Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-10

1
termine kcw long the Indian was engaged
in making his stone implements. what
methods he employed in their manufacture.
| the nature of the tools he used, and every
detail Ct the ancient pre-Columbian Ameri-
| can stonemake-'s mechanical knowledge. He
| has copied almost every tool or utensil that
| the red man was ever known to make. and
| the beauty of his experiments is that all
| these various arrow points, spear hea3s.
| battle axes hammers, hatchets, grinders,
| morta"s, and the scores of ether things
which he has turned out, have been prepar-
ed only with the tools found i'm the ancient
Indian habitaticns throughout the land
| When the Indian wanted to make a
| battle ak he did not try to work round
| cobble stone into a wedge-shape1 form, nor
| did he split pieces OF the solid rock, us lally,
| for that purpose. 1t has always been one
| of his characteristics to make his head save
| his heels as much as possible. When he
was hunting the prairies or walking IN
| the forest he was taught from Childhood to
| gather all the stones which appeared point
| ed, and which could easily be flattenel to a
| blade on one side. Under the microscope
| the rough stone hammers, which were be-
| lieve1 to be grinders or weapons. are found
| to bear the same indications of batte-lng
| which appear on the surfaces of some of
| the axes themselves. This leads to the con-
| viction that some of the manufacturing
| strokes put upon these larger weapons were
| done by pounding with hammers Of stone
| harder than that in the weapon itself. The
| finishing touches could easily have been
| done by rubbing or grinding on other
| stones. and thus il would seem, only day
would be employed. at the utmost. for COM
| pleting the best AK head 10 be found.
| Milking Arrow Heads.
! The work employed in making the arrow
| head is much simpler than that expended
on the tomahawk. 1t is thought that very
! much the same methods were used in cut
| ting flint ani other hard stone as the glass
cutter row employs in nibblins the edges of
window p,tnes Hard stones pressed against
the sharp edges of softer ones will work
| them into shape-after pieces of the proper
| size have been split from the solid rock or
! from stones too large in bulk to be cut
| down. Horn and bone are probably the
best i'm plements for ribbling stones Of high
| degree Of hardness. The brittle flint and
quartZite are the easiest worked with q
| horn or bone.
| The various results which have been OBJ
| tanned from working different kinds Of
stones have led Mr.. Mcclure to regard all
| doctrines establishing a division of the
| stone age into epochs representing different
| degrees of finish on surfaces erroneous
and uTfounded There is great differ
| ence in the work of battering grinding or
chipping d rough pebble stone or piece of
! boulder into an implement. No higher stan
| DAT ! of intellect is believed to be required
| from a savage who grinds a tomahawk
!
| Outline forms, which could easily be ground
| into most any implements well as AK
heads, before referred to in this connection,
are to be found each day in the rivers or
streams having a rapid fall. Hammering
| or battering one stone against the other is
one of the first steps in stone working
| which a savage would be likely to dis
| cover. If he cracked nuts or crushed roots
/ regularly between two rocks he soon learn
| ed thai such action wore a cavity in one or
! smoothed the surface of the other. But
obi rir,cr hiah ha-
| been supposed to be the first means Of
| shaping implements used in the early days
| of the stone age, is the most difficult task
I of all to perform. Even in reasonably mod
ern times the art of chipping gun fints was
| considered to be proud accomplishment,
and il was confined, for long time to En-
| glish citizens although suitable material
| abounded in all parts of the civilized world.
! Workmen were even sent to England dur
! ing the time the fint-lcck musket was in
vogue to learn this art.
| PerfOrating stones.
| Most of the axes made at the museum are
| pecked with hammers of gritty quartzite; a
milestone is afterward rubbed over the sur
face while It is damp. The Mexicans and
some other nations brought their nipple
ments of stone to q higher state of polish
than did the other .-.nerican Indians. This
| finish has been obtained by the free use of
| pumice stone emery. The stone hammer
31pears to have been used also on the
| sculpture, not only of Central and South
| America, but of Egypt also. Theban paint
| ings of the earliest Egyptian dynasties sug-
| gest that man then worked with hammers
almost precisely like those found among cur
| American aborigtnes. This indicates some
| connection between the continents in re-
| gard to the use of this implement. The
| discovery adds to the list of arguments to
| the effect that the earliest mocha meal and
| artistic knowledge of pre-Calumbian Ameri-
| ca was borrowed from The old world.
| Together with these Investigations Of
| weapons and implement making by grind
| ing, pecking and chipping, experiments
| have been made with the drills used for
| perforating stones, used in the manufacture
| of pipes and other relics, found with regu-
| lar cylindrical holes, indicating n skillful
| knowledge of boring such hard substances.
! The bowl of the Indian pipe appears to have
| been drilled out Of stone almost Invariably,
| since the red man did not dream in
| former days of the convenient use of clay
| or OF wood for this purpose. These appear
| to have been followed out by continual
| grinding, and indicate the use of several
| kinds of drills, some of which have been
| found in ruins, while others have been dis
| covered among the races of long standing
| in the north and west. These drills are
| themselves interesting links in the cvolu-
| tiona-y chain of mechanical engineering
| They are surprisingly complete as time
| savers and almost set the beholler to won
| dsring how the unprogressive SavageS could
| have understood their use, centuries ego,
| provements.
| Methods of Boring.
| The fiddle bow drill may be more minute
| ly described, since II still appears to per-
| form the greater part of the Indians stone
boring in many localities. The bow is gen.
| orally of bone, although sometimes of wood
| the cord being about double the required
| length. The main stem of the drill resem-
bles the plain stick of the straight drill, ex-
| cept that 1t is usually spiked at the lower
end by points of hard stone bound on in a
manner similar to the rigging of an arrow
| head to shaft. A mouthpiece resembling
! the arm of a crutch. serves the same pur-
| pose as the arm on a carpenters brace
When the contrivance is in the proper
working position the point is placed vertical
ly over the portion of the surface to be
bored, the crutch arm rests on the chin of
the operator; the bowstring is wrapped sew
eral times about the drill stem. A very
rapid velocity is acquired by rubbing the
bow backward and forward, with a iiddling
| motion. Sand is also used with this in
| cases whn"c the stone acted upon is ex-
tremely hid.
The pump drill, found today especially
among the Iroquois,is the most complicated
The main rod supports a wheel which gives