STRANDLOOPER INSTRUMENTS AND ORNAMENTS. 455 



was found at Port Alfred by the Rev. P. Stapleton, S.J. Another, 

 which seems to be the major half of a crescent, came from Port 

 Elizabeth (June, 1896, Mr. Irniger). Lastly, an example with 

 its cutting edge serrated was figured and referred to by Dr. 

 Schonland as "a saw from Bushman land" in "Records of the 

 Albany Museum, " II., p. 18. The locality of this specimen is 

 probably incorrect, and I have good reason for believing that it 

 came from Port Alfred. 



All these implements are made of surface quartzite, which, 

 however, varies considerably in appearance and composition, the 

 Wilton crescents being of fine-grained homogeneous rock, and the 

 Nahoon specimens of much more heterogeneous material, showing 

 patches of translucent quartz. Except as regards the material 

 used, these specimens seem to be identical with crescents described 

 from far distant regions of the old world. Specimens quite like 

 those from Wilton, but made of pure quartz, have been obtained 

 in very great numbers on the hills in Ceylon by Mr. C. Hartley, 1 

 and others made of obsidian are recorded by the same writer from 

 Uganda. Specimens from India are made of jasper and chalce- 

 dony, and those from England and various countries in Europe 

 of flint. In Dechlelette's "Manuel d'Archeologie," pyguiy crescents 

 are also recorded from Syria, Egypt, Tunis and Algiers. 



These and other pygmy implements occur both on cave and 

 surface sites in Europe ; but in France, at least, are specially 

 characteristic of coastal and river-side middens, and were evidently 

 made by people akin to our coastal Strandloopers in their mode 

 of life. At most of these sites there is, however, a somewhat 

 greater variety of form than obtains here. The typical crescents 

 of Europe pass by various grades of intermediates into well-marked 

 triangles: the same occur also in Ceylon and in Algeria, whence 

 indeed rhombic and rectangidar specimens are recorded. 



This pygmy implement culture, known in France as Tardenoi- 

 sian, was formerly regarded as referable to an early stage in the 

 European Neolithic period. There was little direct evidence con- 

 necting them with typical Neolithic cultures, yet occasionally they 

 have been found along with polished neoliths. A more modern 

 view, expressed by Sir Arthur Evans in his presidential address 

 to the British Association in 1916, connects this Tardenoisian 

 with the Azilian period, which is a decadent offshoot of the 

 Magdalenian, and as such, terminates the age of Palaeolithic man. 

 Between the Azilian and the commencement of the true Neolithic 

 period, as represented in the Danish kitchen middens, there was 

 in Denmark at least a considerable interval of time. Thus, accord- 

 ing to either view, the pygmy culture in Europe belongs to some 

 portion of that interval separating the men of the polished stone 

 age from the cavemen of the reindeer age, who, like our Bushmen, 

 decorated the walls of their dwelling places with paintings or 

 engravings of animals. 



In Ceylon, also, the stratigraphical evidence given by Mr. C. 

 Hartley seems to favour a greater antiquity for pygmy implements, 



- Spolia Zeylanica," Vol. X, 1914. 



