IMPLEMENTS BEARING- SIGNIFICANT MARKS. 183' 



XVII. 



ON SOME BONE AND OTHER IMPLEMENTS FROM THE CAVES OF PERIGORD, FRANCE, 

 BEARING MARKS INDICATIVE OF OWNERSHIP, TALLYING, AND GAMBLING. . By 

 Professor T. RUPEBT JONES, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



[This Memoir was read at the Meeting of the British Association, August 1872, and before the Anthro- 

 pological Institute, December 3rd, 1872 ; see abstract, ' Rep. Brit. Assoc.' for 1872, Trans. Sect. p. 189 : 

 and ' Journ. Anthrop. Instit.' vol. ii. p. 362.] 



A REMARKABLE specimen from one of the Rock-shelters in the Gorge d'Enfer, a 

 lateral valley of the Vezere, Dordogne, is an oblong blade of ivory (much decom- 

 posed), 4 inches long by 1^ at its widest part, tapering towards one end but imperfect, 

 broken across at the other, convex on one face, slightly concave on the other, and 

 marked on both sides with numerous, small, regularly arranged pits, several groups 

 of more or less parallel cuts at and near the margins, and some minute notches on 

 the edge at two places. See B. Plate XIII. figs. I3a, b, c, and page 98. 



The minute marginal notching was possibly for ornament. The series of shallow 

 cuts near the edges, and the systematically arranged pitting, on both faces, are 

 very puzzling. The groups of cuts differ in direction, shape, and number ; but in 

 this some may see a character of value. It is difficult to say if the combination 

 of oblique transverse lines of pits, almost quincuncial, was made on a premeditated 

 plan. The several lines have not the same number of pits, nor is the arrange- 

 ment of the latter vertically symmetrical. Though the isolated group of pits on 

 the flat face (fig. 13 b) gives nine, when counted either vertically or transversely, 

 yet neither this nor the groups of notches constitute for certain any indication of 

 a system of numeration ; indeed we are not sure that they belong to any intelli- 

 gible plan of marking ; but we will point out some analogous objects and their 

 probable uses and meanings; and perhaps our readers will help us to clearer 

 interpretations. What appears to be a notch, or the segment of a hole, at the 

 base is due to a recent fracture. 



This ivory plate, or Implement, somewhat like a short Paper-knife of the 

 present day, reminds us of the Smoothers, used in dressing skins, for flattening 

 seams, and for a variety of purposes by Esquimaux and others. It may have 

 been merely an ornament ; or it may have been a Tally, or possibly a Gambling- 

 implement, as Dr. Robert Brown, M.A., E.R.G.S., who is well acquainted with 

 the habits of many savage tribes, is inclined to think. 



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