Bow and arrows preferred in war because they could be discharged more rapidly than gun could be loaded and fired. Guns and ammunition often not available Little knowledge of proper care of guns, and no attempt to manufacture guns and powder, or iron knives, copper kettles, etc. Society largely disorganized, prestige of chiefs largely a matter of personal prowess and reputation with some regard for earlier methods of appointment and succession. Religion practiced by a fraction of tribe but falling into dispute without adequate substitute Probably appointment and succession of priests more or less regular and based on earlier customs. FOOTNOTES [5]All dates, even those determined by radiocarbon methods, should be taken as only roughly approximate. [6]These dates and those given hereafter refer to the earliest and latest sites known in Illinois for the cultures under consideration. Although supported by radiocarbon dating methods, they are only approximate. Undoubtedly also cultures in one area disappeared while they continued to flourish in another part of the state or in other states. [7]Generally speaking, each succeeding higher culture in the area made most of the tool and weapon types of their predecessors, adding certain improvements and sometimes new types. The Archaic people used flint scrapers, chipped flint choppers, and native cobblestone hammers as had the Paleo-Indians. The narrow-bladed spearheads were occasionally made but the fluting or channel is practically always lacking. Polished stone forms, possibly the spearthrower, were new inventions in Archaic times. [8]In the page that follows a tentative reconstruction of the less tangible customs of these people will be presented, based on a study of several tribes now or recently in the Archaic status. The Archaic culture as used in this paper refers to those tribes who lived mainly by hunting, supplemented to a degree by collecting native edible plant foods. They are distinguished here from other peoples of the Stone Age or non-farming stage—from Big Game Hunters on the one hand (none of whom exist today) and on the other, from Food Stores, who were able by one means or another to store food over one or more seasons and so establish more or less fixed homes. The peoples recently living in the Archaic status include the native tribes of Central and Coastal Australia, the Tasmanians, the Andaman Island tribes, the Terra del Fuegians, the African Bushmen and a number of others.