
45 
me that the majority of the little notches might have been pro- 
duced naturally. In order to ascertain whether this might be the 
case, I devoted some time to the endeavour tc reproduce them 
both on the old surface flakes and on flakes newly struck from a 
flint. My attempts to fashion such semi-circular notches by 
blows from a small hammer-stone, a pointed flint, or the edge of 
another flake ended in a complete failure. Further experiment 
convinced me that the majority of the smaller and well-formed 
notches could only have been ;roduced by quite a different and 
more refined mode of flaking ; the flaking instrument used being 
a pointed piece of bone or horn, and the minute flakes being 
detached by pressure and not by blows. Not a little skill, too, 
is required for the operation; although, once the knack of 
flaking by pressure is acquired, they are readily and quickly 
made. ’ 
Having satisfied myself as to the very probable method 
employed in the intentional production of these needle-makers, 
another question arose, namely, could any of the notches 
have been produced unintentionally by prehistoric man during 
the operation of fashioning his bone spears, bone awls, or 
needles with the sharp edge of a flake? The bone handle of 
an old tooth brush with angular sides came as a timely aid at this 
point in my investigations. With the edge of a flake I not only 
made its sides rapidly assume a convex form, but I found that 
the pressure against the edge of the flake had detached a number 
of minute chips, resulting in the formation of a concave notch of 
the same size and shape as the convex edge of the tooth brush. 
On comparing my handiwork with the prehistoric needle-makers, 
I saw, much to my gratification, that it was an exact replica of 
the smaller kinds. This simple experiment leads me to believe 
that many of the ancient specimens were unintentionally formed 
in a similar manner. Personally, I think we may take for granted 
that but few of the notches on these hollow scrapers were 
naturally produced. In the case of the larger specimens, it is 
probable that many of them were fashioned by blows from a 
pointed stone, as I have succeeded in reproducing several in this 
manner. 
In speaking of the arrow-shafters, Dr. Thomas Wilson, of 
the United States National Museum, says: ‘The scrapers with 
a concave edge, for scraping arrows, are rarely found in pre- 
historic collections. . . . The United States National 
Museum possesses some, but not many. They seem not to have 
been recognised or cared for, and were not gathered by 
collectors.” * 


* Arrowpoints, Spearheads, and Knives of Prehistoric Times, 
by Thomas Wilson, LL.D., Annual Report Smithsonian Institute, 
1897, p. 885. 
