The stone age in North America, vol. 1 of 2Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
History
The stone age in North America, vol. 1 of 2
Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
Indians of North America -- Antiquities; Stone age -- North America
In discussing celts, gouges, and adzes, I said almost nothing about the
material out of which these were manufactured. Fortunately, our friends
the geologists and mineralogists have devoted some time to this subject.
Professor George L. Collie, Dean of Beloit College and Curator of the
Logan Museum, prepared a paper which is published in the _Wisconsin
Archeologist_, June-September, 1908. The title of this is “Aboriginal
Discrimination in the Selection of Materials for Tools.” I reproduce
sections of it here, as it describes the various stones selected by
aboriginal man.
[Illustration:
FIG. 249. (S. 1–6.) In this figure I have shown five of the
Connecticut axes from A. E. Kilbourne’s collection. So far as type
is concerned these might have been found in Pennsylvania,
Connecticut, or eastern Canada, for they are typically New England.
The ones at the right and the left show scarcely any traces of
chipping, but the centre ones have been chipped and later ground and
polished. These are of Class “A,” the groove entirely encircling the
specimen, yet the groove on the surfaces is very slight, but
pronounced and deep at the edges.
]
I would call attention to Professor Collie’s able paper, because he
comments not only on these implements from the point of view of a
geologist, but also adds no little to our sum of archæological
knowledge:—
“Under this head it is my desire to discuss some evidences that the
American aborigine exercised deliberate choice when he picked out
materials for the manufacture of artifacts.
“Stone had to be shaped by some one or more of five processes as is well
known. These manual arts, as stated by Holmes, are as follows: (1)
Fracturing by splitting, breaking, flaking; (2) bruising by battering,
pecking, bushing; (3) abrading by grinding, rubbing, polishing; (4)
incising by cutting, piercing, drilling; (5) modeling by stamping or
hammering. These shaping arts called for different types of material in
several instances and this necessitated choice on the worker’s part at
the outset. He not only needed to know what kind of an artifact he was
to make, but which of the several processes he was to employ before he
finally settled upon the material he would use. Man learned by slow
degrees and by experience the nature of rock properties. He learned to
distinguish between different types of rocks much as a modern geologist
does in the field by taking account of two features, namely: (1) The
mineralogical composition; (2) the texture of the rock. I do not mean to
imply that early man was absolutely guided by the quality of the rock;
other factors entered into the choice, but rock character was always a
prominent factor.
[Illustration:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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