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KELIQITkE AQTJITANICJE. 



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B. PLATES IX. & X. 



The greater number of the Bone Implements illustrated by these 

 two Plates may be regarded as armatures, or pointed heads, of im- 

 plements and weapons used in Fishing and Hunting, or even in War. 

 We will term them "Dart-heads," provisionally and for want of more 

 certain definition of their character and use. Most of them have lost 

 the pointed end, by accidental fracture ; and in this state, the wedge- 

 like or bevelled end remaining as a chief feature, they have some 

 resemblance to such chisels as sculptors and stone-masons use ; hence 

 it has happened that, in descriptive works, truncated specimens like 

 fig. 5, PI. IX., have passed under the name of " chisels." In those im- 

 plements, however, which have been preserved entire, as fig. 2, PI. IX., 

 and fig. 4, PI. X., we see that one end tapers more or less rapidly to a 

 sharp point ; whilst the other extremity is cut down with two opposite 

 oblique or bevelled faces, equal or not, but meeting at the end in a 

 wedge-like shape. Thus fashioned, this extremity, broad and thin, is 

 adapted for insertion in the cloven end of a handle or shaft of wood, in 

 which it was then most probably securely tied by an outside ligature. 

 To ensure the fixing of the armature in the shaft, and to prevent its 

 slipping from the cleft, several cross cuts or grooves were made on 

 both the sloping faces on those specimens which have the bevel 

 shown, such as figs. 2 & 5, PI. IX., and fig. 4, PI. X. 



It is impossible to decide that the larger of these Darts were thrown 

 by hand, or that the smaller specimens were for Arrows to be shot 

 from a bow. Neither the form nor size of any of the supposed shafts, 

 probably of wood, are at all known to us ; for no wooden implement, 

 weapon, or other utensil has been preserved at our Stations in the 

 Dordogne. 



We here figure (Fig. 17) a modern specimen offering a very close 

 analogy to our ancient Dart-heads of Perigord, especially in the mode 

 of its insertion in its shaft. In this cylindrical armature, which is of 

 very solid bone, one end tapers finely to a point ; and the other or 

 thicker end is bevelled on both sides, to be inserted in the split upper 

 end of the shaft ; and in this it was tightly tied and bound. This 



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