BY FRITZ NOETLING, M.A., PH.D., ETC. 3 



collection is far from being representative, his preten- 

 sion to give the scientific world the characteristics of 

 the Tasmanian stone implement is rather a bold one, 

 and it cannot be strongly enough emphasised that the 

 credit of having first defined the characteristic features 

 ■of the tronatta is due to Mr. R. M. Johnston, and not 

 to Herr Klaatsch (i). 



I have subsequently somewhat enlarged on Mr. 

 Johnston's description, without, however, in any vv^ay 

 altering its main features. I have shown that the 

 smooth, flat face was the es&ential part of the imple- 

 ment, because it served as a rest for the thumb, and I 

 accordingly called it pollical face. I therefore gave Mr. 

 Johnston's statement a somewhat different wording by 

 saying that the bloiws were directed away from the 

 pollical face towards the indical face (i). The Tasmanian 

 tronatta is therefore primarily an unsymmetrical imple- 

 ment, whose chipping is limited to one face only, viz., 

 the indical face, which is opposite to the smooth, pollical 

 face. 



The group of implements forming the subject of this 

 paper seems to be opposed to this rule, inasmuch as 

 marginal chipping can be observed on both faces. At the 

 first glance it may appear as if this class of implements 

 forms a true transitional stage to the symmetrical 

 palaeolithic implements wrought on both faces. More 

 ■closer examination will, however, prove that there is a 

 fundamental difference ; though the marginal chipping 

 can be observed on the indical as well as on the pollical 

 face, it is always strictly limited to one face only — that 

 is to say, one and the same edge is either chipped on 



(i) Though not quite so exhaustive as Mr. Johnston's, a de- 

 scription of the tronatta is given by Brough Smyth, Aborigines 

 of Victoria, 1878, Vol. II., pag. 400 and 401, in which ah-eady 

 the essential features are recognised. To whomsoever we may 

 give the credit of having first recognised the characteristics of 

 the tronatta, to Mr. Johnston or to Brough Smyth, it is cer- 

 tainly not due to Herr Klaatsch, who only repeats what others 

 have found out long before him. This may be somewhat strong 

 language, but is is fully justified by the circumstances. 



(i) Inter lineas I may remark here that Herr Klaatsch abso- 

 lutely ignores this, though my paper was read nearly a year 

 before his own, and though I explained everything to him ver- 

 bally when he visit-ed Hobart, 



