Part 9

In the spades and hoes first to be considered the flaking seems to have been by percussion mainly, if not entirely; the same method appears to have been employed in obtaining flakes from blocks, to work into the smaller implements. Some of the processes used in making them will be hereinafter described.

SPADES.

It must be admitted that most Indians depended largely on agriculture for subsistence; some historical works that represent them as barbarous hunters, depending entirely on the chase, will, on the same page perhaps, relate how Virginia and New England pioneers were saved from starvation by supplies of corn, beans, and pumpkins obtained from the Indians. This being the case, some method of cultivation was necessary.

It is not to be inferred that “cultivation” implies all that is now meant by the term; the Indian seems merely to have worked the hill in which his corn was planted and not the whole surface of the field, a shallow hole being scooped out in which the grain was dropped, and as the stalk became larger the dirt was heaped up around it. The remains of many “Indian old fields” in various parts of the country show this, there being no long ridges as in cornfields of the present day, but only a great number of these detached hills. The great scarcity of implements suitable for such work argues nothing, for in most parts of the country stone easily worked and adapted to the purpose is unobtainable.

There are a few flint deposits found in southern Illinois in which the material occurs in nodules that can be made with even less work than a piece of wood into suitable implements; and in the country which may be considered as belonging to this archeologic district the flint hoes and spades are tolerably abundant. In other portions of the country, wood, the shoulder blades of large animals, and musselshells perforated for attachment to a handle, were formerly used; the shells are frequently found, but the other materials have long since disappeared.

Early observations on the industries of the aborigines are significant. Thus, according to De Forest, the Connecticut Indians used spades rudely constructed of wood, or of a large shell fastened to a wooden handle;[122] and Palmer[123] figures a hoe made of horn, 14 by 5 by one-fourth inches, in a wooden handle 5 feet long, which is split and slipped over the smaller end; such, with others of wood and stone, were used among the Utah Indians before iron was introduced. Dawson holds that they were probably prepared in large numbers for the planting time, when the whole tribe mustered to till the fields, and that when the work was over they were gathered and hidden in some safe place until the next season.[124] This may have been the case to some extent, but the specimens found in these hiding places seldom have marks of use, and it is more probable that they were the property either of persons living at a distance or of an individual manufacturer in some particular village, being thus concealed for safe-keeping until there was a demand for them or, perhaps, to await a convenient time for transportation. A sedentary tribe would have no more reason for hiding this than any other kind of property.

The chipped implements known as spades are frequently found buried in large numbers. Two caches were disclosed by high water in 1884, near Caseyville, Kentucky, containing, respectively, 57 and 75 specimens from 6 to 13 inches long.

The most common form is that having an oval or elliptical outline, with the ends either coming to a point or rounded. Long use of those having pointed ends would wear them off until they approached the others in form; but so many of both patterns show no evidence of use that this distinction must be considered intentional. The principal varieties are as follows:

_A._ Those with pointed ends. Figure 169 represents a typical specimen of yellow flint, from Union county, Illinois.

+----------------------------+---+---+ | District. | A | B | +----------------------------+---+---+ |Southwestern Illinois | 2| 2| |Southeastern Arkansas | 2| | |Cheatham county, Tennessee | | 1| |Union county, Mississippi | 1| | +----------------------------+---+---+

KEY: A = Yellow flint. B = Grey flint.

_B._ Those with the ends rounded. Represented by figure 170 (yellow flint, from Union county, Illinois).

+-----------------------------+---+---+---+---+ | District. | A | B | C | D | +-----------------------------+---+---+---+---+ |Southwestern Illinois | 2| 2| | | |Cheatham county, Tennessee | | | 1| | |Lauderdale county, Tennessee | 1| | | | |Polk county, Tennessee | | | | | |Lauderdale county, Alabama | | | | 4| |Craighead county, Arkansas | 1| | | | +-----------------------------+---+---+---+---+

KEY: A = Yellow flint. B = Grey flint. C = Brown flint. D = Argillite.

A specimen from Jackson county, Illinois, has had a portion of the edge broken squarely. The polish over this fractured surface shows that it was long used after breaking without being rechipped to a sharp edge. This indicates usage only in loose ground, as it evidently would be quite difficult to force the square, broken part into a hard soil or tough sod.

The specimens from Polk county, Tennessee, are pecked or chipped, or both, and are quite roughly made. They are neither scratched nor polished, and may be unfinished implements of some other class, though agreeing closely with the flint spades in shape and size.

_C._ A modification of the last form has the upper portion chipped away along the sides until it is ovoid, with a blunt point, leaving the lower part a regular curve. An example, shown in figure 171, is of grayish brown flint, from Scott county, Missouri. There are also one each from Mississippi county, Missouri, and Hopkins county, Kentucky, of the same material.

_D._ Like the above, but much shorter in ratio to the width, and with a flatter curve. The type, figure 172, is of yellow flint, from a mound in Obion county, Tennessee. There are also three from Union county, Illinois, one of them with almost the same dimensions.

_E._ Semicircular outline, with sides notched for securing the handle, as in arrowpoints and spearheads. Represented by figure 173, showing a specimen of gray flint from a mound in Mississippi county, Arkansas. There are four additional specimens, all from Union county, Illinois.

_F._ A related form, also notched for attachment of handle. Figure 174 represents an example of yellow flint, from Poinsett county, Arkansas, the only one of this shape in the collection.

From Jackson county, Illinois, there is a series beginning with a small scraper and a small scraper-like celt, and passing gradually into the large spades or digging-tools, there being a number of intermediate forms and sizes. Two specimens, only 6 inches long, have the glazed surface so characteristic of these implements, which could have been produced only by long-continued use in digging.

From a workshop at Mill creek, Union county, Illinois, there are a large number of pieces in every stage of work. Among them can be made series of all the different types here given, from the nodule in its natural state to the completed implement. Near by is a flint deposit showing extensive aboriginal quarrying.

Dawson,[125] in speaking of these implements, says: “The rudest of all rude implements, similar to the paleoliths of Europe, were used by the more settled and civilized agricultural nations.” While the majority of them are rude, simply because there was no necessity for elaborate work or fine finish in tools of this class, yet there are many specimens (as, for example, the one shown in figure 171) which in symmetry and workmanship will compare favorably with the larger specimens of other types, due regard being had to the fact that the coarse flint of which they are usually made does not admit of the most delicate execution.

TURTLEBACKS.

The singular name “turtleback” is suggested instantly on seeing a specimen of the class so designated by Abbott and others. As commonly used, it refers to rude or unfinished leaf-shape implements of any size, which may be found in great abundance almost anywhere. It is used here, however, to denote more especially the disks or almond-shaped pieces of flint or chert sometimes found cached in considerable numbers.

Perkins[126] records the discovery of such caches in Vermont; an exceptional case, as they are seldom found outside of the Mississippi valley. The southern portion of Illinois has furnished more than any other section; those found there are almost invariably made from nodules of bluish gray hornstone, the concentric lines being strongly marked.[127]

The Bureau has secured a large number from southern Illinois, ranging from 3½ to 7½ inches in length, some nearly circular, others having a length nearly twice the breadth. All have secondary chipping around the edges. Many of the larger ones and most of the smaller have the edges more or less worn or polished in such manner as would result from use as knives or scrapers. A typical specimen is shown in figure 175.

Stevens[128] denies in strongest terms that these relics are unfinished implements, saying it is the worst possible form into which flint could be chipped for carrying or for future work. On the other hand, Cheever[129] says the Indians of California usually carry a pouch of treasures, consisting of unfinished arrowheads or unworked stones, to be slowly wrought out when they are industriously inclined. Catlin, too, observed that the Apache sometimes carry bowlders of hornstone a long distance to obtain material for arrowheads;[130] and according to im Thurn, the various Indian tribes of Guiana have each their special manufacture and exchange with other tribes.[131] Tylor says:

Till lately the Patagonians, when they came on their journeys to a place where suitable flint or obsidian was to be found, would load themselves with a supply of lumps to chip into these primitive currier’s scrapers.[132]

Both Jewitt[133] and Evans[134] say that stones of this character were used as sling-stones; but there is no evidence that North American Indians ever used slings. Speaking of similar stones, Tylor remarks:

They were used either as knives or scrapers; with the curved side upward (or out) there would be no danger of cutting a hide in skinning game, and they could be used to cut up the flesh; while by putting the pointed end in the handle they could be used as scrapers.[135]

The smoothed edge in so many specimens substantiates the last statement, while the theory that they are unfinished implements finds support in the fact that nearly all the nodules from which they are made have an ellipsoid form, and the present shape of the implement would result from chipping away the useless weathered surface to lessen the weight.

SMALLER CHIPPED IMPLEMENTS.

MATERIALS AND MODES OF MANUFACTURE.

In the remaining portion of this paper, which will treat of the smaller chipped implements, a plan somewhat different from that of the preceding part will be followed.

As already stated, these specimens are almost invariably made of some form of flint; this term including chalcedony, basanite, jasper, chert, hornstone, and similar rocks. So common is its use that the term “flints” is gradually being adopted as a name for all the different classes of arrowheads, knives, drills, etc. The exceptions are not numerous enough to justify separate classification, so no tables of material will be used. Further, the great abundance of such relics in all portions of the country makes useless any allusion to the number from any particular locality; about the only limitation to their discovery is the amount of time and care which one chooses to give.

Before entering on the description, some quotations may be given in regard to methods of making these chipped implements.

According to Evans, the Mexican Indians take a piece of obsidian in the left hand and press it firmly against the point of a small goathorn held in the right, and by moving it gently in different directions they chip off small flakes until the arrow is complete;[136] they also cut a notch in the end of a bone, into which the edge of the flake is inserted and a chip broken off by a sideways blow.[137] According to the same author, the Eskimo sometimes set the flake in a piece of split wood. The arrow is roughly chipped by blows with a hammer, either direct or with a punch interposed, and is then finished by pressing off fine chips with a point of antler set in an ivory handle.[138] Not only leaf-shape barbed arrows, but also ones either with or without the stem, can be produced by pressure with a point of antler; the former, however, are the more easily made, and were probably earlier in use.[139]

The Plains Indians lay the flat side of a flake of obsidian on a blanket, or other yielding substance, and with a knife nick off the edges rapidly. In their primitive state they probably used buckskin instead of the blankets, and pointed bone or horn instead of the knife.[140]

The Apache holds the flake or flint in his left hand, places his punch at the point where the chip is to be broken off, and it is struck by an assistant, thus knocking a chip from the under side; the flake is then turned and the process repeated, until the arrow is complete. The stone is held in the hand, as it can not be chipped on a hard substance.[141] A punch observed by Catlin in use by these Indians was a whale tooth 6 or 7 inches long, with one round and two flat sides. The Fuegians, according to the same authority, use a similar process and make as fine implements.[142]

The Eskimo make a spoon-shaped cavity in a log, lay the flake over it, and press along the margin, first on one side and then on the other, like setting a saw, until they form two sharp serrated edges. The working tool is a point of antler firmly bound into a piece of ivory. The same plan is used by widely separated peoples.[143]

Nilsson, in chipping out gun flints with a stone hammer, found it necessary to have the point operated on lie immediately above a point that rested on the rock “anvil” which he used.[144]

The Veeard or Wiyot of California used a pair of buck-horn pincers tied together with a thong at the point; they first hammered out the arrowhead in the rough, and then with these pincers carefully nipped off one tiny fragment after another.[145] The Klamath cover the hand with a piece of buckskin to keep it from being cut, and lay a flake along the ball of the thumb, holding it firmly with the fingers. With a point of antler from 4 to 6 inches long, they press against the edge, thus removing scales from the opposite side; they turn the flake around and over frequently, to preserve symmetry.[146]

The Shasta Indian lays a stone anvil on his knee, holds the edge of the flake against it, and with his stone hammer chips off flakes, finishing the base first, and gently chipping the whole arrow into shape. Both obsidian and glass are used.[147] The Shoshoni Indians used the same process.[148]

A Pit River Indian has been seen to make a very sharp and piercing arrow from a piece of quartz, with only a piece of round bone, one end of which was hemispherical with a small crease in it (as if made by a thread) one-sixteenth of an inch deep. The arrow was made by pressing off flakes by main strength, the crease being to prevent the bone from slipping, and affording no leverage.[149] John Smith (1607) says of the Powhatan Indian:

His arrowhead he maketh quickly, with a little bone, of any splint of stone or glass.[150]

The Cloud River Indian used two deer prongs, one much smaller than the other, the points ground to the form of a square, sharp-pointed file. He had also some pieces of iron wire tied to sticks and ground in the same manner; these were better than the deer horn, because harder, and not needing to be sharpened so often. The flake was held firmly in the left hand, guarded by a piece of buckskin; he pressed off chips with the larger tool, turning the arrow end-for-end when done on one side, so as to keep the edge opposite the middle line. The notches for barbs were worked out in a similar manner with the smaller tool.[151]

Some of the California Indians prefer agate and obsidian for their implements, as the close grain admits more careful working. They use a tool with its working edge shaped like a glazier’s diamond (apparently a piece of bone or antler with a square-cut notch on the side); the flake is held in the left hand, while the nick in the side of the tool is used to chip small fragments.[152] Peale makes similar statements, and adds that the notches are of different sizes to suit the different stages of work.[153]

The Klamath Indians, according to Schumacher, have a slender stick 1½ feet long, with a piece of sea-lion tooth, or antler, fastened to the end of it. Holding one end under the arm to steady it, they take a flake in the left hand, wrapped in a piece of buckskin so as to leave only the edge exposed, and by pressure with the point of the tool break off flakes as large as necessary, the last being quite fine, to give sharp edges to the arrow. The notches are worked out by means of a point of bone 4 or 5 inches long, without a shaft.[154] Chase gives a similar account, but says that iron points have now taken the place of the bone or horn points formerly used.[155]

It may not be out of place in this connection to give a few quotations in regard to the length of time required for making an arrowhead.

According to the Marquis de Nadaillac, the Mexicans could turn out a hundred flint knives (probably only unworked obsidian flakes) an hour,[156] while Crook says that the Plains Indians with only a knife for nicking off the edges, will make from fifty to one hundred arrows in the same period.[157] Chase found that a Klamath Indian required five minutes to complete a perfect arrowhead;[158] though Stevens observes that a Shasta Indian spent an hour in chipping one from a flake of obsidian,[159] and Lubbock states that the most skillful Indian workmen can not hope to complete more than a single arrow in a day’s hard work.[160] Powers also speaks of the aborigines of California as "using that infinite patience which is characteristic of the Indian, spending days, perhaps weeks, upon a single piece;[161] and Tylor notes “that utter disregard of time that lets the Indian spend a month in making an arrow.”[162]

The last two references are probably to the large and finely worked pieces used for ceremonial or ornamental purposes.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE IMPLEMENTS.

The only practicable division of the greater part of the smaller flints is into stemmed and stemless, the former having a prolongation at the base for firmer attachment to a shaft or handle, the latter being of a triangular or oval shape. The stemmed implements may be barbed or not, and the stem either narrower or broader toward the end.

The name “arrowhead” so commonly applied, fits only the minority of specimens, as none but the smaller ones could be so used; the larger are too heavy. The longest stone arrowpoint in the extensive collection of arrows in the National Museum measures two and five-eighths inches in length and is narrow and thin. An arrowpoint two inches in length is seldom seen. The larger specimens were probably knives and spearheads; but it would be difficult to assign any certain use for a particular type, the markings on so many indicate usage for which their shape would seem to render them unsuitable. It is probable that a single specimen served a variety of purposes.

Wood, bone, and shell were also used to a considerable extent, in the manufacture of implements for which flint would seem much better adapted. Thus for fish spears the southern Indians used canes, sharp-pointed, barbed, and hardened in the fire,[163] while knives were formerly made of flint or cane; these are still used when the hunting knife has been lost.[164] The California Indians had arrows tipped with hard-pointed wood for common use, and with agate or obsidian for war.[165]

The accompanying diagram (figure 176) will render plain the different terms used in the following descriptions:

The only difference between barb and shoulder is that the barb is prolonged toward the base. The shoulder is called squared or rounded according to whether the edge of the implement makes an angle or a curve where drawn in to form the stem.

In the stemless specimens the base is the end opposite the point.

A tapering stem means one narrowing toward the base; straight, one whose sides are parallel; and expanding, one which is widest at the base.

STEMLESS FLINTS.

CHARACTERS AND USES.

The stemless flints are triangular or oval in outline. For convenience they will be divided into those small enough for arrowpoints (not above 2½ inches long) and those which are too large for such purpose. The latter reach to the length of 7½ inches. They are chipped to a sharp edge all around. The ratio of width to length varies from 1:4 to 4:5.

These objects were mostly for use as knives, scrapers or spearheads. Some of the thicker ones were spikes for clubs. Abbott[167] mentions three triangular jasper implements 3 to 4 inches long from graves, associated with fragments of large bones which showed plainly that they had been used for clubs, and the Iroquois are known to have used a club with a sharp-pointed deer-horn about four inches long inserted in the lower side. Schoolcraft[168] illustrates a pointed stone with a square section (apparently of the class usually called “picks”), mounted in a club which is curved at the end to let the spike set in the end at a right angle to the handle; and Brickell observes that the North Carolina Indians used clubs or long poles, in the ends of which were fastened artificially sharpened stones, or horns of animals.[169] Morgan also notes that among the Iroquois rows of arrow-shaped chert heads about two feet in extent have been found lying side by side. They were set in a frame and fastened with thongs, forming a species of sword.[170] According to Tylor the Mexicans had a similar sword, with obsidian teeth gummed in holes in a war club,[171] and Bourke observed at Taos pueblo a similar weapon with iron teeth.[172] But the number of specimens found mounted indicates that most of them were used as knives or scrapers.

LARGER IMPLEMENTS.

_A._ With base and edges straight or slightly convex; corners square. The type illustrated in figure 177 is from Montgomery county, North Carolina. Similar forms come also from eastern Tennessee; central and western North Carolina; southwestern Illinois; Miami and Scioto valleys, and central Ohio; southwestern Wisconsin; northeastern and southwestern Arkansas; northeastern and northwestern Alabama, and Coosa valley in the same state; Kanawha valley, West Virginia; northeastern and central Kentucky; and Savannah, Georgia.