446 



ON AN ANCIENT IMPLEMENT OF WOOD. 



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Illustratiou No. 1 is a profile view of the implement. ITo. 2 is a view 

 of the end of the head. The entire length is 21 

 inches. Length of the head, 11^ inches; length 

 of handle, 9f inches ; diameter of the head, meas- 

 ured in a plane coincident with the curve of the 

 handle, 5 inches; at right angles to that plane, 5 J 

 inches. In the plane coincident with the curve of 

 the handle the middle of the head is indented and 

 battered at two diametrically opposite places, and 

 at those places only, as if by use of the mallet in 

 driving some other tool i^resenting a surface for 

 impact of not more than 2 or 3 square inches. The 

 diameter of the head through these battered places 

 is 4 inches.* The average diameter of the handle 

 is one inch and a half. It is noticeable that the 

 handle is not season-cracked in proportion to the 

 head. The prevailing color of the head is a reddish- 

 brown, a tint due, in some measure, to the presence 

 of oxide of iron. The handle has been superficially 

 charred, and is mostly blackened thereby, though 

 the brown wood shows through in places. On the 

 head is no trace of charring. The kind of wood of 

 which the implement is made is doubtful. It is 

 often difficult to identify a wood when the weight 

 and color of the sample are so changed as to afford 

 noindications and the normal hardness is uncertain. 

 In the present instance, the structure of the fiber is 

 the only reliable guide. The texture of the sap-cells, 

 both to the unaided eye and with optical helps, is 

 suggestive of white cedar and of spruce. The fiber 

 of the head is straight and free from knots, except 

 one near the handle. In the handle there are two 

 knots, and the fiber mostly follows the curve of 

 that part. The wood is not now harder than white 

 pine, and probably was a soft wood when new. 



Illustration No. 3 gives some idea of the appear- 

 ance of the locality of the find. It is, however, 

 sketched from recollection only, as the next day Q? 

 after I obtained the relic snow came and prevented ^!^^ 

 farther examination. t On my first visit to the ^ 

 place, and before I found the mallet, or suspected 



* Professor Rau has suggested that the mallet was used for driving stone celts. This 

 18 probable, both from the form and position of the indentations in the mallet and the 

 known character of the material in celts. Any workman who bad expended the labor 

 necessary to make a celt, would hare had the discretion to use a mallet of wood, rather 

 than one of stone, for driving it. Many celts, moreover, are battered at their butt-ende> 



tDown to the present date there has been no time, since the discovery of the imple- 



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