The stone age in North America, vol. 1 of 2 — John Shaqi
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
As has been stated on page 12 the life of prehistoric man is such that
while one may classify his implements according to type or form and
material and supposed use, it is not possible in every instance to
affirm positively that this object was made use of by the man and that
by the woman, this by the priest and that by the warrior.
[Illustration:
FIG. 9. Described under Fig. 8.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 10.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 11.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 12.
All described under FIG. 8.
]
Professor Otis T. Mason, of the United States National Museum, gave much
thought to ethnological matters, and particularly his studies have been
directed toward the arts, industries, and occupations of living tribes.
These studies led him to discourse upon the divisions of labor,
beginnings of culture, on the carrying industry, agriculture, traps in
use among the Indians, and other subjects.
He grouped the various industries in the “Handbook of American Indians,”
page 97; and under the citation of implements, tools, utensils, he gave
a sketch-classification of the daily pursuits and implements used
therein. His paper upon arts and industries I copy in part (omitting
references), as it embodies one of several classifications possible of
the life of the Indian:—
“The arts and industries of the North American aborigines, including all
artificial methods of making things or of doing work, were numerous and
diversified, since they were not limited in purpose to the material
conditions of life; a technique was developed to gratify the esthetic
sense, and art was ancillary to social and ceremonial institutions and
was employed in inscribing speech on hide, bark, or stone, in records of
tribal lore, and in the service of religion....
“The arts and industries of the Indians were called forth and developed
for utilizing the mineral, vegetal, and animal products of nature, and
they were modified by the environmental wants and resources of every
place. Gravity, buoyancy, and elasticity were employed mechanically, and
the production of fire with the drill and by percussion was also
practiced. The preservation of fire and its utilization in many ways
were also known. Dogs were made beasts of burden and of traction, but
neither beast nor wind nor water turned a wheel north of Mexico in
pre-Columbian times. The savages were just on the borders of machinery,
having the reciprocating two-hand drill, the bow and strap-drills, and
the continuous-motion spindle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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