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
No description of mounds, earthworks, cliff-houses, pueblos, or
village-sites is possible in “The Stone Age.” Readers are referred to
the Bibliography, where titles relative to mound, cliff, fortification,
and village-site exploration and description will enable them to consult
publications relating to these subjects.
THE BEGINNINGS OF CULTURE
Some remarks upon the antiquity of man in America will be presented in
the concluding chapter of Volume II.
No one will deny that the present high culture enjoyed by most races and
tribes of men is the result or culmination of thousands of years of
development. Practically the entire world has advanced beyond the Stone
Age, and much of it may be said to have gone even beyond the Iron Age,
and into that of electricity. No sane man doubts that at some time or
other all the divisions of the human race were in the Stone Age. Whether
all the various peoples of many tongues and different colors are derived
from the same stock, it is not my purpose to discuss. It is sufficient
to state that while certain races of men developed a high culture,
others did not. Whether all these peoples had similar advantages or
began more or less in the same fashion, is beyond the scope of this
work. Suffice it to say that even so far back as in times undoubtedly
prehistoric, in every country the archæologist observes differences in
culture. This is true of America as of Egypt, or Europe, or Asia. We
have heard much with regard to the late date of the Stone Age in our own
country. True, stone implements and arts persisted some time after the
discovery by Columbus. Yet the recentness of the Stone Age in the United
States is easily explained when one considers that America was unknown
until 1492. Because stone implements were in use in remote portions of
the United States two centuries ago, it does not follow that man on this
continent is of no antiquity as compared with his brother in Europe.
In fact man may be, for aught we know, as old in America as in Europe or
Asia. There have been hundreds of pages published by Professor Holmes,
Dr. Abbott, the Reverend Dr. Wright, Dr. Wilson, Professor Chamberlin,
and others as to whether man of the glacial period, or earlier tertiary
man, existed in America. The evidence for and against the presence of
man twenty or thirty thousand years ago in the United States has been
presented in numerous places, and the Bibliography will acquaint readers
with what has been said. It is not my purpose to attempt to decide this
question—as to the age of man on the American continent.
There are certain cultures that appear older than others, and it is
quite likely that they are older. All of these will appear in the
forthcoming pages, properly substantiated by such evidence as I am able
to present.
Let us, then, drop glacial or tertiary man and consider quarry material
and methods of working.
QUARRIES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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