It is clear, from the amount of hematite and copper in public and private collections, that both were highly prized. That hematite was far harder to work than common stone did not deter the ancient man from digging, grinding, cutting, and polishing the steel gray hematites (as hard as any stone) to the desired size. Truly he worked “at his task with a resolute will, over and over again.” I should like to propose to any person who has lightly waved aside the skill or patience of the ancient worker, that that person select a chunk of the hard gray iron ore (not the soft kind) and set to work with a stone hammer and some flint flakes and a block of sandstone to make a hematite plummet. A week’s labor on the specimen will increase the respect of the sceptic for the stone-age artist. We are just beginning to appreciate the point of view of the stone-age man. At present our knowledge is imperfect. Particularly, do I feel this personally and realize the responsibility resting on one’s shoulders when one attempts to describe and classify, in a large sense, the stone implements, etc., of ancient times. Even if one does one’s best, such a work must, for the present at least, remain a pioneer undertaking, and those who come afterwards will make of the faintly marked pioneer trail a broad and substantial highway along which others may travel and find, I trust, guide-posts unnecessary. When we realize the point of view, the mind, and the concept of the stone-age man fully, we shall, quite likely, understand the true import of the strange problematical polished stones so common in the Mississippi Valley. These stand for more than mere ornaments. The very name “ceremonial,” which was afterwards changed by that able archæologist Professor Holmes to problematical, is a confession of ignorance. These problematical forms are found in Wisconsin, West Virginia, New England, Louisiana, Ohio, and Arkansas, and although varying through a multitude of shapes, yet apparently convey substantially the same idea. To the people who lived entirely in the stone-age times, these must have represented certain “sacred mysteries,” to white men and later Indians entirely unknown. The same is true of the abnormally large axes in copper or in stone, of the large chipped implements in Tennessee and on the Pacific Coast. None of these things could have served a real purpose. One cannot strike or cut with the “ceremonial swords” shown in Fig. 161, neither can the axe illustrated in Fig. 263 _A_ be made use of for cutting. Such things as these illustrate the height or perfection of stone-age art, and we must seek their explanation and purposes along other lines than those suggested by common every-day usage, to which the smaller and more easily made objects were put. FIELD STUDY NEEDED