. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 412 ETHNOLOGY. Cut on a recent visit to tlie Pawnee reservation on Loup Fork I discovered tlio remains of an old Pawnee village, apparently of greater antiquity than the others, and the only one about which any stone implements have as yet been found. On and around the site of every cabin of this village I found an abund- ance of broken arrow-heads, chipped flints, some of which must have been brought from a great distance, and a variety of
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 412 ETHNOLOGY. Cut on a recent visit to tlie Pawnee reservation on Loup Fork I discovered tlio remains of an old Pawnee village, apparently of greater antiquity than the others, and the only one about which any stone implements have as yet been found. On and around the site of every cabin of this village I found an abund- ance of broken arrow-heads, chipped flints, some of which must have been brought from a great distance, and a variety of small stones, which had been used as hammers, chissels, &c. I have gathered about half a bushel of the fragments of pottery, aiTow-heads, and chipped flints, some of which I hope to place in the museum of the Smithsonian next winter. No Pawnee Indian now living knows of the time when this village was inhal)ited. Thirty j'cars ago an old chief told a missionary that his tribe dwelt there before his birth, but he knew nothing of the use of the stone arrowheads, though, he said, his people used them before the introduction of iron. This discovery is interesting, as it is the first tribe that I have ever been able to find connecting the stone age with the persons in the Missouri valley, I have asked the most intelligent Indians of more than 20 tribes in the valley how far back in the past tlie Indians used stone arrow points, and I have received but one answer. They would point toward heaven and sa}', '' The Great Spirit only knows. We do ; At Pine Bluff's, on Cole creek, a branch of the Platte, and on the line of the Union Pacific railroad, there are large quantities of chipped flints and arrow- heads, showing that in former times they wrought them at this locality. Mr. S. B. Reed, superintendent of construction Union Pacific railroad, found specimens of pottery abundant, arrow points, and chipped flints on the plains near the Humlwldt mountains. The pottery was made
Size: 1295px × 1928px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithsonianinstitutio, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840