52 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1910 



moult is shown by the circumstance that the basal portion re- 

 mains attached, and it will be noticed that at the base, and 

 quite close to the attachment to the skull of the animal, are 

 two cuts, such as might have been made with a heavy and 

 somewhat sharp-edged weapon, and that the brow-tine has 

 been splintered off in precisely the manner which would have 

 occurred if the weapon which caused the cuts had struck it in 

 its descent. Moreover, the blows were given just where they 

 would be most likely to kill or disable the animal The third 

 and fourth tines have also disappeared ; the fracture of the 

 fourth is left in a rough condition, but the scar from which the 

 third has been removed shows obvious traces of having been 

 scraped or rubbed smooth. The hypothesis which I put for- 

 ward, albeit with some hesitation, is that the animal which 

 bore the antler was killed or stunned by blows on the head, the 

 marks of which remain, and that the antler, after removal 

 from the skull, was itself converted into a club-like weapon by 

 the removal of such of the projections as would have interfered 

 with its use as such. 



