40 Annals of the So7ith African Museum. 



to have been the case at Nooitgedacht ; and thus all these imple- 

 ments, large or small, would be found lying pell-mell. 



Implements other than Flakes or ScRAPER-iiNiVES. 



In South Africa, however, we have now proofs that the lithic 

 industry was not confined solely to the production of digging or 

 cleaving tools and their accessories, the flakes that ultimately 

 became scraper-knives. 



In these deposits or " stat ons " one meets occasionally with 

 flaked stones facetted in the manner of Figs 78 and 79, PI XI. 

 These might at first sight be taken for nuclei from which short, 

 narrow flakes had been detached by percussion in the manner of 

 Fig. 139, PL XVIII., in which case the makers knew already how to 

 utilise the " pigmy " tools as burins, or ostrich egg-shell beads parers, 

 perhaps also for heading arrows. But the character of the Table 

 Mountain sandstone, or other quartzite rock of which these pseudo 

 nuclei consist, precludes the possibility of these splinters having been 

 used for that purpose ; the texture is not sufficiently fine-grained or 

 compact for obtaining a very sharp edge, nor would it be resistant 

 enough. These stones might, on the other hand, be taken for 

 small hammers used for retouching or retrimming, but there is no 

 sign of secondary trimming of the kind that could be produced by 

 them on the implements with which these nuclei-like artefacts are 

 associated, and, moreover, the edges of the fractures are always 

 extremely sharp, which would not be possible had these come into 

 forcible contact with another stone of the same material as them- 

 selves. Most likely these stones were missiles for hand-throwing, 

 and possibly, also, sling stones. 



They vary in size, but none is as large as the detaching hammers 

 which they resemble except for their irregularly polygonal shape. 

 The evolution of the hand-throwing stone into the sling-stone is 

 easily conceivable ; both were intended as missiles, primarily for 

 defence, and probably at a later stage for attack. 



In addition to these polygonal or core-like implements, plainly 

 artefacts, there have been found, especially in the south-western 

 deposits of the Cape, but also in Vereeniging, Prieska, and the 

 "dry diggings'' of the Vaal Eiver, rounded, seemingly water- 

 worn pebbles, which one hesitates to say are artefacts, whereas 

 in others the doubt is not possible. These latter have one or 

 more smooth, flat, or slightly convex facets, the abraded planes 

 of which, when the stone is multi-facetted, never correspond with 

 those of another (Figs. 80 to 83, PI. XI.). These facets are, 



