DRILLING m STONE WITHOUT METAL. 



BY CHARLES KAU. 



Some archsBologists, among tliem Sir John Lubbock, incline to the opinion 

 that the perforated stone axes and lianimers which have been found in Europe 

 arc to be referred to^tlie beginning of the bronze period. ]\Iany of those imple- 

 ments doubtless belong to the age of bronze ; they have frequently been discov- 

 ered in connection witli bronze articles in ancient graves, and it is, moreover, 

 well known that the manufacture and use of stone weapons and implements were 

 everywhere continued for a long time after the introduction of bronze. These 

 facts, however, furnish no evidence for ascribing pierced stone implements gene- 

 rally to the period in which the use of bronze was already known ; in many cases, 

 on the contrar}^, it may be inferred from the nature of their finding-places, as well 

 as from the character of their perforations, that they belong to the stone age 

 proper. In the illustrated catalogue of the collection in the Copenhagen museum, 

 edited by Mr. J. J. A. Worsaae,* there are eleven representations of pierced 

 stone implements attributed to the age of stone, and the foremost objects, 

 figured to illustrate the bronze period, consist of seven perforated stone axes, 

 distinguished by elegant shape and superior workmanship. Though I am not 

 acquainted with the particular circumstances of the discover^' of these implements, 

 I have not the least doubt that the learned editor of the catalogue, in referring 

 them respectively to the ages of stone and bronze, based his classification on 

 cenable grounds. 



A number of those lacustrian pile-works, which pertain exclusively to the stone 

 age, have yielded stone axes and hammers, as, for instance, the station of Nuss- 

 dorf, on the Lake of IJ eberlingen, (an arm of the Lake of Constance) where no less 

 than fifty have been found. Mr. Desor, on whom I rely for these facts, also mentions 

 that in another lacustrian station of the stone age the articles in question are con- 

 fined to the upper part of the " archaeological stratum," that is, the stratum which 

 contains relics of art. Pierced implements, therefore, would seem to belong, in 

 those localities at least, to a later epoch of the stone age, and thus to mark a 

 phase of progress in the gradual development of human skill during that period. t 



After a careful examination and ovmparison of the shaft-holes of European 

 stqne implements, I have arrived at the conclusion that two different methods, 

 or, at least, two differently shaped drills were employed in making them. The 

 more perfect perforations are of equal width, smooth and shining, and exhibit at 

 certain distances circular striae or furrows, which have the appearance of a suc- 

 cession of parallel rings. These perforations, I think, have been drilled with a 

 hollow cylinder, perhaps a bronze tube, and I believe that the implements pierced 

 in the manner described were n)0stly manufactured during the age of bronze. 

 They are, moreover, very aften remarkable for elegance of outline and high 

 ■finish, indicating a state of art superior to that which is generally supposed to 

 have existed in Europe during the period of stone. In other specimens the 



* Worsaae, Nordiske Oldsat^er i det Kongelirre Museum i Kjobenhavn, 1859. 

 t Desor, Palafittes, or Lacustrian Coustructions of the Lake of Neuchatel ; Smithsonian 

 Eeport tor 1865, p. 359, (note.) 



