error. Some copper implements, which he submitted to 
Prof. Crofts, were found to be no harder than the native copper from 
Lake Superior. “ The structure of the metal was also highly lami- 
“ nated, as if the instrument had been brought to its present shape 
“ by hammering out a solid mass of copper.” 
Pottery. 
Before the introduction of metallic vessels, the art of the potter 
was much more important even than it is at present. Accordingly, 
the sites of all ancient habitations are marked by numerous fragments 
of pottery lying about: this is as true of the ancient Indian settle¬ 
ments, as of the Celtic towns of England, or the Lake villages of 
Switzerland. These fragments, however, would generally be those of 
rude household vessels, and it is principally from the tumuli that we 
obtain those better-made urns and cups from which the state of the 
art may fairly be inferred. Yet I know of no British sepulchral 
urn, belonging to the Stone age, which has upon it a curved line. 
It is unnecessary to add that representations of animals or plants are 
entirely wanting. They are also absent from all articles belonging 
to the Bronze age in Switzerland, and I might almost say in Western 
Europe generally, while ornaments of curved and spiral lines are 
eminently characteristic of this period. The ornamental ideas of the 
Stone age, on the other hand, are confined, so far as we know, to 
compositions of straight lines, and the idea of a curve does not seem 
to have occurred to them. The most elegant ornaments on their vases 
* Prof. W. W. Mather, in a letter to Mr. Squier, 1. c. p. 184. 
