James Carter — On a Bos primigenms Icilled with a Celt. 493 



still fresli about it, was brought to Cambridge by tbe men wbo bad 

 found it, and was purchased for a small sum by Mr, Farren, wlio 

 was then actively engaged in collecting fossils for the Woodwardian 

 Museum. At the time of purchase the specimen was not known to 

 possess any unusual interest. It was not until an attempt was made 

 to clear away a large boss of peat which adhered to the broken 

 facial extremity of the skull that the fact was discovered which 

 gives it a singular archaeological importance, namely, the presence of 

 a portion of a stone celt firmly fixed in a wound in the right frontal 

 bone, partly penetrating the cavity of the skull, and slightly pro- 

 jecting from it. The peat so completely concealed the celt from 

 view that the workmen of whom it was purchased were almost 

 certainly not aware of its presence, or they would have mentioned 

 it, as they are in the habit of collecting, and are quite familiar with, 

 such objects, and could scarcely have failed to have recognized the 

 nature of the flint, if they had seen it. 



Having noticed this remarkable circumstance, I made a careful 

 examination for the purpose of satisfying myself as to the authenticity 

 of the specimen, and as to the credibility of the several points of 

 interest which it appeared to offer. In this investigation I gladly 

 availed myself of the critical knowledge and experience of Professor 

 C. Cardale Babington and the Rev. T. G. Bonney of St. John's 

 College. It was also closely inspected by many other members of 

 the University and scientific observers, including Mr. John Evans 

 F.R.S. (now President of the Geological Society of London). 

 The general appearance of the peat which covered the celt, the 

 arrangement of the small rootlets, fibres, etc., of which it was 

 composed, the manner in which it was matted upon the flint, 

 and had accurately moulded all its inequalities of surface, — these 

 characters and appearances were so distinctly marked as to leave no 

 doubt whatever as to the fact that the peat must have formed upon 

 the celt after its implantation in the skull, and had not been subse- 

 quently disturbed. I insist upon this statement most positively, 

 because the peat has since become dry and crumbled away, so that 

 the appearances described above are nu longer observable. The 

 examination, however, while the peat was still fresh, was absolutely 

 conclusive as to the fact that the flint could not have been recently 

 placed in the position it occupies.^ 



The flint was at once recognized as being a portion of a celt of the 

 Neolithic tj'pe. The greater portion of the surface is chipped, but at 

 the broader extremity it is ground smootli for about a quarter of an 

 inch from the cutting edge. In dimension it measures nearly 3 inches 

 in length and 2^ inches at its greatest width. The elliptical surface 

 produced by the transverse fracture of the celt is 2 inches by |^ of an 

 inch. This implement is unusually thin and the edges very sharp, 

 characters which render it all the better adapted for the purjjose to 



1 In a short notice read before the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, on February 

 23, 1863, and published in the " Antiquarian (Jomraunications " of tliat Society, yoI. 

 ii. no. xiii. p. 285, 1864, Professor C. C. Babington expresses himself most positively 

 on this point, and asserts his confident belief that the celt could not possibly have 

 been recently placed in the skull. 



