SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



3" 



Some were skilfully chipped all over the surface, 

 and the edges ground, as in the specimen repre- 

 sented in rig. iv., which was possibly used as 

 a small knife. Others have been found with 

 serrated edges, and must manifestly have been 

 used as small saws ; while others again, roughly 

 chipped on each side and varying in diameter 

 from one-and-a-half to three inches, supposed to 

 have been employed as hand-missiles or sling-stones. 



Fig. vii. 



Perhaps the most interesting of the flint imple- 

 ments are the arrowheads, which often show the 

 finest workmanship. Various forms of these are 

 shown in fig. v. These stone heads were probably 

 fixed to the shaft by being inserted into a cleft 

 made in the wood and bound there by means of 

 tendons or fibres. Arrowheads, with pieces of 

 the shaft attached to them in this way, have 

 occasionally been found in peat marshes. 



Stone axes or "celts" were probably among 

 the earliest neolithic implements, though it is 

 uncertain up to what period they continued to be 

 used. Bronze was probably known about 500 B.C., 

 and it is generally agreed that by 1100 a.d. stone 

 axes were no longer in use in Britain, even in the 

 more remote parts. We can therefore fix the 

 probable date at which they began to fall into 

 disuse at about 2,000 years distance from the 

 present time. These celts have often been found 

 in burial places, and at later periods bronze 

 weapons were placed in the tumuli with them. It 

 is extremely rare to find one with any trace of a 

 handle remaining, though one or two have been 

 found where the wood has been preserved by being 

 buried in a peat moss. A neolithic celt, found 

 near Grimes Graves, is represented in fig. vi. In 

 this implement the cutting edge, after being 

 chipped, had been carefully ground down and 

 polished. 



Palaeolithic implements, as was said before, are 

 found in caves and alluvial deposits, and are 

 believed to belong to a much earlier period than 

 the neolithic, though it is impossible to say 

 whether they are the earliest evidence of the 

 existence of man. In the caves they are found 

 together with the bones of the mammoth, cave 

 bear and other extinct animals, and prove that 

 man must have been contemporary with these. 



Palaeolithic implements have been classified into 

 three rough divisions : 



(1) Flakes pointed at one end ; 



(2) Oblong double-edged splinters, truncated 

 at each end ; 



(3) Oval-shaped discs from two to three-and-a- 

 half inches across (fig. vii), and some diminished 

 to a point like wedges (fig. viii). 



No signs of grinding or polishing have been found 

 on them, and it is doubtful whether they were fixed 

 in handles or simply held in the hand. 



The following are particulars of the figures 

 illustrating this article, and the author is indebted 

 to Mr. C. J. Brooks for the photographs, from 

 which they are reproduced. The negatives were 

 taken from the flint implements by a modification 

 of Mr. Hepworth's process for vertical photography. 

 Fig i., flake, half-size; found at Croxton, Thetford. 

 Fig. ii., flint core, half-size ; common at Two-mile 

 Bottom, Thetford. Fig. iii., scrapers, half-size — 

 a, duckbill ; b, bow; c, circular; Croxton. Fig. iv., 

 trimmed flake, half-size; Thetford. Fig. v., 

 arrowheads, half-size, — 1, the Warren, Thetford; 

 2, 3, Park Farm, Thetford; 4 (basalt), North 

 America. Fig. vi., polished axe ; Grimes Graves, 

 Norfolk. Fig. vii., palaeolithic celt, quarter-size; 

 Croxton. Fig. viii., palaeolithic celt, half-size ; 

 P irk Farm, Croxton. 



It has been noticed as strange that no other 

 evidence of prehistoric man, beside such weapons 

 as these, should be found ; but this is easily explained 

 by the perishable nature of other substances as 



Fig. viii. 



compared with flint, and the remote period at 

 which they were used. The evidence seems to 

 point to man living in caves and leading a wander- 

 ing life, hunting and fishing for his subsistence. 

 As to the antiquity of man, we can form no idea 

 beyond that it reaches back to remote ages. When 

 we take into account the long periods which have 

 elapsed since bronze and iron superseded the 

 neolithic weapons, and then, again, consider the 

 ages going further and further back to epochs 

 when the mammoth and cave-bear flourished and 

 palaeolithic weapons were used, we are lost in 

 amazement at the extreme age which must thus 

 belong to the human race. 

 11, Hubert's Grove, Clapham. 



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