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CHAPTER III. Stone Artifacts, Celts, Adzes, and Axes. Flint Artifacts. As far as the \Vest Indies are concerned, MASON has rejected the division into palaeolithic and neolithic ages. But when MASON published his monographs on the Latimer collection from Puerto Rico and the Guesde collection from Guadelope not a single object was known from the Antilles that cannot be ascribed to the culture of the Island-Arawaks. Later the Siboneyan finds on Cuba were made. The culture of the primitive people emigrating from Florida, we may characterize as palaeolithic. As to their lithic implements, stone axes are altogether missing, and the art of flint chipping shows only very early and simple methods. Grinding is unknown and pottery missing. The Island-Arawaks who came from South America originally only knew the art of grinding, which can be observed in their principal stone implement, the petaloid celt. Considering the fact that the Island-Arawaks, as far as we know, when migrating from the continent to the islands brought with them pottery, it seems correct to call their culture neolithic. In great part of the tropical lowlands of South America, chipping does not occur and chipped implements are replaced by those of some other material. Here the axes, for the most part made of old eruptive rock, were most frequently the only stone artifact. If the region in question namely the Amazonas, is without stone then the tribes living there must provide themselves with stone axes for clearing by means of trading, and often at great distances, but in I,ower Amazonas from the not far stone working places near the rocks along the tributaries. An abundance of flint is found in Jamaica, it also occurs in Cuba, while on Espanola chert exists oI1 ly in a few localities. But the chipping of flint to standardized types was an art which the Arawaks did not master for the first time after they came to these islands. It is certainly true that stone arrow-heads are found in the northeastern part of South America, in Brit. Guiana as well as on Margarita,l) and also near Lake Tacarigua, in Venezuela.2) Yet we do not know whether they existed there previous to the migration of the Island-Arawaks to the Antilles. \Vithin the area once occupied by the Igneris, only flakes are found. Standardized forms of chipped flint are found only on the Tainan islands lying at a greater distance from South America. Therefore we cannot in any manner find any connection between the flintchipping in the Tainan culture and that of South America. It is very different in the case of the celts produced by the method of grinding. This celt the Tainos must have known previous to their migration from the South American mainland. In the polished stone "axe" (or rather celt), MAX SCHMIDT sees, "a common symbol of the Arawak culture".3) Even where there was no stone, as "in the territory of the ancient Mojos", there were polished celts. Celts. \Ve have every reason to suppose that the continental forefathers of the Is1and-Arawaks were familiar with the polished celt. That the petaloid celt, v;as the type which they originated, cannot yet be proved by the stratification of culture-sequence, but, this is for conclusive reasons evident. Then, at a later period axe types reached the West Indies, through South American influences. For the most part these influences emanated from Colombia. With the limited knowledge that even to-day we have of the archaeology of northeastern South America, it is not possible to indicate the region of the mainland, located near the \Vest 1n1 ) DE Booy. Notes on the Archeology of 211argarita, Heye Found., Vol. II, NO.5, New York 1C)I9, fig. ro, of (juartzite. 2) An arrow- or spear-head from Hejuma, near Valencia, Xational Museum of Copenhagen, 0 D I 97, of schist with a tang 9 l!Z cm. long. ') Die Aruaken, I,eipzig 1917, p. 99. 137 dies, where in early times the petaloid celt was the only one in use. If the petaloid celt was the only axe type that the IslandArawaks knew of to begin with, it does not infer that at the time of their migration to the Antilles tIns type was the only one met with on the mainland of South America, not even in the part to the north of the stoneless Amazonia Region. No doubt the evolution of types to the north and south of this region has...

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