. ? % * ' -
8 'Cbc Conservative *
CHIPPED FLINTS AND IMPLEMENTS
FOUND AT THE ROCA INDIAN
VILLAGE SITE.
The whole state of Nebraska is one
veritable field of arclucology. From
the chert beds of northeastern Kan
sas , so graphically described and so
thoroughly explored by Hon. J. V.
Brewer , to the great mounds along the
Missouri , is one continuous bed of chip
ped flints , stone axes and pottery shards.
After every summer rain the farmer
boy gathers his harvest of flints to throw
at the birds or to destroy in some man
ner which a boy only knows the inward
ness of ; at least many thousands of
valuable specimens are lost to the realms
of science in this way every year. And
what wonder when not one out of a
thousand knows the manner of making
their find available even if they appre
ciated the value of the find , which they
do not. You find stone axes of exquisite
workmanship adorning piles of cobble
stones by the roadside. You see arrow
heads , perfect in their every outline ,
used for playthings by the youthful
progeny of toiling husbandmen possi
bly an embryo ethnologist , who knows ?
This condition should not exist ; every
citizen should know a valuable specimen
and farther , should know how its value
could be added to the sum total of exist
ing evidence , and the many questions
now puzzling scientists would soon be
definitely answered.
Nebraska Flints.
In describing the flints taken from the
Roca site , I might well caption the
article "Nebraska flints" as the variety
covers nearly the whole range of flint
implements found in the state ; in fact
we might almost say the variety found
in any ancient village site covers the
variety found in the basin of the Missouri
river. So extensive an area covered as
it is by some fifteen or twenty varieties
of flints is in its self a startling proposi
tion. Shall we suppose then that but
one stock or stem of the human race-tree
has shadowed this particular part of the
earth ? How shall we account then for
an expression from the pen of Professor
Petrie , the renowned Egyptologist , when
he says that flint implements , no matter
from where they come nor by whom
found , so nearly resemble each other
that it shows unmistakably a common
origin for the art of making them. So
need wo wonder tliat the specimens
found scattered over the whole broad
area of this one little state are so
similar ?
Of course , they are all Neolithic , the
archaeology of this state has not yet been
developed beyond the surface stage anc
has been handled by amateurs almosl
exclusively , and we can scarcely expect
untrained hands to bring to light the
older types , even if they exist which is
exceedingly doubtful.
The flint of which these arrow-heads
are made is not a native of this state.
Many of the chips , so numerous in the
Roca site are certainly from the chert
beds described by Mr. Brewer ; ho has
this to say in reference to the chert beds ,
in his memoir "Quivira : "
"The remarkable deposit of bluish-
gray flint found in the neighborhood of
lie village described , and from which
nearly all the chipped inplemeuts of the
region were made , is abundant in places
east of the Dakota formation of this
region , which borders the surface limit
of the permo-carboniferous lime-stone
and chert , not farther west than Linds-
jorg and Salina , situated on the Smoky
Hill river. That fact was a perpetual
invitation intensely attractive to the
mrbarians who depended upon chipped
implements for the arms of the chase ,
the weapons of war and as a necessity
.n peace , and the supply , conveniently
available about the fertile region of the
upper course of the Kansas river , must
lave characterized the locality as so
very desirable , and its location was
known so far abroad , that contending
tribes fought for its possession , with
aerds of buffalo , fruitful valleys and
quarries of flint , the prizes for which
the savage man staked his life. "
Quite one-half of the arrow-points and
flint knives found at this Roca site are
undoubtedly from the above described
deposit , nearly all the spalls and bits
found strewn so thickly about the lodge
circles are of the same material. The
presence of these spalls on the ground
indicates one of two conditions ; either
the inhabitants of this village site
brought the blocks of flint thither and
made their weapons with their own
hands or they carried innumerable
quantities of spalls hero for some pur
pose. One would expect to find pieces
of flint large enough to form an average
arrow-head if the former condition
existed ; but this is not the case. Among
the thousands of spalls not one can be
selected that would make a respectable
arrow-point or knife , although each
piece has invariably a very thin sharp
edge and seems to have been selected on
this account. Some of the larger pieces
show signs of having been again chipped
to give a better cutting edge and not a
few show marks of a whetstone as
though they have been rubbed on some
hard substance to enhance their cutting
powers.
Flint Brought From a Distance.
From the above observations one is
led to the conclusion that the flint was
not worked into arrow-points on the
ground , but the implements were broughl
from a distance after they were ohippec
into form ; that these innumerable spalls
were also brought here after they had
been chipped from the original blocks
and were selected on account of their
cutting edge being well developed. But
there is one evidence which seems to
udicate that the inhabitants of this
village know how to chip flint for them
selves ; this consists in one perfect
mplement which I found not made of
lint but from a sliver of a red boulder ,
which is quite common in the glacial
deposit that covers this part of the state.
Chis implement has a rounding point
chipped to a nice cutting edge. It is
two inches long by one and a quarter
wide and is a very creditable piece of
work. It was doubtless made from one
of the rectangular , broken boulders re-
'erred to in a prior article , as the material
s in every way similar to them. Of
course this may have been made else
where , but there are quantities of chips
of this material in many of the ledge
circles and this leads one to believe they
were made on the ground. I also found
jieces of the same material which showed
unmistakable signs of work but had
never been chipped to a recognizable
: orm.
Of the specimens not brought from
; he Kansas chert beds there is quite a
variety ; a clouded pink or flesh color
and white specimen was found ; I have
not been able to trace this to its original
home but it is a common material for
arrow-points in Illinois. The substance
is very opaque , resembling very white
celluloid in color and the pink clouds
are beautiful in their shading. This
flint is lighter in weight than the chert
of Kansas but the workmanship on the
specimens found does not seem so good.
The points are rounded like the point of
an apple leaf while the Kansas specimens
are pointed more like a willow leaf. In
time I may be able to trace this kind of
flint to the original quarry ; now it
seems from the data at hand to belong
east of here.
The pure white glassy-looking speci
mens are common in Iowa and Missouri ;
the implements made from , this substance
seem to be brittle as nearly every speci
men is broken in some way , frequently
only the point is found.
Another substance , which enters into
the composition of the arrow-points
found , is a greyish white material , very
hard and very tough ; it has spots about
the size of a pin-head which have every
resemblance to a fossil ; the groundwork
which contains these curious fossil-like
deposits is semi-opaque and also contains
little threads running in all directions
through it. It resembles very much the
substance usually called "moss agate , "
but if I understand it aright , is not the
same. A bed of similar deposit is found
along the Kansas-Nebraska line west of
the center. The deposit crowns the
bluffs in many places , is an unstratified
mass about a foot thick and may bo a
volcanic lava of some kind. I observed
it there a number of years ago but have
never seen a treatise on the subject. I j
have lost my specimen taken at that
time but if my memory serves me right
one class of material used for arrow-