James Carter — On a Bos primigenius Mlled loith a Celt. 495 



but were apparently retained by the soft animal matter, and subse- 

 quently hy the peat which filled the skull. As an indication that the 

 wound was intentional, and not accidental, it may be observed 

 that it was inflicted precisely in that small portion of the forehead 

 which it was necessary to strike, in order to penetrate the brain, and 

 so kill the animal. 



It must have required a vigorous blow to have caused so com- 

 paratively blunt au implement to pierce the tough hide of the 

 animal, covered by a dense coat of shaggy hair, and penetrate 

 the cavity of the skull for nearly three inches. The force sufficient 

 to have produced a wouud of this depth through such dense struc- 

 tures must have been so great that it can be readily understood how 

 it happened that the thin celt which was made use of should have 

 been broken at about a level with the skin upon the animal's fore- 

 head. So small a portion projected as to render the extraction of 

 the remainder from a fracture through fresh bone no easy matter : it 

 was left in the wound, and has become an historical record of great 

 interest. 



So far as I know, the specimen is the only example which has yet 

 occurred to prove positivebj that the stone celt was used by the early 

 inhabitants of these islands for the purpose of killing animals. Skulls 

 of extinct species of oxen have been found having a fractured open- 

 ing in the forehead. Prof. Newton, in a paper read before the 

 Cambridge Philosophical Society, states that he saw a skull of Bos 

 primigenius, found near Ely, which had received such a blow as 

 must have killed the animal, but how this wound was produced 

 could not be ascertained. Professor Newton also states that at 

 Thetford, in Norfolk, many skulls of Bos longifrons were found, all 

 having a fracture in the forehead. Dr. Falconer informs us 

 that a specimen of a vertebra of a Eeindeer, " pierced through and 

 through by a flint weapon which still remains imbedded in the 

 bone," was discovered in a cave in Central France. 



After it was ascertained that the skull possessed archEeological 

 interest, search was made upon the spot where it was foimd for other 

 portions of the animal, and nearly the whole skeleton was recovered. 

 The bones were found imbedded in the peat, and arranged nearly in 

 their natural order. It would seem that the animal must have been 

 killed upon the spot where the bones were found, and that the 

 carcase or skeleton must have been buried in the peat soon after 

 death, inasmuch as the bones afford no indication of having re- 

 mained long upon the surface, exposed to the action of the various 

 atmospheric and other agencies. 



As regards the geological period to which this skeleton belongs, it 

 seems tolerably certain that we may refer it to the later portion of 

 the interval during which peat was formed ; but any chronological 

 considerations must be conjectural. The rate of growth of peat 

 cannot be made to afford any very definite information as to the 

 measurement of time, inasmuch as it varies so considerably according 

 to the tribe of plants of which this substance is composed, and the 

 quantity of water by which it is moistened or covered. It is im- 



