Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Excerpt from The Wisconsin Archeologist, Vol. 20
A general summary of some of the more important of the discoveries relating to our field may prove interesting, and serve to emphasize the broad scope of problems which other wise might be interpreted as purely local.
During the past two years, research in western New York, primarily by the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sci emees, has resulted in the identification of a new prehistoric culture manifestation to which the name Laurentian has been applied. The complex of traits for this manifestation includes: relatively crude points, knives and scrapers of chipped stone; slate and bone implements, many of them extraordinarily Eskimoid in character; no pottery; and copper implements practically identical to the heavy, utili tarian variety so well known for a western area centering in Wisconsin.
There is stratigraphical evidence to show that the Laurentian represents the culture of a very early group of Indians in the Northeastern area, probably as early as any known cultural group there, and apparently preceding the introduction of pottery into that region.
In Wisconsin we have not been able satisfactorily to de termine any cultural association for our utilitarian copper industry, responsible for the considerable variety of massive, chemically eroded projectile points, knives, adzes, gouges, bars and socketed spuds, but it is significant that this variety of implements includes such Eskimoid types as the ulu or curved chopping knife, the unilaterally multi-barbed harpoon and bird-dart points, and bevelled projectile points. We are not prepared to say that the Wisconsin specimens represent the same culture manifestation or are contempo rameous with the Laurentian materials in New York, but it would be illogical to disregard the strong indications of cul tural relationship between the two. The exact nature of this relationship remains to be determined.
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