Among the numerous stone weapons and implements which have been
discovered, and serve to illustrate the primitive arts of the New
World, three remarkable relics from the Bay of Honduras, in South
America, are deserving of special attention. They were found about
the year 1794, with other examples, in a cave between two and three
miles inland. * * * One is a serrated weapon, pointed at both ends,
measuring 16-1/2 inches long. [This object is almost exactly
similar to plate 15, _d_, except that the latter is pointed at one
end only, the opposite one being rounded.] Another is in the form
of a crescent, with projecting points. It measures 17 inches in its
greatest length, and it is conjectured may have served as a weapon
of parade, like the state partisan or halbert of later times. The
third, which is imperfect, has probably resembled the previous one
in general form.[38]
The second of these implements very closely resembles that shown in
plate 15, _e_, the Salisbury specimen being somewhat larger, more
symmetrical, and more carefully chipped.
About 3 feet beneath these flint objects, embedded in the sand which
filled this part of the chamber, were discovered 20 cruciform obsidian
arrowheads or javelin heads, similar to that shown in figure 31, _a_;
40 small obsidian cores; 2 obsidian arrowheads, of the shape shown
in figure 32; 12 well-made obsidian knives, grooved on each side of
the base, and two crescentic objects chipped from chert, somewhat
resembling that seen in plate 15, _e_, but smaller, without projecting
spines at the convexity of the crescent, and altogether more crudely
and carelessly made.
[Illustration: PLATE 15
STONE OBJECTS FROM MOUND NO. 10]
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Obsidian arrowhead from Mound No. 10.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Flint object from Mound No. 10.]
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