602 THE USE OF FLINT BLADES TO WORK PINE WOOD. 
types of edged instruments made in the usual manner for blades and 
approaching more and more the published flint axes. 
Blades with a perfect edge are rare, naturally; for it was not worth 
the trouble to recut them, and those were thrown away which could 
not be used. The edge produced by simply striking off two fragments 
of flint, without doubt, had not the resistance of an edge made by pol- 
ishing; but as the ancients did not experience any difficulty in making 
new blades, the frailty of the edge would not be of any great import- 
ance, as they had flint in abundance. It is this which naturally ex- 
plains the great quantity of blades more or less damaged, which are 
found, not only on the Danish borders and in the shell heaps, but any- 
where in the interior of the country. 
The question of the use of these blades as cutting instruments has 
already been fully treated, especially by Dr. Sophus Miiller.* I will 
not go into details. The theoretical part of the subject has also been 
exhausted. It only remains to prove by practical experiments how far 
the blades, when furnished with handles, can cut wood. 
The success of these experiments ought to be a strong argument in 
favor of those who hold that flint blades of the ancient shell-heap epoch 
have been used in the same manner as polished tools from the last 
period of the Stone age, that is to say, as cutting or chopping instru- 
ments, and as weapons. I have undertaken these experiments, and 
give here the results. The co-operation of an able assistant was indis- 
pensable to me. So I called in the aid ofa master carpenter of Aarhus, 
M. Helstrup, who has shown great interest and aptitude in the sub- 
ject in assisting me in the practical part of the work. 
The blades used have been hafted partly in imitation of the stone 
axes which are to be found in the National Museum of Copenhagen 
(Department of Ethnology), and partly after the cuts in works on 
Archeology.t In trying the different kinds of mountings, it was de- 
cided that the most advantageous form is one copied from works on 
the construction of pile dwellings of the Swiss Lakes, I made a maple 
handle 7 centimeters (23 inches) in diameter, and about 58 centimeters 
(23 inches) in length, preserving this thickness about 12 centimeters 
(43 inches) from the end, and then tapering it slightly to the other end. 
As the blades placed at my disposal for the experiment were relatively 
small, I could not fasten them directly into the handle; the edge would 
have been so near the handle that it would have made the work diffi- 
cult, especially in cutting down trees, where it would have been neces- 
sary to strike at an open angle; besides, in a handle of this kind it 
was difficult to give stability to the stone blade. The blades would be 
*“ (Classification of the antiquities of Denmark, Copenhagen,” 1888. Mem. d.l. Soc. 
d. Antiq. du Nord., 188489, p. 731. Aarb. f. Nord., Oldkyndighed, etc., 1888, 1890. 
tJ. Evans: Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain. KF. Sehested: Fortidsminder 
og Oldsager fra Egnen om Broholm, et Archeologishe Underlogelser, 1878-1881. Keller: 
Pfahlbauten, Mittheil, d. Antiquar, Gesellsch in Ziirich. 
