346 



NATURE 



[May 12, 1921 



The Stone-axe Factory of Graig-lwyd, Penmaenmawr. 



A 



T a meeting of the Royal Anthropological Institute 

 >• held on April 19 Air. S, Hazzledine Warren 

 presented a report on the results of excavations at 

 Graig-lwyd carried out in June. 1920, under a repre- 

 sentative' committee appointed by the Royal Anthropo- 

 logical Institute. The expenses of the excavation 

 were met by grants from the National Museum of 

 Wales, the Cambrian Archaeological Association, and 

 other public and private contributors. 



The Neolithic workings follow the chilled margin- 

 of the Penmaenmawr intrusive rock for a consider- 

 able distance, but the excavation was mainly con- 

 centrated upon one important chipping "floor" asso- 

 ciated with the site of a large hearth. 



The workers made their stone axes either directly 

 from the natural blocks of scree or indirectly by first 

 striking off large flakes. These large primary flakes 

 often weigh from 7 lb. to 14 lb., or even more, and 

 their production in such a tough and intractable 

 material is evidence of remarkable skill. "Core im- 

 plements" and "flake implements" were made in- 

 differently, according to convenience in working the 

 stone. The stages of manufacture from the natural 

 block to the finished axe may be grouped as (i) pre- 

 liminary, (2) intermediate, and (3) advanced. The 

 most characteristic forms arrested in the middle stage 

 may be described as "intermediate ovates"; these 

 might well be mistaken for Late Chelles and St. 

 Acheul implements, while many of the smaller speci- 

 mens in the preliminary stage resemble the earlier 

 Chelles group. Pseudo-Mousterian flakes with faceted 

 platforms, recalling the Levallois technique, were 

 produced in large quantities as a waste product from 

 the flaking of the axes. More than four hundred 

 "ends of celts" (as they are usually called) were 

 found, and thirty-two complete axes have been re- 

 fitted from these halves broken during manufacture. 

 The industry is essentially similar to that of Grime's 

 Graves and Cissbury. 



Four broken polished axes were recovered from 

 the main "floor," and three of these had been re- 

 chipped after breakage into makeshift blades. One 

 stone plaque engraved with a series of triangles was 

 also discovered. 



In opening a discussion on the report Sir William 

 Boyd Dawkins said that a debt of gratitude was due 

 to Mr. Warren for having brought these facts, the 

 result of much hard work, before the institute. The 

 subject was of the greatest interest and importance 

 to British archaeology at the present time. The finds 



at Graig-lwyd must be grouped with those from Ciss- 

 bury and Grime's Graves. As a result of a careful 

 comparison with the long series of finds *from Ciss- 

 bury in the Manchester Museum, he had come to the 

 conclusion that every peculiarity in the Graig-lwyd 

 specimens could be paralleled from Cissbury, the one 

 difference being that the Graig-lwyd implements 

 were made of igneous rock, while the Cissbury finds 

 were flint. The Graig-lwyd specimens were con- 

 sequently larger owing to the difference in material. 

 The shape and the rude character of a specimen did 

 not prove that it was not of Neolithic age. He him- 

 self had found at Trenton, New Jersey, side by side 

 with typical Indian stone implements, specimens 

 which in form belong to the Moustier and other 

 European Palaeolithic types. The lesson to be learned 

 from this find was that age cannot be estimated from 

 form. As regards the positive evidence for date of 

 these ateliers, it was beyond question. At Cissbury 

 Neolithic pottery and the remains of domestic animals 

 had been found. The evidence from Grime's Graves 

 was clear. There the flint from which implements 

 were manufactured was taken from pits and gal- 

 leries, and was therefore later in date than these, 

 but the workings show that the greater number of 

 these galleries had been excavated with polished 

 stone axes, and therefore the implements of Chellean, 

 Moustier, and other types found on this site were 

 Neolithic. The conclusion to which this evidence 

 pointed was supported by the types in Mr. Warren's 

 find. The examples of specimens broken in course of 

 manufacture in Neolithic times, of which the parts 

 now reassembled by Mr. Warren exhibited differences 

 in patination, were also a proof that patination was 

 no criterion of age. The discovery of this factory 

 had an interesting bearing upon the question of pre- 

 historic trade and communication. Owing to the 

 existence of a felsitic stone implement factory in the 

 Lake District, he had hitherto derived the felsite aies 

 found in the Midlands from this source, but in future 

 the felsite at Graig-lwyd would have to be taken into 

 account. 



The implements from the Graig-lwyd excava- 

 tions, which will be reproduced in illustration of the 

 report when it is printed in extenso, were exhibited 

 at the Royal Anthropological Institute on April 

 20-22. A larger and more representative collec- 

 tion is to be exhibited at the rooms of the 

 Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, on May 

 23-25- 



Descriptive Botany. 



UNDER the title "The Leguminous Plants of 

 Hawaii " (issued by the Experiment Station 

 of the Hawaian Sugar Planters' Association), Mr. 

 J. F. Rock gives a systematic account of the native, 

 introduced, and naturalised trees, shrubs, vines, and 

 herbs belonging to the family Leguminosae. Detailed 

 descriptions are given of all the native and established 

 species, with notes on distribution and economic uses ; 

 keys to the genera and species are also included. In 

 all, 200 species belonging to 71 genera are described, 

 and there are 93 excellent full-page photographic re- 

 productions of the more important species. The per- 

 centage of indigenous species in this family is very 

 small, and of these only six are trees, one is a shrub, 



NO. 2689, VOL. 107] 



and the remainder are, with few exceptions, usually 

 shore-plants or grow near the shore, and are distri- 

 buted over most of the Pacific Islands. This poor 

 representation of one of the largest families of 

 flowering plants contrasts remarkably with its rich 

 representation in tropical Asia, and is a strong 

 argument against the existence of any previous land 

 connection with the Asiatic continent. The writer 

 regards the Leguminosae as a strong factor in proving 

 the assumption that' the Hawaian islands are purely 

 oceanic in character ; he proposes to discuss thoroughly 

 the origin of the flora in a work on the phyto- 

 geography of the islands which he has in preparation. 

 In " Icones Plantarum Formosanarum," vol. ix. 



