l6 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



shaped slabs made of slate were found in a late Bronze Age level at 

 a site at Jarlshof in the Shetlands. Then quantities made from the 

 bones of whales, some of which were notched and some perforated 

 and which were obviously intended to be affixed crosswise to the 

 ends of sticks like an adze, turned up during the excavation of a 

 "wheelhouse" at a place called Foshigarry on the island of North 

 Uist in the Outer Hebrides. Then more were found in the Orkneys. 

 Their purpose remained a mystery until precise analogies were un- 

 earthed on the shores of Hudson's Bay and in West Greenland at 

 the sites of Eskimo settlements. These had wooden shaft-handles still 

 inserted through the holes and bound on with sinews which had 

 been preserved in the frozen earth. Finally, in 1937, it was discov- 

 ered that identical implements were still in use among the Eskimos 

 in Greenland. They proved to be adzes for stripping the blubber off 

 whales! 



Stranded whales were of the greatest value to prehistoric man. 

 Though food can never have been really scarce for these shore 

 dwellers, the northern winters were rigorous, storms undoubtedly 

 prevented fishing, and, as we have seen, domestic animals and agri- 

 culture were unknown, at least in the earlier days. A stranded whale 

 would thus provide a heaven-sent bounty to a Stone Age man. The 

 oil would provide light and probably heat. "Blubber crackling" and 

 the bones make excellent fuel, burning furiously and giving off much 

 heat, and they were doubtless used for this purpose. Houses and 

 perhaps boats were built with the ribs and long bones of the jaw 

 and skull. The meat could be eaten fresh or, in cold weather, stored 

 for the winter; it could also be dried for later consumption. Dried 

 whale meat was used in the Faeroe Islands to feed cattle until quite 

 recently. Other parts of the animal were even more valuable if we 

 can judge by the uses made of them by the Eskimos and other 

 primitive peoples. The skins covering the livers are made into drum 

 heads; the guts are shredded and used as twine for sewing skins; 

 the baleen is carved or softened in hot water and shaped into a great 

 number of useful things. Sinews from the tail flukes were doubtless 

 used then as they are today to bind stone and bone weapons and 

 tools to shafts. In fact, whales must have been taken apart completely 

 and every bit of them used by prehistoric man, and it is therefore 

 surprising that we find any remains at all of those that were stranded 



