182 



THE CONCAVE STONE IMPLEMENTS OF THF 

 TASMANIAN ABORIGINES. 



By George Horne, V.D., M.A., M.D., CH.B. 



Plates XXVI-XXVIII. 



(Read 5th December, 1921.) 



The following paper seeks to deal with these implements 

 as they are found in Tasmania, and to institute a compari- 

 son with those found in S.E. Victoria. 



This is the last part of Australia to be united to Tas- 

 mania, and here, if anywhere, resemblances should be found. 



When we take into consideration the daily life of the 

 aboriginal, a considerable part must have been spent in the 

 making, smoothing, sharpening, and maintaining of his 

 wooden weapons. 



These were two in nur/iber — the spear and the throwing 

 stick. All the secondary or finishing work on them was 

 done with the concave stone implements. 



DIFFERENT GROOVES FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES. 

 Two sorts of grooves would, of course, be necessary, 

 and two sorts are found for preparing these two weapons. 

 There is the short semi-circular groove (Fig. la.), usually 

 small in diameter. This was evidently for the smaller cir- 

 cumference of the spear or for the sharpening of points of 

 either implement. Then there was the long hyperbolic 

 curve (Fig. 2b.), which is, as a rule, larger and 

 stouter. It appears to have been used in the earlier work 

 on implements. (In my collection, this variety is the com- 

 moner form of the two in Tasmania.) 



VARIETIES OF GROOVES. 



1. The Worked Groove (Fig. 2a.). — The chipped mark- 

 ings along the edge show plainly that the groove has been 

 worked; and this is the commonest form of Tasmanian con- 

 cave implements. 



In S.E. Victoria one finds the working developed further 

 into crenulations. These must have acted like so many 

 teeth, and would have been most effective in the first cutting 

 action when getting the wooden implements into shape. I 

 have not seen this form amongst Tasmanian specimens. 



2. The Smooth Groove (Fig. 3). — This is relatively rare 



