328 Reviews — Dr. H. 0. Forbes — Stone Inijjlements of Egyj^t. 



handle or tang. Fig. 34 is a roughly chipped three-sided piece of 

 flint, " partly blocked out " for a knife possibly. Fig. 35 is a flat, 

 curved, sharp-edged blade, probably broken in the making. 



e. Agricultural implements, etc. Fig. 36 is a nearly symmetrical 

 truncheon or beater, of a thick spatula-shape, with a knob at the 

 narrow end ; it is very common. Fig. 37 has a coarse, thick blade, 

 triangular in section and sharpened along one edge, and the butt 

 end is deeply chipped for a tang. This large chopper-like implement 

 (8| in. by 21 in.) is of common occurrence, and must have been an 

 eflicient tool in the hands of the old labourers. Fig. 38 (from 

 Wady Sojoor), p. 99, another large anomalous tool (S^f in. by T-i^gin.) 

 flat and quadrangular or diamond-shaped, with the angles distinct, 

 one of them very prominent, is carefully chipped along its edges. 



/. Figs. 39 and 40 are two small subglobose hammer-stones 

 (3 in. by 2| in.), bearing marks of wear. 



g. Scrapers (p. 99). Fig, 45, large, comma-shaped; broad and 

 rounded at one end, tapering and curved at the other, where one 

 edge has been hollowed as a concave and hooked scraper. Fig. 46 

 (from the Plateau of Thebes) is a rough and irregular flake, broad 

 at one end, narrow at the other ; dressed along the edges, one of 

 which bears a small semicircular hollow. Fig. 47 is a roughly 

 dressed, somewhat semicircular flake, with a definite concave hollow 

 at the middle of the edge, suitable for scraping and shaping round 

 staves and sticks. 



h. Coi-es, and the narrow flakes struck off from them, are common ; 

 one long hoof-shaped core is shown by fig. 42. 



i. Nondescripts. Fig. 41 is a long, narrow, and very coarsely 

 dressed, three-sided flake (17 in. by 3^ in.), sharp at the ends. 

 Fig. 43 is a rough flake, possibly an early state of some such an 

 implement as that of figs. 26 or 27. 



Dr. Forbes now takes into consideration " What is the age of 

 these implements from Wady el Sheikh and Wady Sojoor, and how 

 long probably were the mines worked ? " " No find of implements 

 so extensive as the one which is the subject of this paper has ever 

 been made in Egypt; nor had any previously been found in relation 

 to the mines which supplied the material, or to the workshops in 

 which they were fabricated." Therefore archceologists may expect 

 much from the careful study of this undisturbed locality. 



Introducing these very ancient Egyptian relics to the people of 

 to-day, who may be looking at them in the Liverpool or other 

 Museums, the author explains first of all, briefly, that implements 

 of stone have been in use down to the present from ver}"^ early, 

 even geological, times ; more especially (1) as rough and merely 

 chipped and flaked pieces of siliceous rock (flint, quartzite, and 

 other varieties), so abundant in certain old gravel beds that they 

 characterize a long-past period of time called the Paleolithic Age. 

 (2) Instead of stones merely chipped into useful shapes, in many 

 places gravels and loams deposited in much later times contain well- 

 dressed and polished implements of stone ; and these, being character- 

 istic of newer periods, are termed ' Neolithic' (3) As stone tools, 



