5 io SCIENCE PROGRESS 



the marginal dressing is produced by the removal of chips 

 always struck off in the same direction, as in some neolithic 

 scrapers. 



If we judge the Tasmanian implements by the best examples, 

 we should in fairness extend the same treatment to the plateau 

 " implements." The best of these do indeed show some super- 

 ficial resemblance to the Tasmanian, especially in general form, 

 and this is particularly true of the hollow scrapers. In con- 

 nection with these we may cite the following statement made 

 by Prestwich when speaking of the plateau implements. He 

 says: "A very common form is a scraper in the shape of 

 a crook, sometimes single, sometimes double, such as might 

 have been used for scraping round surfaces like bones or sticks." 

 The part we have placed in italics shows remarkable insight. 



But the comparison is scarcely sustained when we enter into 

 a minute investigation. To begin with, the fundamental form of 

 the plateau "implement" is rarely — so far as I know, never — 

 artificial. On the hypothesis that these fragments were used by 

 man, we must suppose that, to begin with, he simply selected 

 such bits of flints, lying scattered about, as he thought would 

 serve his ends. In the next place, the chipping at the edges, 

 though certainly confined to one side, has not the closeness nor 

 regularity that distinguishes the best Tasmanian scrapers, which, 

 as already remarked, sometimes suggest neolithic rather than 

 palaeolithic workmanship. The confused and clumsy chipping 

 of the plateau " hollow r -scraper " does not produce an efficient 

 edge, and it seems hard to believe that a being with sufficient 

 intelligence to conceive the idea of a spoke-shave should not 

 have succeeded in making a better one. 



Mr. Henry Balfour, one of the first to study Tasmanian 

 implements and to recognise their palaeolithic affinities, regards 

 them as representing a separate cult. At the same time he is 

 willing to admit that, in the doubtful event of the plateau 

 flints proving to be true implements, it is to these rather than 

 to palaeolithic types that he would refer them. The plateau 

 " implement," however, is not the only one of its kind ; there 

 are others of later date, but antecedent to the beginning of 

 the palaeolithic age. These are the Reutelian, Mafflian, and 

 Mesvinian of M. Rutot. The relations of the Mafflian and 

 Mesvinian to the palaeolithic can be plainly seen in the fine 

 section at Helin near Spiennes. The Reutelian occurs else- 



