Primitive man in Ohio / by Warren K. Moorehead.

  • Warren K. Moorehead
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Primitive man in Ohio / by Warren K. Moorehead. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/290 page 30
    CHAPTER IV. FLINT RIDGE. Aboriginal man was a practical litliologist. Un- acquainted with any method of reducing ores, he was unable to avail himself of the harder metals, and consequently was compelled to utilize some form of stone in the manufacture of implements intended for ordinary use. The glacial drift, covering three- fourths of the State, furnished an abundance of ma- terial for axes, pestles, celts, and other utensils required for rough work ; but, while quartzite, syen- ite, and diorite are well adapted for making any tool or weapon which must be both hard and tough, they are unsuitable for use when a keen cutting edge is necessary. For the latter purpose nothing else at the command of the ancient artificer was so suitable as the different varieties of chalcedony. Obsidian and the various forms of agate, so plen- tifully at the command of Indians in the extreme west, could not be obtained by the prehistoric in- habitants of the Ohio valley, who were therefore forced to adopt the flint, hornstoue, chert, and chal- cedony found nearer home. These occur in quantity from central Ohio eastward, generally imbedded in limestone, but sometimes replacing that rock to a
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3