224 
NATURE 
| Fan. 19, 1871 

4. The rosy tinge of the corona proper, that is of the 
region more than 5’ or 6’ from the sun, is due to our 
atmosphere containing light which comes from both the 
higher and lower strata of the chromosphere (Peirce, sen., 
Maclear, Abbay). 
Venice, Jan. 9 J. NORMAN LOCKYER 


A HEARTH OF THE POLISHED STONE AGE 
Note sur un Foyer del Age de la Pierre polie découvert 
au Camp de Chassey en Septembre, 1869. Par Ernest 
Perrault. 1870, 4to. Pp.32,and8 plates. (Chalon sur 
Saéne, L. Landa. London: Williams and Norgate.) 
N the summit of a steep hill between the valley of 
the Bas Roches and that of the Dheune, over- 
looking the immense plain of the Saéne and commanding 
a view of the Jura, the Alps, and the mountains of the 
Maconnais and the Morvan, and surrounded by numerous 
other camps, is the camp of Chassey, which occupies 
an area of about 800 yards in length by a breadth vary- 
ing from about 100 to 200 yards. So commanding and 
important a spot was not only taken possession of by the 
Romans for a castel/um and by the Gauls for an ofpidurm, 
but was also occupied in prehistoric times. Several col- 
lections of antiquities belonging to different periods have 
been formed upon the spot, but it was reserved for M. 
Perrault to make the interesting discovery which he has 
recorded in so simple yet so complete a manner in the 
pages now before us. A terrace, sheltered by rocks from 
the north and east winds and facing the morning sun, 
seemed to him well adapted for early habitations, while a 
depression in the ground in front proved, on examination, 
to contain the remains of a large hearth, or it might be 
termed kitchen, and here he instituted excavations. 
Beneath a few inches of soil he found a bed rather more 
than two feet in thickness, made up of ashes, bones, and 
pottery, and containing numerous instruments of various 
kinds. The whole reposed on a platform of rough slabs 
of stone, blackened like the soil beneath them by the 
action of fire. Nota trace of metal was discovered, and in 
describing the objects found, M. Perrault divides them into 
(1) instruments of stone, (2) those of bone, and (3) pottery. 
Exclusive of fragments some 150 stone instruments 
were found, consisting for the most part of hatchets, 
arrow-heads, flakes, borers, scrapers, hammers, mealing 
stones, and polishing stones. No less than eight per- 
fect stone hatchets were found, as well as fourteen broken, 
and of those that were uninjured two were still mounted 
in stag’s-horn sockets, similar to those with which the 
discoveries in the Swiss Lake dwellings have made us so 
well acquainted. 
Only two are of flint, and one of fibrolite, the others 
being of chloromelanite, serpentine basalt, and diorite. 
They seem to have been formed from pebbles brought 
down by the Saéne, and it is interesting to observe that the 
same process of manufacture was in use in this part of 
Burgundy as in Switzerland, the splitting of the pebbles 
into the required form having been partly effected by 
sawing. That some of the spare hours of those who 
frequented the hearth were employed in preparing their 
hatchets is proved by thelarge number of grinding or polish- 
ing stones, of which, counting fragments, upwards of sixty 

were present. M. Perrault regards one of the smallest of the 
cutting instruments, a little triangular celt, as a religious 
emblem, but it seems more probable that it was used as a 
hand-tool, like a chisel, of one of which the sharpened 
end was also found. 
The arrow-heads of flint, twenty-three in number, pre- 
sent a variety of forms, leaf-shaped, triangular, lozenge- 
shaped, and tanged, the latter both with and without barbs, 
Their general aspect is such as might have been expected 
from the locality, most of the forms occurring also in Swit- 
zerland. There are, however, one or two shaped like small 
hatchets, with a broad sharp base, formed by the original 
edge of the flake from which they were made, and rounded 
or truncated at the otherend. It is stated that this sharp 
edge was intended for insertion in the wood, but more 
probably it was the other end that was thus secured, and 
the arrows were, so to speak, chisel-pointed, like the flint- 
tipped arrows which survived in use, probably for fowling 
purposes, after metals became known to the ancient 
Egyptians. Similar arrow-heads, if such they be, have 
been found in considerable numbers in Sweden, and a 
few in Denmark, as well as in some other parts of France. 
It seems by no means impossible that some of the sharp- 
based instruments from the Yorkshire Wolds may have 
served a similar purpose. 
The mealing stones consist of a large block, usually 
of hard sandstone or porphyry, and a smaller stone as 
muller, and are of the same character as those still in use 
in Central Africa, They must have been gradually eaten 
together with the flour they produced, and no doubt tended 
to promote that wearing away of the crown of the teeth 
so common in ancient times. None of the grain has been 
found, but probably most of the cereals known to the old 
Swiss Lake dwellers were also known at Chassey. 
The objects in bone and horn are almost identical with 
those from the earlier Swiss Lake dwellings, and consist 
of the sockets already mentioned, awls, chisels, &c. The 
pottery, which is extremely fragmentary, is much of the 
same character as the Swiss. It has been ornamented 
both by punctured dots and by a sort of pillar moulding 
as well as by incised lines. In one instance there seems 
to have been an attempt to represent the outline of a boar 
by lines scratched in the clay when still moist. In another, 
the ornament consists of bands of triangles alternately 
cross-hatched and plain, a style more in accordance with 
the bronze age than with that ofstone. Most of the pottery 
seems to have been adapted for suspension. The number 
of small ears or handles found exceeded 200. A few spindle- 
whorls and beads were also found, but the most curious 
objects are the spoons, exactly similar in form to those of 
wood in common use in our kitchens at the present day, 
but formed of clay. It is true that several wooden ladles 
and at least one earthenware spoon were found in the set- 
tlement of Robenhausen, but one can hardly repress a 
feeling of surprise at finding the spoon so fully and com- 
pletely developed among a people apparently unacquainted 
with the use of metal, though it is true that they appear to 
have had the materials for porridge at their command. 
In concluding this short notice of a valuable contribution 
to prehistoric archzeology, a regret must be expressed that 
the animal remains discovered in the refuse heap have 
not, apparently, as yet been submitted to proper scientific 
examination, so as to determine the species, and which of 
Ss 
