History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 8

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 8

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

never intended or used for pounding, but rather that they were stone clubs. These latter are long, slender, carefully made, and in this region often have the upper end more or less rudely carved, so that it bears a resemblance to the head of some animal (Figure 21, Number 1). The longest are from twenty- five to thirty inches from end to end. They are always cylindrical and well made. The undoubted pestles are of various forms ; some are nearly square, others oval, others cylindrical; some are flat on two sides and convex on the other two; some are of nearly uniform size throughout; others are largest in the middle and taper toward the ends, which are rounded and smooth. They are always much shorter than the clubs and usually of greater diameter. Some appear to have been used not as pestles for pounding, but as rollers, for crush- ing and rolling, since we find both ends worn and polished, as if by long fric- tion with the hands.

The use of tobacco in pipes (there is no evidence that it was used in any other way) must have originated in America in very early times, for all over the United States, wherever stone relics occur, pipes are found ; and perhaps no objects exhibit such skill and care in their workmanship as do these. No one who has seen them can have failed to admire the exquisite carving of some of the pipes from the mounds. Such work as this we do not find in Vermont; but we do find besides earthenware pipes a few of stone of different sorts, some of them shaped much like the modern clay pipe, others quite unlike this (Figure I, Number 4). They are all polished and of compact, handsome material. One of these is shown in Figure 1, Number 3. Although we cannot doubt that the prehistoric Vermonter smoked his pipe, the practice does not appear to have been very universal, for a dozen pipes sufficed, apparently, for the whole State; so that either very few used the weed or else there must have been an amazing activity in borrowing and lending. Or perhaps the ancient Vermonter discovered that a very serviceable pipe could be made from a corn- cob; and thus the lusty warriors, when they were about home in their every- day clothes-which in their case meant almost none at all-regaled themselves with a common and inexpensive cob pipe; but when they had daubed them- selves with ochre, soot, clay, or whatever else was needed to make them attractive, and gathered together for a grand pow-wow, the stone pipe was brought out and passed around. I think it most probable that to our stock of undoubted stone pipes should be added certain curious stone tubes which have been found chiefly in the graves near Swanton, mentioned previously. They are, like many Indian pipes, more like a large cigar-holder than a pipe, being straight, and shaped (at least some of them are) much like a base-ball club, from seven to thirteen inches long, and an inch or less in diameter. They are beautifully regular and smooth, and the labor of making them, and especially of boring through them from end to end, must have been great. There is a group of stone objects found in many portions of the United States, as well as

INDIAN OCCUPATION AND RELICS.

this county, which have always greatly puzzled students of stone implements. They are, so far as appears, of no practical use, but are very carefully made, finely polished, and often of very pretty material. By common consent they are regarded as ornaments, badges of office, or amulets.

The rarest form of this sort of object is the "bird's-head stone," so called because it is carved stone resembling, generally rather remotely, the head and neck of a bird. Only two typical specimens of this have been found in the State, both at Swanton ; but several of the same general character have been found, one of them in South Burlington. There are, at the base of the neck, holes drilled at each end, showing that they were tied or suspended. Probably of the same sort are the "boat-stones." As the name indicates, these are canoe-shaped objects ; some long and slender, others short and deep. These, too, are pierced with holes near each end. Some very beautiful examples of this class have been found in Essex and Colchester. Gorgets, or " two-hole stones," are thin, flat, more or less quadrangular objects, often made in this region of red or purple slate. They are sometimes convex on the sides; some- times the corners are cut off. They are from three to six inches long, and two to four inches wide, and from one-fourth to one-half of an inch thick. Adair tells us of a priest among some of the Southern Indians who wore what he calls a breast-plate during certain ceremonies, and the description of this shows that it was much like our two-holed stones, except in material, for it was made of shell. What are called sceptres, or " banner-stones," are also found here and there in this county. They must have cost a greater amount of labor than either of the other groups of ornamental stones, for they are larger, less simple in form, and are perforated through the middle by a hole which may be half an inch in diameter. The labor of drilling a hole of this size through three or four inches of granite, or some such rock, in itself could not have been small. The banner-stones are of many shapes ; often more or less crescent-shaped, some like a modern pick-ax in miniature, and of beautifully veined and pol- ished stone ; others are more or less oval, or quadrangular, with rounded cor- ners and so on. Some of them are made of easily worked stone, but most are of slate or a harder material. Whatever may have been the use of these ob- jects, whether for a personal decoration, or ceremonial observances, or batons of office, they were certainly carefully and laboriously fashioned. It is strange that with all the evident care in the making of these objects, many kinds of our most attractive stone were left unnoticed. Serpentine was used in the celts, but in no other implement or object. Marble, in all its abundance or variety, was almost entirely overlooked; a single " bird's-head stone " is all that I have seen made from it. The same may be said of the finely-veined slates found all along the shore of the lake, from Shelburne Point to Alburgh Perhaps we should class with ornamental objects one or two ovoid specimens with a knob at one end of each. These may have been sinkers of fishing-lines or nets, or

HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

pendants. A very interesting class of specimens, which seem to be very rare everywhere outside of the Champlain valley, includes certain knives, or possi- bly some may have been spear-points, made from a thin plate of slate, red and purple roofing slate usually. They are sometimes polished, but not always, and of very regular form, and their special peculiarity is found in the haft, as shown in Figure 21, Number 7, along each side of which is a series of notches, large in one specimen, small in another. Some of them are so long and slen- der that it is difficult to understand how they could have been used for any purpose. The longest is nine inches and the shortest is about two inches long. The width is from an inch to an inch and a half. These slate knives are found in about equal abundance on both sides of Lake Champlain, and they are also found in the Mohawk valley, and very rarely elsewhere. Knives of slate of other shapes are found in many localities, but these, shaped like large spear heads, are not. All of the various objects hitherto mentioned were fashioned according to the taste of the maker by rubbing or grinding ; but there are many implements, found in all localities in which hard, brittle rock occurs, which were not ground, but flaked or chipped into the desired form. For some purposes this is better than grinding. A knife or arrow-point can be made from a block of quartz in this way not only more easily, but with a far keener edge than could be obtained by grinding. Therefore flaked or chipped objects, usually of silicious material, form an important part of our collections. Among chipped implements we find the uniformity already noticed in imple- ments from widely separated localities, and made by different races, displayed in a remarkable degree. Chipped flint arrow-points and other larger objects found in Madras and other parts of the East, are exactly duplicated in form in this county, and this similarity extends through a very considerable series of specimens. However, here as elsewhere, many of the specimens found are more or less characteristic of the particular locality in which they occur, for every maker had his own idea of form and proportion, which controlled his work and gave to it a certain degree of individuality. Différent tribes and nations also, while shaping their utensils, etc., very much alike in many respects, manifest some inclination to work in certain directions and produce certain forms rather than others. Hence a skilled observer can usually tell with at least approximate accuracy the locality of any large collection of stone objects which may come to his notice. The classes or groups into which chipped or flaked implements may be separated are very numerous ; and besides those that can be assigned to some special group, there are not a few which perplex us greatly and which cannot be placed in any group. It should perhaps be noticed that, although American archaeologists speak often of flint implements, true flint is not found in this country. The term, however, is a convenient one, and includes a variety of quartzose or silicious rocks, some of which very closely resemble the flint of Europe. In most places the arrow, spear or other

INDIAN OCCUPATION AND RELICS.

points are made of some stone that is found in ledges, or at least in abundance near by ; and in Vermont a very large number of our specimens of this sort are made of a very pretty bluish-gray quartzite, varying in shade from almost white to dark gray. On this account a collection of our chipped specimens does not present so varied and, possibly, so attractive an appearance as one found in a region where mottled or variously colored stone was used. I sup- pose we must admit that as a whole our collections are of duller and more uniform color than those from western or southern regions. Nevertheless we find single specimens as perfectly formed, delicately edged and pointed, and of as beautifully hued material as can anywhere be seen ; and there are many of these, although they do not make up the greater part of our collections. There can be no doubt that the Indians who occupied Vermont in former times cultivated the soil, nor that they used some sort of hoes and spades ; but unquestioned agricultural implements are not common. It may be that we do not recognize them, and that some of our knives or axes were hoes or spades; it may be that these tools were most often of wood or bone, as we know they were sometimes, and have perished. There are some large flaked specimens, seven or eight inches long and three or four wide, the use of which, if they are not spades, is not known ; and there are many smaller, oval or quadrangular specimens, which most probably were also hoes and spades. Some of these would try the patience of a modern farmer sorely ; but we must remember that a very slight spading and hoeing satisfied these ancient agriculturists, and they may have used much smaller tools than we should naturally suppose. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that in several localities where we know there were permanent villages no large spades or hoes have been found, although numerous small ones, or what may have been such, do occur.

We are told that small flint hatchets, some of them not more than half an inch long, were in use at the coming of the first Europeans, and we find speci- mens which were probably used as hatchets all over the State. In finishing arrows, and in other tasks, scrapers were used; and we find a great variety of these, some of them not more than half an inch in either diameter, some sev- eral inches. The scraper, once known, is easily recognized ; for it has a pecu- liarly beveled edge, very abrupt, with the bevel all on one side, and in many specimens it is worn by use and presents a rounded, polished border. The most common form is oval, but several others are not infrequently found. Some of them are simply flakes, used as they flew from the mass from which they were struck ; others are finely re-chipped.

We have seen that the art of drilling stone was well known to the aborigines, and of course they must have had drills. In making holes several inches long, such as we find in some of the pipes and banner-stones, stone drills would not have served the purpose, and we find striæ, which show that these were made either by means of a reed or stick with sand; but holes, such as those found in

HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

the gorgets, were evidently made by a different sort of drill, and this we find. among our chipped specimens; a slender, pointed instrument, the end often worn smooth with perhaps a T-shaped handle. Some of the drills were shaped like arrow-points, but the rounded and worn point reveals their true character. Clumsy and coarsely made drills are common, but many are very nicely made and must have been very serviceable articles, although they are brittle and easily broken ; and this often happened, for broken drills are more common than entire ones everywhere. Most of the drills are only an inch or so long, but now and then we find one which is three or four inches and not more than half an inch wide. Knives including all forms were very commonly used in an- cient as well as in modern times, but the form of the old stone knife is often very unlike that of the modern steel blade. There is no doubt that very many specimens which are called spear-points because of their form, were really knives ; indeed, the spear-point or lance-head and knife may often have been made in the same way and be indistinguishable. The edge of the stone knife. was often not only along one side, but about the entire margin, and especially across the end away from the handle, as is the stone knife of some modern savage tribes. Some of the stone knives were attached to handles, many were not. The more common forms are oval, oblong, triangular, crescentic, leaf-shaped, circular, and almost any form may be found among these tools. Some are rude, mere flakes of quartz or hornstone, wholly unwrought, others are very carefully made ; some are several inches long, some are not more than one; the edge is not always very keen, but specimens are found which could in lack of anything better, be made quite serviceable even by a white man. Here, as everywhere, in our judgment of savages and their arts we must be careful not to decide upon the utility of any implement by trying it ourselves, and if useless in our unskilled hands, condemning it as of necessity useless in any hands. There is no doubt at all that the hard stone knives were exceed- ingly serviceable in hands that had learned how to use them. We find that sav- ages sometimes prefer their stone implements to those of steel and iron which the white trader carries to them. This is not a common experience, but it has. happened more than once. An African traveler tells us that a tribe among whom he journeyed cut up a rhinoceros more neatly and quickly with their stone knives than his men could with their steel knives. And some of the northwest coast tribes of America could hollow their canoes with the shell and stone adzes to which they had long been accustomed, better than with those of English steel. While no one would think of denying the obvious fact that iron and steel are much better than shell and stone for the manufacture of tools, yet it has sometimes happened that the iron in the hands of the savage was less to- his liking than the long-used stone, and that not from mere prejudice ; but be- cause actually less efficient. The knives as a class are of less beautiful material than the spear-points, although, as has been pointed out, it is probably not pos-

75.

INDIAN OCCUPATION AND RELICS.

sible to distinguish between them in all cases, and on that account we cannot speak with entire certainty concerning either. Some of the spear and lance- points are made from milky or smoky quartz, others from yellow or red jasper or other handsome material; and these are very attractive specimens and really ornamental in themselves, aside from the interest which the archaeologist feels in them. Some of our finest spear-points are among the largest, and may well have been used not merely as weapons, but as ornaments, in the ceremonies of which the early occupants of this country were so fond. That the Indians used large spear-points we know from trustworthy testimony. Our largest specimens are six or seven inches long and of variable width, some being very narrow and slender, others wide at the base. This base is sometimes cut off abruptly, some- times prolonged in a stem or haft, and this latter is the usual form. Some are barbed, though this feature is not common, and still less commonly do we find the base notched once or twice on each side. Some of the spear-points are very thin, others thick and strong. It has been suggested that some of these were used as fishing-spears, some for hunting and some for war-spears; but, while it is quite likely that all of these kinds were used, yet we have not I think any suffi- cient basis for a classification of this sort, and, doubtless, if an Indian on the war- path saw occasion his battle-spear went whizzing after a deer or splashing after a large fish. As it is not always possible to separate the spear-points from the knives, so it is also impossible to draw the line between spear-points and arrow- points. So far as all modern observations go the arrow-point was always small, that is, half an inch or at most an inch long; and it is altogether probable that ancient archers used no heavier bows nor larger arrows than modern. On this account I am always inclined to doubt the accuracy of a classification which in- cludes among arrow-points anything more than an inch long, unless it be an exceptionally light and slender specimen. Peter Kalm, Travels in North Amer- ica, London, 1771, says: " At the end of their arrows they fasten narrow, an- gulated pieces of stone; these points were commonly flints or quartzes, but sometimes likewise another kind of stone. Some employed the bones of ani- mals or claws of birds and beasts. Some of these ancient harpoons are very blunt and it seems that Indians might kill birds and small quadrupeds with them, but whether they could enter deep into the body of a great beast or of man by the velocity they get from the bow, I cannot ascertain ; yet some have been found very sharp and well made." Probably the blunt points, and they are found everywhere, were used to kill or at least stun by the force of impact, and could be used only in hunting birds or small animals; but we know that modern savages are able to give tremendous force to a well-pointed arrow and there is no reason to doubt its power in the hands of their ancestors.

In discussing our arrow-points we are embarrassed by the great number and variety of the specimens, and it is wholly impossible to convey any satis- factory idea by verbal description merely. Only as one looks over a large col-

HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

lection can he gain an adequate conception of the great diversity in form, fin- ish and material which is found among our arrow-points. Many persons have wondered how it was possible for the Indians to make so slender and fragile points, as some of our specimens are, from so hard and brittle material. We guard our finest treasures as if they were made of glass, in danger of destruc- tion from any slight fall, or at least of losing their sharp point and narrow barb. The perplexity arises from a wrong idea as to the method followed by the ancient arrow-makers. While very probably any Indian in need of a spear or arrow would be able to chip from a bit of quartz something which would answer his immediate need, the finer points were made by expert workmen, and the arrow-maker was an important man in many tribes when the first set- tlers reached the country, and undoubtedly had been for a long time. Prob- ably not only arrow-points, but knives, drills, scrapers, and all the smaller chipped or flaked implements were made in much the same manner, and in ancient, as in modern times, the first large flakes were struck from a mass of quartz or flint by sharp, quick blows, or very likely the larger mass was heated and then plunged into water, and thus shattered. After this the process was carried on, not by blows, but by a steady, even pressure against the edge of the piece that was to be an arrow-point. Mr. Paul Schumacher, in one of the Bulletins of the United States Geological Survey, describes this in an account of a visit to the Klamath Indians, when he met the last arrow-maker of the tribe, and saw him at his work. After reducing a block of stone to flakes, these were sorted according to size : one was then chosen, wrapped in buckskin, and held in the palm of the left hand. In the right was a stick about eighteen inches long, like the shaft of an arrow. To the end of this was fastened a blunt, somewhat curved point, brought to a sharp edge on one side, made of the tooth of a sea lion, a bit of elk horn, or some other hard, tough material. The buckskin covering the flake is removed from the edge to be worked, and chip after chip is broken by a firm, steady pressure now in one direction, now in another. The first chips are largest, then as the work approaches comple- tion, finer and finer chips are removed. The barbs and points are finished by the use of a bone needle, in the same manner as the larger implement. The worker begins at the point and chips from that towards the base. Other tribes made their points in a somewhat different manner, though the difference is in the minor details of the process, rather than in its general principles. As a whole our arrow-points are larger than those found in many localities, espe- cially those of the Pacific coast. We rarely find a point less than half an inch long, and very few so small as this. The most common form is a simple tri- angle, without stem or barbs, and very probably this was the original form of the arrow and spear-point the world over, for it seems that which primitive man would most naturally hit upon ; and from this all the other forms could have been gradually developed, until the graceful and effective sharp-pointed and

INDIAN OCCUPATION AND RELICS.

barbed specimens that adorn our collections were attainable. Between the simple, straight-edged point, and the most elaborate, with stem and barbs, we find in this county all grades. Some are of translucent quartz, others of pure white quartz, and very handsome they are, though for some reason, best known to the makers, these beautiful materials were not commonly used. Still more rare and very pretty are points made of smoky quartz. Variously hued and veined jasper was also used ; some of it was probably obtained from the West, where it occurs, as it does not in this State except very rarely, in the boulder drift. Different localities are characterized by a predominance of specimens of a certain form which is, perhaps, very rare elsewhere. For example, over a few acres of meadow or upland most of the points found are broad, thin, and well formed ; in another field they are more clumsily made, narrow and thick ; here many barbed and stemmed points are found, there these are rare, though oth- ers are common. These localities may not be very near each other, but they are all to be found within the limits of the county. There are also other lo- calities where all sorts of points are found, with no single or few forms notice- ably common.

During the last ten years the western portion of Vermont, especially that portion of it included in Chittenden and Franklin counties, has been much more diligently and systematically studied than has any other part of the State before, and as a result we have a much more complete knowledge of the arch- æology of this region than has been possible heretofore. The more thoroughly this county has been searched, the more abundant and varied have the objects discovered proved, and the more complete and interesting the story which they tell. Had there been enthusiastic collectors who recognized the value of the stone implements which were from time to time picked up, only to be thrown away as worthless, a hundred years or more ago, a very large amount of most valuable material would have been preserved, which, through ignorance and thoughtlessness, has been wholly lost. One of the sorest trials which the col- lector meets is the oft-repeated and detailed account of this or that specimen which would have been of great value to him, but which has been lost or act- ually thrown away by the inappreciative finder. Were all, or a part, of this lost material at hand, the ancient history of this county might be more satis- factorily written. Without doubt new specimens, many of them, will yet be found ; our soil is proving much less barren in these things than has been sup- posed, and it may contain unexpected treasures for the reward of the diligent searcher. Every forest-covered hillside, every turfy meadow, even the sand- banks and barren plains of our county, may conceal beneath their surface much that we would very gladly have, and some of which we shall have sooner or later. Any chance thrust of the spade, or furrow turned by the plow, any wind-swept sand-ridge or freshet-washed ravine, may add something impor- tant to our ancient history, something which we shall be glad to read ; neverthe-

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 8

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054