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
Readers should compare Figs. 39 and 40 with Figs. 31 and 36. A
difference is observed between the pebbles and boulders shown in Figs.
39 and 24, and the quarry material shown in Figs. 31 and 36.
[Illustration:
FIG. 39. (S. 1–3.) See Fig. 40 for description.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 40. (S. 1–3.) Series of flaked forms illustrating progressive
steps in the manufacture of projectile points, etc., from quartzite
boulders, obtained from shop- and village-sites about Washington
City.
]
CHAPTER IV
CHIPPED IMPLEMENTS
HOW MANUFACTURED
In all that has been said about the manufacture of chipped implements
the past thirty years, I have seen no paper that will compare in
technique with that presented by Mr. George E. Sellars of Illinois in
the _Smithsonian Report_, 1885, page 871. I have on several occasions
quoted a few pages from Mr. Sellars’s narrative, and intend here, with
the omission of some irrelevant paragraphs, to present his entire paper,
with the illustrations. At the time he wrote it, he was about eighty
years of age.
When, in 1885, Mr. Sellars called upon Dr. Rau of the Smithsonian
Institution and gave an account of his experiments and studies in
stone-chipping, he was asked by Dr. Rau to prepare the following paper.
This is now out of print, and it certainly merits preservation, as
nothing done in recent times by any observer can compare with the
knowledge obtained of flint-flaking by this remarkable citizen of the
Middle West.
As a boy Mr. Sellars was interested in mechanical arts. He enjoyed the
friendship of George Catlin. His mother’s father had come from Maryland,
bringing with him a large library of the best literature. Mr. Peale,
Sellars’s grandfather, was in correspondence with distinguished men of
England, and Sellars had access to letters from Thomas Jefferson and to
the letters of Captain John Smith of the Virginia colony, all of which
were family heirlooms.
Mr. Sellars devoted many years to study of stone implements found in the
Ohio Valley. Except with reference to a few of his remarks concerning
the use of levers in detaching flakes from implements, I am willing to
accept all that he says in explanation of how all objects were
manufactured. And even with reference to the use of levers, Sellars may
be correct, as it would be impossible to make flint spades by means of a
small flaking-tool held in the hand, although the first stage of the
implement might possibly be produced by the use of the hand-hammer. Be
that as it may, I am willing to accept Mr. Sellars’s observations, at
least until some one proves them to be of no value.
After an account of how he came to be interested in this subject, he
discourses upon Captain John Smith’s letters.
[Illustration:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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