175 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 



Implements of European Neolithic Type. 



However much ^the lance-points found on the Cape Flats may 

 approximate in general appearance and workmanship to similar 

 examples from the Fayoum, there is still the possibility of a doubt 

 as to their not being the work of aborigines, and that doubt is also 

 permissible in the case of the axe with edge ground on both sides 

 which is represented here, observe and reverse (text-fig. 26). 



This example, which belongs to the Grahamstown Museum, was 

 found near that city, and has been figured by Dr. Schonland. It is 

 said to be made of green jasper, and is scored by striae resembling 

 those produced by glacial action. It was found alone. 



Its presence is not easy of explanation. It is the only example of 

 its kind ever recorded, and there is no doubt w^hatever that it has 

 been ground intentionally ; but its shape and technique are so 

 different from the shape and technique of the South African Lithic 

 industry that one hesitates in attributing the execution to a South 

 African aboriginal. And yet some of them knew how to grind 

 a cutting edge, as exemplified by Cut 11 of Fig. 185 in PL XXV., 

 in which the edge is ground on both sides. I know of two similar 

 implements from Knysna, and I have lately received a fourth from 

 another rock shelter containing the same domestic appliances as in 

 Fig. 185, but the edge, although treated in the same manner, is not 

 quite so sharp as in the two specimens mentioned ; all three are flat 

 and thin. 



Mr. A. L. du Toit, of the Cape Geological Survey, examined at my 

 request the stone axe which Dr. Schonland kindly loaned me, and 

 he reports as follows : — 



" The axe is manufactured out of a small, weathered lump of 

 dark-greenish quartzite — the material of which can be matched 

 at many localities on the border of the Karroo. The lump of 

 rock shows on one side the surface which has been exposed 



