322 



THE HUMAN SPECIES 



It seems doubtful, however, if the discovery of such a stone was 

 what originally suggested to neolithic man the idea of boring 

 through softer stones ; it was much more probably due to the 

 necessity of finding some surer way of fastening on the axe-head 

 than by roughly tying it to the handle, otherwise this notion 

 would have first been brought to the neolithic people at a later 

 period, at the time when foreign races with a different civilisa- 

 tion began to migrate into Europe. We can easily see that 

 quite different work could be done with axes and hatchets of 

 this description ; it was only with such tools as these that tree 



FIG. 147. Neolithic reni- 

 form axe-head made of 

 stag's antlers. (Homes.) 



FIG. 148. Neolithic polished stone axe-heads with 

 holes for handles. (Homes.) a, double headed ; 

 b, single headed. 



trunks could, without excessive labour, be hewn into piles and 

 wooden buildings erected on land or water. The piercing of 

 the hole for the handle was either done simply by hand with a 

 flint awl first from one side and then from the other, or by 

 means of a drill. A hollow long bone was ground into the 

 stone by means of wet sand, so that eventually a small circular 

 piece of stone was removed . 



During the neolithic Stone Age also, stone was not the only 

 material used for fashioning tools and weapons. Bones and 

 horns were used to better purpose. Stag's antlers, for example. 



