1864.] ^Ql^ [Peale. 



COMMUNICATION ON AN ANTIQUE STONE HAND- 

 HAMMER. By F. Peale.* 



In a late worlc, entitled ''Geological Evidences of the Antiquity 

 of Man," by Mr. Lyell, page 184, there is a description, illustrated 

 by a wood-cut, of a cave situated on the side of a hill near Aurignac, 

 department of the Haute Garonne, France; with a description of the 

 bones of various animals found therein, associated with the works of 

 man, as well as remains of his osseous structure. 



Among the articles was one thus described by him : " Outside the 

 entrance was found a stone of a circular form, flattened on two sides, 

 with a central depression, composed of a tough rock, which does not 

 belong to that region of the Pyrenees. This instrument is supposed 

 by the Danish antiquarians to have been used for removing by skil- 

 ful blows the edges of flint knives, the fingers and thumb being placed 

 in the opposite depressions during the operation." 



A similar instrument was lately added by myself to the cabinet of 

 the Society as a ^'■hand-hammer^ (a drawing of which accompanies 

 this communication). See Plate vii, Fig. 1. 



This instrument is submitted to the personal inspection of the 

 members. It will be observed that its entire correspondence with 

 the description by Mr. Lyell of the specimen found near the cave at 

 Aurignac, France, is so perfect, that it might, without explanation or 

 exception, have been applied to the specimen before you, which was 

 found in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. 



This specimen is also interesting from the evidence it exhibits of 

 the process of ^'pecking" (as it was called in a communication made 

 to the Society in June, 1861), to form the cavities for the reception 

 of the thumb on the one side, and the finger on the other. It also 

 bears the mark of its use upon silicious minerals at each extremity; 

 and it may, with little risk of eiTor, be supposed to have been used 

 in fashioning the flint arrow-heads of the Stone Age on the spot where 

 it was found. 



These implements are not rare in this country. A number are con- 

 tained in my cabinet, and many specimens have been sent abroad for 

 foreign exchange ; but, as they present to an unaccustomed eye little 

 difference from an ordinary pebble, it is only lately that they have 

 attracted the attention of collectors; yet the remarks of Mr. Lyell 



* Read April 15, 1864. 

 VOL. IX. oB 



