PHYSICAL EIIINOLOGY. 295 



the purpose of tlio.sc who are seeking for indications of man's presence in such 

 localities at a period separated by vast ages from tlie earliest beginnings of 

 history, that, "though closely resembling the flakes of flint which have been 

 considered as affording evidence of man's existence when found in ossiferous 

 caverns, this class is not of much importance in the inquiry, because, granting 

 them to be of human work, there is little hy ivhic.h to (Ustingulsh them from 

 similar implements of more recent dateT Of the artificial origin and peculiar 

 characteristics of the two other classes of implements no such doubt can be 

 entertained, and Mr. Evans accordingly proceeds to remark : " The case is dif- 

 ferent with the implements of the second class, those analogous in form to spear 

 or lance heads. Of these there are two varieties : the one with a rounded cut- 

 ting point, its general outline presenting a sort of parabolic curve,* the other 

 acutely pointed, with the sides curved slightly inward.t These have received 

 from the workmen of St. Acheul the name of 'lavgues de chat,' from their 

 fancied resemblance to a cat's tongue. The sides of both kinds are brought to 

 an edge by chipping, but are not so sharp as the point, and altogether these 

 weapons seem better adapted for piercing than for cutting. In length they vary 

 from about four inches to eight, or even nine inches. Both shapes are generally 

 more convex on one side than on the other, the convexity in some cases almost 

 amounting to a ridge. They are usually truncated at the base, and not unfre- 

 quently at that end show a portion of the original surface of the flint ; in some 

 specimens the butt end is left very thick, as if to add impetus to any blow given 

 with the implement. The remarkable feature about them is their being adapted 

 only to cut or pierce at the pointed end, whereas in the ordinary form of stone 

 hatchet or celt the cutting edge is almost without exception at the broad end, 

 while the more pointed end seems intended for insertion into the handle or 

 socket and the sides are generally roxuided or flat, and not sharp. 



" These spear-shaped weapons from the drift are, on the contrary, not at all 

 adapted for insertion into a socket, but are better calculated to be tied to a shaft 

 or handle, with a stop or bracket behind their truncated end. IMany of them, 

 indeed, seem to have been intended for use without any handle at all, the 

 rounded end of the flints from Avhich they were formed having been left un- 

 chipped, and presenting a sort of natural handle. It is nearly useless to speculate 

 on the purposes to which they were applied, but, attached to poles, they would 

 prove formidable weapons for encounter with man, or the larger animals, eithor 

 in close conflict or thrown from a distance as darts. 



" It has been suggested by ]\I. de Perthes that some of them may have been 

 used merely as wedges for splitting Avood, or, again, they may have been em- 

 ployed in grubbing for esculent roots, or tilling the ground, assuming that the 

 race who formed them was sufficiently advanced in civilization. This murJi, 1 

 think, rnaij he said of them toiih certainty, that thcij arc not analogous in form 

 icitli any of the ordinary implements of the so-called Sto?/e Period. 



"The same remark holds good with regard to the third class into Avhich I 

 have divided these implements, viz., thoss with a cutting edge all round. | In 

 general contour they are usually oval, with one end more sharply curved than 

 the other, and occasionally coming to a sharp point, but there is a considerable 

 variety in their form, arising probably from defects in the flints from which they 

 were shaped ; the ruling idea is, however, that of the oval, more or less pointetl. 

 They are generally almost equally convex on the two sides, and in length vary 

 from two to eight or nine inches, though, for the most part, only about four or 

 five inches long. The implements of this form appear to be most abundant in 



•-^Archffiologia, Vol. XXXVIII, pi, XV, No 1. 



flbld. pi. XV, No. 2. 



JArchasologia, Vol. XXXVIII, pi. XV, No. 3. 



