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Ch. 15: Aboriginal Lapidarian Work in North America

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CHAPTER XV.
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
Aboriginal Lapidarian Work in North America.
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
T HIS chapter may seem out of place in a treatise on precious and ornamental stones, yet the chipping of an arrow-point, the grinding and polishing of a groove in an axe-head, the drilling of a bead or tube or an ear-ornament, all are done by the application of the same lapidarian methods that are practised to-day by cutters of agates or precious stones. The cutter of to-day, with a hammer, chips into shape the crystal or piece of agate before it is ground ; and there is lit­tle difference between the ancient method of drilling and that of the present. The stone bead of ancient time was drilled from both ends, the drill holes often overlapping, or not meeting as neatly as by the modern method of drilling from one end.
The old way of drilling is still practised in the East, where the primitive bow-drill is used by lapidaries to-day precisely as it has been used by savage tribes in all quarters of the globe, though producing at different periods different qualities of work. No­where was its use better understood than in ancient Greece and Rome, where by its means were engraved the wonderful intaglios and cameos which now grace our museums, and which have never been surpassed in any period of the world's history. For the spe­cial use of gem engraving, the bow-drill has been replaced by a horizontal lathe, which, however, does not allow the freedom of
 
 

 
 
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Ch. 14: Mexico and Central America Page of 364 Ch. 15: Aboriginal Lapidarian Work in North America
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