Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-05-30
LOST Art OF TIE STONE AGE.
The Stone implements Once Made BY a
Tribe in New Guinea.
New ork sun

Tribe in New Guinea.
New ) ork sun.
Thirty-hve years ago one Of the greatest
factories for making implements OF the
stone age such as adzes, chisels and spear
points Was near the east end OF New
Guinea. One of the small tribes there
had made a reputation for choppng
stones and grinding them to perfection by
great effort
The natives carried on o barter trade
in these objects. which were sold all along
tho coast clear to the northern shores OF
the island The tribes far and wide,
were certain that no other makers OF
stone implements rivaled the craftsmen
of Suloga
About five years later an epidemic
swept the villages occupied by these stone
workers nearly clean and with them
died their special art of iaslnoning these
articles. The few survivors hed to
Suloga Beach. where they built two
houses in which they and their descend
ants have lived
A British anthropological expedition
led by Dr. Seligman recently visited the
remnant Of the tribe. whore they found
an old man. who said 20 them:
"My grandfather was famous worker
of stone and he taught his son. my father,
whom as a child / often saw at work. I'M
doubtedly he would have taught me as l
grew up but for the big sickness. He
died and / was never taught, nor we're
any Of my generation.
The explorers visited the quarry from
which the volcanic stone that was fash
ioned into implements was obtained.
They saw that a vast amount OF work had
been done there
~ The stone fakes that have been chipped
from pieces Of rock covered acres and
were several inches in depth. Among
these stone chips we're many implements
in the earlier stages of manufacture, but
no finished tools we're found.
The natives say their fathers used tC
break the rocks into workable fragment.
by dropping one upon another from a.
high as a man could lift The ultimate
shape of the implement depended greatly
on the workmans skill in cleaving; anC
after he had secured his piece of nearly
suitable shape the work was little NOR,
than begun. The tool had then tC
be carefully roughed out, and finally
came the grinding, which was hard anc
long work
The explorers found about a dozen o.
these old grindstones. The depressioni
worn into them by the grinding process
we're circular, showing that the grinding
motion was round and round rather thar
back and forth. Sand and water vert
used to help the grinding process.
Many unground stones we're sent tS
other markets to be polished by their new
owners, but the natives all say that NJ
other stone workers were able to .obtaiI
the beautiful even polish Of the stones tha
were ground az Suloga.
These objects are now in great demanC
for museums and private collections
/ The leader Of the British expedition
writes that traders find that they cal
afford to pay from S25 TO $50 in tradl
goods for a superior specimen and ar
sure to sell it again at q handsome profit
Only a vague idea of the detailed
methods used to produce these stonl
objects can be obtained. This is unfor
tunate, as all the light that can be thrown
upon the modern stone age is needed t,
explain thoroughly the processes Of manu-
facture in prehistoric times