FLINT FLAKES. 67 



that another flake had been previously taken from the same 

 block. Figs. 67, 68, represent flakes, of which the points 

 have been broken off, but we see along their whole length 

 the depression caused by the removal of a previous 

 flake. The section of 

 such a flake is, there- 

 fore, not triangular, as 

 in fig. 700, but four- 

 sided, as in fig. 705. 

 Sometimes, though not 

 often, a wide flake is 



, ~ . . Sections of Flakes* 



taken on in such a way 



as to overlap two previous flakes, as in the case of the one 

 represented in fig. 69. In this instance, the section is penta- 

 gonal ; the flat under surface remaining always the same, 

 but the upper side showing four facets. 



Easy as it may seem to make such flakes as these, a little 

 practice will convince any one who attempts to do so, that a 

 certain knack is required, and that it is also necessary to be 

 careful in the selection of the flint. It is therefore evident 

 that these flint flakes, simple as they may appear, are always 

 the work of man. To make one, the flint must be held 

 firmly, and then a considerable force must be applied, either 

 by pressure or by blows, repeated three or four times, but at 

 least three, and given in certain slightly different directions, 

 with a certain definite force ; conditions which could scarcely 

 occur in nature ; so that, simple as it may seem to the un- 

 trained eye, a flint flake is to the antiquary as sure a trace of 

 man, as the footprint in the sand was to Robinson Crusoe. 



It is hardly necessary to say, that the flakes have a sharp 

 cutting edge on each side, and might therefore be at once 

 used as knives : they are indeed so named by some archae- 

 ologists ; but it seems to me more convenient to call them 

 simply flakes, and to confine the name of knife to imple- 



