S6 EELIQUI^E AQUITANICLE. 



hard scraping, it is difficult to say; but there is also a similar but larger spe- 

 cimen from Cro-Magnon which is very much crushed, as if by hard blows, on the 

 obliquely truncated end, and somewhat bruised on the round end. At first sight 

 these implements seem adapted for striking fire with pyrites, or with such a 

 stone as that represented by fig. 10 and the woodcuts, figs. 18 a, b, c; but, 

 though scintillations of light are readily produced in striking one piece of flint 

 against another, it is not easy to strike off sparks or incandescent particles fit 

 to ignite any combustible material, except from some fresh, sharp-edged flints. 



Whether or not these round-ended implements were used for any other purpose 

 than scraping, the evident rough usage of one end in the specimens above 

 mentioned strengthens the supposition, already offered at page 35, that the finish 

 given to the ends, and to the sides also, had reference frequently to convenience 

 of holding, and not necessarily to the formation of edges fit for handiwork, 

 although in many cases the part that at one time was used as a handle may have 

 been at other times used for scraping and cutting, and vice versa, as convenience 

 or necessity or whim may have prompted. 



Fig. 1. A somewhat spatulate, or feather-shaped, and slightly arched Implement, 

 made from a thin flake of cream-coloured granular flint, the tapering end 

 having been chipped still narrower. We have one like this, but rather larger 

 and dark-coloured, from La Madelaine. 



Fig. 2. A Scraper of brownish-grey subtranslucent flint, with one end neatly 

 rounded, the other angular [more neatly so than shown in the figure] by wear. 

 One side has been chipped nearly parallel with the opposite natural edge of the 

 flake, which has been somewhat used. 



Fig. 3. A long, simple, high-ridged flake of chestnut-brown flint, variegated at 

 the but-end with concentric elliptical bands of grey, enclosing a dark-grey 

 portion and a nuclear spot of brown. It is also longitudinally marked with 

 two or three faint, parallel, light-coloured lines. One end is narrowed by 

 lateral fractures made on the block (core) 'before the flake was struck off. 

 The extreme point of this Implement has been broken off; its edges are fresh 

 and unused ; it may have been mounted in a handle and used as a poignard. 

 This interesting specimen was found at the same time with the Old Man's 

 Skull; see page 70. Somewhat similar flakes, but arched, have occurred at 

 Les Eyzies and La Madelaine. 



Fig. 4. A roughish Scraper of dark-grey mottled flint ; nearly straight across the 



