DECORATIVE ART 239 



a little below these and nearer the middle line are 

 the two hands ; and below these again the two legs 

 stand out, carved not merely in relief, but in the 

 solid, and bent a little at the knee. The feet are 

 indicated below and more laterally. From the 

 crown of the head projects a ring of short hair made 

 up of tufts white, black, and red in colour. Another 

 short tuft projects from the region of the navel 

 (? pubis), and a pair of tufts project laterally 

 a little below the level of the mouth. The 

 extremity of the main shaft of the antler projects 

 a little beyond the feet of the human figure, and is 

 carved in a form which is clearly an animal 

 derivative — probably from the dog or possibly the 

 crocodile. From its open jaws projects a long tuft 

 of hair, and a pair of short tufts project laterally 

 from the region of its ears. The whole of the 

 carved part of the hilt thus represents a man stand- 

 ing upon the head of a dog (or crocodile). The 

 interpretation of the whole is much obscured by 

 the fact that the parts of the human figure named 

 above are separated from one another by areas 

 which are covered with a continuous scroll design 

 in low relief, and by the fact that all the lateral parts 

 of the carved area bear, scattered irregularly in 

 relief, reduplications of the various features of the 

 human figure, e.g, of the hands, elbows, knees, and 

 even of the teeth, as well as many pairs of inter- 

 locking hooks. These last, which recur in other 

 decorative designs, and which (as was said above) 

 seem to symbolise the taking of heads, form an 

 important and constant feature of the whole scheme 

 of decoration. In the more elaborate examples 

 they are carved out of the solid ; and usually one 

 hole (or more) about 5 mm. in diameter perforates 

 the thickest part of the hilt, and contains in the 

 middle plane a pair of these interlocking hooks. 

 In the most elaborate examples of these carved 



