SINKERS. 59 



Before entering upon a description of lacustrine sinkers, I would draw 

 attention to the fact that only such as are found in settlements of the pure stone 

 age can with certainty be regarded as neolithic, provided they occur under cir- 

 cumstances excluding the possibility of later intrusion. Those from stations 

 pertaining to the ages of stone and bronze may belong to either. It is evident 

 that the transition fi-om stone to bronze would not have changed the character of 

 the sinkers. Indeed, net-weights of stone and clay are even at present in use 

 among uncivilized and civilized peoples. 



Allusion was already made to the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of 

 distinguishing in many instances between siidvers for lines and such as served as 

 net-weightsv Yet European archfeologists mostly refer to net-sinkers only. 



I have no doubt that the originals of Figs. 69 and 70^-= were used as sinkers. 

 They certainly resemble the commonest North American aboriginal net- weights, 

 consisting of water-worn flat pebbles notched on opposite sides, the notches being 

 produced by blows. The originals of Figs. 69 and 70, which are derived from 

 the stone-age station of Allensbach, on the Untersee (Baden), are described as 

 " flat, almost unworked rolled stones, from four to five lines thick and from three 

 and a half to four inches in length, showing no further traces of workmanship 

 than the hollows or furrows at a and i."f It is not even stated whether the 

 indentations are produced by blows or by grinding, and the designs — here faith- 

 fully copied — consist of mere outlines, which fail to indicate the precise character 

 of the specimens. 



The original of Fig, 71, J from the stone and bronze-age station near 

 Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuchatel, is mentioned as one of the stones com- 

 monly called " sling-stones. "§ Yet there are undoubted North American sink- 

 stones of exactly the same form ; and quite similar ones found in Europe, apart 

 from lake-dwellings, are pronounced sinkers by competent archaeologists, as will 

 be shown in the sequel. I would unhesitatingly ascribe that character to the 

 figured specimen. 



A few stone discs or disc-like pebbles, with a central perforation, which may 

 have served as net-sinkers, are figured in Keller's " Lake Dwellings ; " but 

 instead of copying any of his illustrations, I give in Figs. 72 and 73, on the fol- 

 lowing page, designs of originals in the Peabody INIuseum, at Cambridge. Fig. 

 72 is an irregular flat disc of gray sandstone, half an inch in thickness, and 

 exhibiting a rough surface, which latter circumstance renders it difficult to decide 

 whether the stone has been artificially miodificd or not. The hole in the middle 



* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XXIV, Figs. 1 and 4. 



t Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 99. 



X Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate XCVII, Fig. 12. 



§ Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 205. 



