Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1926-08-11
istence Of this long vanished people
on this very sDot

on this very spot.
The foundations of this collection
have been made possible fortunately
by the lifelong search for the ma
terial by two of our best citizens,
Hon. Charles H. Wood, Bar Har-
Dor lawyer, and his brother, Fletcher
T. Wood of Gouldsboro, and by
Dwight Blaney, artist, of Boston,
owner and resident of Ironbound
Island, whose scientific zeal has ac-
cumulated also rare collections of
shells and other material by dredg-
many recent accessions from enthusi-
astic searchers who have caught the
spirit of adventure and are bringing
excellent finds" from many spots.
Mrs. Cameron-Bradley and her sons
and sailing captain having permits
sion from the owner of an island
shell heap are finding a new charm
for their leisure days.
Scientific grouping OF these many
objects has yielded an excellent H.
Illustrative collection of five or six
hundred pieces, clearly labelled.
Accompanying these are a series
of relief maps Of the territory of the
Maine coast indicating where our
specimens were found.
Time of the Stone Age.
Students have placed the period
of the Stone Age at dates as remote
as four to ten thousand years. 1t
seems to link up somewhat with the
development of intelligence of the
race-an adaptation of material re-
sources with the needs of life
showing in some countries, highly
refined workmanship, In others
crude. That found in our country
is in a midway state of development.
That in Denmark and the Baltic
coast is most advanced, as shown,
for example, by the exquisite nn1sn
of foot-long daggers (handle ana
alb of pink jasper flint, the EDGES
artfully clicked" to acquire the
sharpest point and edges.
The most perfect specimens are
rescued from graves Unexpectedly
come upon in digging. In our North
Atlantic coast, all traces of human
remains or of wooden handles OF
hatchets have disintegrated and the
clue for the searcher Is layer OF
cred paint" so-called. This Is
natural metallic oxide powder, OBJ
tanned from Conception Bay, and
used as paint for decoration, or war
paint on face and bodies, and placed
with instruments in chieftalns
graves.
When a layer of red powder is
come upon accidentally in digging
house foundations or in eroded river
banks or gravel beds, one must at
once stake off a few feet OF earth
about it and carefully search Dy
trowel or rake, every bit OF earth
nearby for unbroken pottery or
stone instruments or even beads OF
shell or bone.
thus specimens of great beauty
are found unbroken..
Character of the Stone Instruments.
Our local collection at present In
cludes: Two pick axes of stone, ten
to twelve inches long, found near
Duck Brook; forty or more stone
chisels, gouges and axes, complete or
partial, some of them probably
tomahawks; twenty or thirty net
sinkers for trawling lines, size from
that of an egg to that of ones fist,
with a narrow neck and small head
to which to tie a string; one five
inch long round thin stone for MAX
ing mesh nets OF the same size open
ings; one hundred stone arrow
points of many varieties of native
stone, or of pink jasper or white
flint from distant sources, left by
marauding tribes or by exchanges;
several large flint spearheads and
sharp edged flint knives for cutting
hides; some large plates and grind
ing stones for sharpening Ratchet
edges; some fragments of three or
six-sided spearheads, of slate or
soapstone.
Then there are many "pecking
stones" of extra hard rock, fitted to
the hand grasp, with well defined
pecking end, for modelling granite
or other stone tools; some large
grooved stones, probably battle axes;