Note 300 — DEMOTIC CHARACTERS (continued 3)

Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1898, pp. 42-43. The long extant and well-known classification of stone artifacts as “paleolithic” and “neolithic” may not be overlooked. This classification was based originally on prehistoric relics of Europe, and it served excellent purpose in distinguishing finely finished stone implements from those of rudely chipped stone; but both classes of artifacts were shaped in accordance with preconceived design, and hence both belong to the technolithic class as herein defined. It may be added that the classification was made with little if any reference to primitive thought, was not based on observation among primitive peoples, and has not been found to apply usefully to the aborigines and aboriginal artifacts of America, where the representative tribe or prehistoric village site is characterized by implements of both “paleolithic” and “neolithic” types which intergrade in such manner as to prove contemporaneous manufacture and interchangeable use; while the preponderance of polished-stone implements is generally indicative of simpler rather than of more advanced culture.