658 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



that flint scrapers frequently show a serrated edge, and some have even 

 good-sized teeth (see PL xix., fig. 8, which I show as an example). A 

 certain roughness in the edge must therefore have been a necessary 

 requirement in many scrapers, though not perhaps in all, and in that 

 case tliere is such a natural irregularity in the edge of a quartzite 

 flake that it would likely be suitable as a scraper without any 

 dressing, though we sometimes find flaking along the edge, as in the 

 case of the specimen from Glenluce. It may appear strange that we 

 do not find more implements of the quartzite kind in a carefully pre- 

 pared state. This difficulty has often occurred to me. "WTiilst firmly 

 believing that the rude fiakes and pieces of hard rock with sharp 

 edges were used as tools, I believe that some may have been 

 roughly trimmed to shape ; but in coarse-grained rocks like quartzite 

 marks of di'essing would not show very distinctly, and besides the 

 weather would obliterate such marks on quartzite very quickly, 

 whilst the signs of workmanship on flint would scarcely be affected 

 by weathering. Por these reasons I think many rude quartzite 

 tools of our earlier inhabitants may be passed by unrecognized. I 

 can conceive another reason for the rudeness of the quartzite tools. 

 That material has not the durability of flint, and the sharp edges of 

 the flakes are easily blunted ; therefore, seeing that the material was 

 unlimited in quantity, it would be found easier to break up the rock 

 and get fresh pieces with sharp edges than to spend time in specially 

 shaping or grinding an implement that would be so easily injured. 



At Ballyness and Horn Head I found, in the old surface, some 

 flat pieces of stone dressed into a circular shape. I show both front 

 and back view of one of these objects, which I found at Ballyness, 

 in PI. XIX., fig. 6. Those from Horn Head are somewhat smaller 

 (see fig. 7) than the specimen shown as fig. 6, and some of them have 

 an indented outline owing to a series of small chips or flakes having 

 been struck off. An object of this kind may have been a sort of core, 

 from which small chips for either cutting or scraping were struck. 

 Some of them may have been large scrapers or even plates. 



For the reasons I have mentioned above, the implements of 

 quartzite and other hard rock, which some people of the Stone Age 

 were under the necessity of using, were not like those made of flint, 

 often handsome objects. Collectors generally would not think of 

 giving such poor implements house room, but when found in connec- 

 tion with other remains, and that they can be identified as imple- 

 ments, they have a certain value as showing the culture and habits 

 of people of the Stone Age in this country. 



