But I have already made my communication too long. I trust, however, upon your forbearance in publishing it, since the facts are too numerous to be compressed into less space of description, and a volume would be required to give all the evidence in detail. In my book upon "Man and the Glacial Period" I was called upon to discuss a very broad subject in a very small volume, and so could not enter into details. I endeavored, however, to limit myself to facts of which there was abundant proof, if they should ever be called in question. And I would repeat that I am glad of the revival of interest in the subject which will be created by the expression of such doubts as still remain in Dr. Brinton's mind. I have no question but full discussion will dispel the uncertainty that may exist. G. FREDERICK WRIGHT. OBERLIN, O., Nov. 1, 1892. LEHIGH ISLAND AND ITS RELICS. [BY A. F. BERLIN.] The cultivated island mentioned above is situated in the Lehigh river, at Allentown, Pa., and covers an area of sixty acres. It is formed of river drift, a mass of rolled boulders and pebbles, covered with a sandy loam, the whole being from four to fifteen feet in thickness. It is a remnant, a reminder of the once powerful rush of waters originating from the receding and great meeting glaciers toward the North, which on its turbulent way toward the ocean, scooped out the present Lehigh Valley for a distance of eighty miles. seventy-five to one hundred and fifty feet. Seventeen miles below the island this raging stream emptied into a still larger river which hurled the contents of mud, sand and boulders toward the head of the then Delaware bay, which, in glacial times, was where now stands the city of Trenton, New Jersey. PALEOLITHS.-It will be proper to mention here first those rude objects of stone, which in the past have created and at the present are causing so much discussion. I succeeded after careful search in picking up, at different times, from the surface eight of these implements, nor was I fortunate in obtaining any where the sand-diggers worked. I also watched carefully at the sandwash but found none there. I infer from this that they are very rare on this island. Six of the objects found were made of quartzite; the seventh of yellow jasper. All represent the forms of the river-drift implements from England and France, as well as those discovered by Dr. C. C. Abbott in the gravel at Trenton. Dr. Abbott's objects are made from argillite, and were found six to twenty feet below the surface. Mine being surface discoveries indicate but little. Although rudely made secondary chipping is shown plainly along the edges, from which one is compelled to infer that they were finished implements. We are told in a tradition of the Tuscarora Indians, who claim they arrived on the Virginian coast about the year 1300, that they found there a race who knew nothing of Indian corn or maize and were eaters of raw flesh. The Northmen in the year 1000 found the natives of Vinland, probably near Rhode Island, of the same race as those they were familiar with in Labrador. Eskimo is from the Algonkin word Eskimantic-eaters of raw flesh (The Myths of the New World, foot-note p. 23, Dr. D. G. Brinton). If, then, these people lived as far south as Virginia, they certainly in roaming over the country dropped their implements or left them on their camping sites when driven northward by the superior race with which they came in contact. Then, too, they are so similar to the stone objects used by them today that it will not be out of place to infer they were made by the progenitors of these northern people when living here. Now, as the writer has said before, much has been written for and against the palæolith and its connection with pre-glacial, glacial, or post-glacial man. Mr. W. H. Holmes, a polished and learned archæologist, a member of that band of scientists at Washington, D. C., well known as "the Bureau of Ethnology," since its organization under the able management of Major J. W. Powell, has been doing archæological work of which not enough good can be said and which can be attested upon examination of the yearly reports issued by the organization, claims they have no connection at all with the man living during the glacial age, but are unfinished implements, chipped into rude form at the quarries where they were obtained and then in this state carried elsewhere by the maker to be modeled into such shapes as were found to be wanting. That many of them were "rejects" thrown aside on account of some fault in the stone, or from fracture in shipping. I quote from his paper, "A Quarry Workshop of the Flaked stone Implement Makers in the District of Columbia," in the American Anthropologist, Vol. III, p. 24: "As to the present state of the evidence I hold that there can be but one opinion. It is impossible to show that there exists the slightest trace of any other race than the American Indian as he is known to us, and I am convinced that if the great Powhatan should at this late day rise from the dead and claim for his people all the stone implements of the Potomac valley, no reasonable objection could be made to the claim." Mr. Holmes bases his conclusions, as has been seen, upon the discoveries near Washington, but it becomes evident as one reads his paper that he has little faith in the so-called glacial discoveries. Says Mr. Thomas Wilson, curator of the archæological department of the Smithsonian Institution. in Report of U. S. National Museum. 1888. p. 629: "The investigations concerning these implements have not been very profound nor has it been settled to the satisfaction of all pre-historic archæologists, perhaps not even a majority, that they are truly palæolithic implements. There have been various contentions concerning this." But on the other side stand two archæological giants, experts, men of ripe experience whose investigations and words count for something. Them, too, must be given a hearing. Is there an archæologist who understands better or knows more about the gravel deposits around the city of Trenton than does the discoverer of the palæoliths found there? Has Dr. Abbott not lived right on these deposits for years and have not the most careful and scientific examinations been made by him? Some of the ablest geologists who were on the spot coincided with him. Read his article "Palæolithic Man in North America," in this journal, reprinted from "Science" No. 510, p. 270. And what of Prof. G. Frederick Wright? Who than he has greater knowedge of the great sea of ice, which many thousands of years ago covered more than half of our northern continent? Should not the word of the man who followed the moraines left in the retreat of this great sheet from ocean to ocean be of some value? See his letter in this number taken from "Science," No. 510, p. 275. Thus, at present, the matter rests and who will gain the mastery remains to be told. Will we ever for a certainty ascertain that in that dim, distant, and cold age lived a being of human form, brutish as the animals around him, yet within him a spark of intelligence giving him the knowledge that a sharpened stone would better aid in defending him and his from attack and in destroying that which assailed him? GRAVES.-But one grave, as much as the writer knows has been found. From it, at a depth of four feet, was taken the skeleton of a female in a sitting position, facing toward the East. With the skeleton were found a few relics of yellow jasper, shaped like the blade of a knife four inches long, one inch wide and pointed. I was fortunate in obtaining one of the blades. The others were scattered to the winds! The skeleton is poor and broken condition was also given me, but as the partner of my joys and sorrows insisted that one skeleton in the family closet was enough, I parted with it. POTTERY.-No perfect vessel has ever been found. I have picked up pieces and came across part, about two-thirds, of a vessel, which when perfect held about two quarts. It had a rounded bottom, from which I infer that it was suspended while in use. The fragments picked up, and not in plenty, are ornamented in lines and dots similar to that shown by Dr. Abbott in "Primitive Industries." They appear to have been made of clay, sand and shells, no doubt of the mussel which is found in the river surrounding the island. NET-SINKERS.-I have found quite a good number of these implements. They are made from oval water-worn stones, having flattened faces with a notch on each side and weighing from one-half ounce to almost four pounds. This monster, 9 inches long, 34 inches wide at its broadest part, made from a water-rolled stone, no doubt did better service as the anchor of some aborigine's dugout than a net-sinker. Eighteen miles N. W. from here empties into the Lehigh river "Aquashicola" creek. This in English means "brush-net fishing." These brush-nets were undoubtedly weighted with the notched pebbles, correctly called net-weights or net-sinkers. HAMMERS.-These implements, rounded, with slight depressions on each side, are abundant. A few without the cavities were also picked up. With few exceptions they were all water-worn pebbles. The exceptions were yellow or brown jasper. These, I think, can be said with truth, came from the extensive jasper quarries near Vera Cruz or Macungie, eight and ten miles South and West from this city. I have so far not seen pitted jasper hammers and it is curious to note that of the series of hammer-stones picked up by Mr. H. C. Mercer and the writer at the extensive quarries near Macungie, not one showed depressions. The greatest number were water-rolled stones. GROOVED AXES.-The writer found a few of this style of implement. Others have been more successful. One to me very interesting specimen is a large, flat, thin piece of stone, broken from a water-worn boulder, with two notches, one on each side, where the groove should have been. Then a slight show of chipping to shapen the blade about three inches wide at its cutting part, was all the work done on it. The others found here were similar in form to those taken from the ground in every section of the United States. Polished specimens have never been found. UNGROOVED AXES.-Two were added to my collection from this island. A description of them is unnecessary, for they showed no peculiarities. ADZES.-An implement very rare here. Five were however given to the writer by a friend who picked them up on the island. KNIVES. The implement found with the female skeleton belongs to this class. I have also found numerous leaf-shaped and other chipped relics which I have termed knives. SCRAPERS. This interesting implement is found here in two forms-the "sheaf-of-wheat" pattern, so called by Dr. Abbott, and the "horse-shoe" and "kite-shaped" forms described by Sir John Evans. Of the two shapes mentioned last I have some very fine examples and they closely match some of the European forms in my cabinet. Although I own a number of the "sheaf-ofwheat specimens, none have been obtained by me from the island. I place with this form a lunar shaped object made from black jasper and beautifully chipped. Imagine an almost true circle, one and three-eighths inches in diameter. from which has been roundly chipped one-quarter of it and you can conceive what the relic looks like. There are on its sides no notches, else would I believe a handle had been fastened to it. I have also obtained scraper like objects with battered edges. These were perhaps used in producing sparks to build fires. Here might also be mentioned a square, flat, jasper object, nicely chipped, of the same size as "gun flints." which I am certain served the same purpose. GORGETS. One rudely made gorget, three inches long and one-half wide, with two large funnel-shaped perforations, one inch apart, was picked up by the writer. CEREMONIAL WEAPONS.-Of all relics taken from the surface of the island these are the rarest. I was fortunate finding but one, and this instead of the usual perforation through the center, had a single groove on one side. It is made of slate, without polish, three inches long, two wide, both wings taper to one inch wide, to what might be termed the cutting edge. PESTLES. These objects have only been discovered in parts. of them to know for what purpose they were once used. Polishing tools were found in several instances. Just enough Implements, the use of which is unknown, have here, like on other camping sites, too made their appearance. SPEAR-HEADS.-Found but few and of such forms that they may have served just as well for skinners or knives. DRILLS.-A few of these rimming tools have been found. They have the tang of the arrow-head but the body is long and slender. ARROW-HEADS.-Of all implements this is found in greatest numbers and every form is represented. While many are rudely made, one can often pick from the surface arrows that compare favorably with the most beautiful chipped objects from the South or West. A very rare arrow is the tanged leafshaped form, so called by the late Dr. Charles Rau, who in acknowledging the receipt of one sent him by the writer, said that it was the only relic of this shape then in possession of the Smithsonian Institution. It is shown on Plate 1, Fig. 3, opposite page 102 in Smithsonian Report. Part II, 1886. Imagine an elongated leaf-form having a flaring tang or base, indented, and the reader will be aware of the form of this rare specimen. The writer knows of but a few in the possession of other collectors and all were found in the Lehigh Valley. Although the island abounds in chips and flakes of jasper and other minerals, proving that some of the relics were finished on it, there are reasons to believe that many were washed there during high water. The writer has, after such occurences, gone over the ground washed by such freshets and found numerous implements. Many of the relics have also been obtained by men who have for a number of years been digging and washing sand for building purposes, but were lost by them or given away-the fate of so many stone objects. THE ARCHAEOLOGIST. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT WATERLOO, IND., BY A. C. GRUHLKE, L. V. McWHORTER, EDITED BY A. F. BERLIN, ALLENTOWN, PA. seeker so that he will become a stud ent of the ennobling science of archæology: to make of him a scientific collector seeking to know all about the objects of which he becomes possessed. Our aim also is to prevent collectors -for they will purchase relics-from being imposed upon by unscrupulous dealers and knaves who can be found in many parts of the United States SUBSCRIPTION, ONE COLLAR A YEAR. D and elsewhere counterfeiting every SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS. ADVERTISING RATES -10 cents per line; $1 per inch: $5 per column, per month: less 10 per cent. for 6 months; 20 per cent. for 12 months CONTRIBUTIONS are respectfully solicited, and should be mailed direct to the editor. Address all subscriptions and business com munications to A. C. Gruhlke, Waterloo, Ind. EDITORIAL. known form of prehistoric object. To this class of individuals we will give considerable of our time. We want to, and it can be done if collectors will aid us, prevent "Flint Jacks" from plying their nefarious business. It is understood that this magazine is to educate the beginning collector. We want, therefore, to hear from all such. We wish correspondence on the What excuse have the publishers for imposing upon an already burdened subject. Such letters will all be pubpublic another magazine, is perhaps lished. Questions asked will gladly be the question that will be asked by answered in every number of the jourthose into whose hands this venture nal. Any matter of archæological valwill fall. It has, for some time, been admitted by many of the ablest archæologists that a primer-like journal should be printed by some one; but up to the present none have undertaken it. Nowadays nothing is begun unless with an assured promise that in the venture there should be a money profit, and a pretty good one at that. The writer can truthfully assert right here that in this case is the profit part of this attempt a secondary consideration. Its publishers know very well that instead of a profit accruing it will be nearer to being out of pocket. ue sent to the editor will receive attention. Do, therefore, not hesitate to tell us of discoveries made: of curious objects found. You can all aid us in making a success of this undertaking. BOOK REVIEWS. PRIMITIVE MAN IN OHIO, by Warren This young archæologist, perhaps it were best to call him an anthropologist, has jointly given to the anthropological world another very interesting book. His partners in its production are Mr. Gerard Fowke, Dr. H. T. Cress, and Mr. W. H. Davis. The author in his preface wishes his readers to know that only those who have done field work, "those who have endured the rains of spring, the heat of summer, the chilly snows and sleet of We desire to educate the curiosity winter, living in their tents or barn And what of the editor? His solace and pay will be to know that the trials and troubles which he has imposed upon himself will be lightened by the knowledge that what he is doing for the edification of his readers will be appreciated. |