The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
Dr. Abbott commenced by gathering a very extensive collection,
carefully searching his section of country and gathering all
specimens of artificially shaped stones. These must have existed
there in considerable quantities, as, in three years’ time, he
collected over nine thousand specimens,49 carefully examining
them as they came from the soil.50 As a result of this extensive
and careful research he is able to present us some general
conclusions. The surface specimens, including in this
classification also those specimens turned up by the plow,51 are
characteristically Indian. The material is jasper and quartz, and
they are generally carefully made. They used other varieties of
stone as well. Like the Neolithic people of Europe, they sought
the best varieties of stone for their purpose. But his collection
also included rude Paleolithic forms, and he found by taking the
history of each specimen separately, that just in proportion as
the relics were rude in manufacture and primitive in type the
deeper were they buried in the soil.52 Writing in 1875, he says:
“We have never met a jasper (flint) arrow-head in or below an
undisturbed stratum of sand or gravel, and we have seldom met
with a rude implement of the general character of European drift
implements on the surface of the ground.”53
These are not theoretical opinions, but are deductions drawn from
a very extensive experience. From figured specimens of these
rudest formed implements, we see they are veritable Paleolithic
forms, resembling in a remarkable manner the rude implements of
the old world, whether collected in France or in India. We
learned that the Paleolithic people of Europe utilized the
easiest attainable stone for their implements. They contented
themselves with such pieces of flint as they could gather in
their immediate vicinity. The easiest attainable rock in the
valley of the Delaware is not flint, but argillite, and such is
the material of which the Paleolithic implements are formed. Thus
it is shown that the first appearance of a stone-using folk in
the valley of the Delaware was in the Paleolithic stage of their
culture. Judging from the depths of their buried implements, this
long preceded the Neolithic stage.
Spear-shaped Paleolithic Implement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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