570 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1918. 



The adz in Egypt was at first a straight long blade of copper 

 with parallel sides (fig. 27). Later it developed a rounded head-end 

 (fig. 28), with contracted neck (fig. 29) to aid in binding it on a 

 handle. Neither of these was copied in any other country. 



The chisel was at first sharp at both ends, and held by the middle 

 (fig. 30). Later there is a deep mortising chisel with an equal curve 

 of each face (fig. 31). Neither of these Egyptian forms appears 

 anywhere else. 



The dagger, from prehistoric times onward in Egypt, had a 

 crescent handle held in the palm of the hand (fig. 32) , so as to use the 

 weight of the arm end-on for a thrust; whereas the European dagger 

 was always held as a knife, across the hand. The Egyptian ornament 

 was by parallel ribs along the axis (fig. 33) ; in all other countries the 

 ornament is by lines parallel to sloping edges. Some forms are 

 entirely restricted to Egypt, as the cutting-out knife (fig. 34) with 

 a curved blade for cutting linen, the forked spear butt (fig. 35), and, 

 in Roman times, the shears with detachable leg (fig. 36) and the 

 sickle with replaceable teeth (fig. 8). 



Here, then, are 17 tools and weapons, mostly of general impor- 

 tance and use in Egypt, which were none of them required by the 

 neighboring lands, where there must have been some useful equiva- 

 lents. 



The converse is equally true ; many forms were used around Egypt 

 which never were adopted there. In Cyprus and other lands the 

 earliest axes are of a pillowy form (fig. 15), with bulging faces. In 

 Europe the double ax (fig. 16) was not only a tool and a weapon, but 

 also a sacred symbol and a standard weight. In Mesopotamia the 

 sloping socketed ax was usual (fig. 17), in Assyria the pickax (fig. 

 18). Not one of these was made by any Egyptian, and only two 

 such were rarely brought in by Greeks in late times. 



The principle of sockets for handles was well developed in Italy 

 and spread elsewhere, for axes, hammers, and chisels, yet no Egyp- 

 tian would make a socketed tool, and the only ones in Egypt were 

 brought in by Greeks. The use of hammered sides to a blade, to 

 form a flange for stiffening it, was of early date in Syria, and general 

 in the north. Yet it is rare, and probably foreign, in Egypt, and 

 unknown in the Mediterranean. The girdle knife (fig. 19) is common 

 in the West and in Asia ; the flamboyant-blade hunting knife (fig. 14) 

 was usual in Italy, and spread into the North; the sword was the 

 staple weapon in the North. Yet none of these were adopted by 

 Egypt, and very few swords have been found there, nearly all for- 

 eign. In all these cases Egypt did not require a loan from the 

 other lands. 



This sharp separation between countries endured for thousands of 

 years, while they were trading in food, materials, and manufacture 

 continually. We can only conclude that each country already had, 

 in these respects, what best suited it. 



