DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES BONE IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 41 





B. BONE IMPLEMENTS, &c. 



B. PLATE V. 



Most of the specimens represented in this Plate may be regarded as having 

 been intended to be worn on the person, as ornaments or amulets, and some 

 perhaps as memorials and trophies of the chase. They have indeed nearly all 

 been pierced with one or more holes, so as to be attached or suspended. 



One only of these articles is of Stone. By far the greater number are formed 

 of the Incisor and Canine Teeth of Carnivorous or of Herbivorous Animals ; and 

 among them can be recognized teeth of the Wolf, of the great Bos, the Ibex, and 

 the Reindeer. In the sequel we shall have occasion to figure the Incisor of a 

 Horse, perforated near-its root, very probably for a similar purpose. 



Such perforated Teeth have been used in all ages and places ; and indeed at 

 the present day we find them among divers nations that are either savage or have 

 remained in a low state of civilization. 



Almost every work on primitive antiquities published of late years affords us 

 figures of Teeth thus pierced. They have been quoted from the First Stone- 

 Age in Denmark ; from the Lake-habitations of Switzerland ; and from several 

 sepulchres belonging to a high antiquity. Especially, however, under the Rock- 

 shelters and in Caves, that were refuges for the aboriginals of Western Europe, 

 have they been collected in the greatest numbers. 



The same usage obtained also in other and distant regions early in the Human 

 Period. Thus MM. Meynier and Louis d'Eichthal have found in a Bone-cave of 

 Western Siberia, in the Province of Tomsk, the long Canines of the Musk-deer 

 (Moschus moschiferus) perforated near one end. 



Various explanations have been offered as to the intended use of these objects, 

 thus prepared to be attached to the person. Some have thought that imaginary 

 properties and virtues were attributed to them. M. F. Troyon, mentioning the 

 Bears' teeth, having holes through their roots, found in the tombs of the ancient 

 Livonians, adds that "they were without doubt worn as amulets." In the 

 Catalogue of objects found in the diggings at Hallstatt (sketches of which I have 

 been enabled to refer to, thanks to the kind assistance of my learned friend 

 Dr. Pruner-bey), M. Ramsauer says that he has collected many stones that had 



