Knowi.es — Prehistoric Remains, Sandhills, Coast of Ireland. 375 



have a tang worked at the base to aid in fixing to a shaft or handle, 

 see fig. 104, J^o. XII. Sometimes the point has also r£ceived a slight 

 dressing, mostly on one side, possibly in order to equaKse the sides. 

 That a maker of flakes could set to work with the intention of pro- 

 ducing pointed flakes is, I think, highly probable, as I recently obtained 

 a find of thirty-foiu- pointed flakes all found lying in one lump in the 

 making of a drain near Dervock, county Antrim. Although these 

 flakes were all apparently made of one kind of flint, yet I was iinable 

 to replace any of them, which would lead me to suspect that the 

 workman had many failures, and only hid away the kind he wanted. 

 ]N'o. XII., figs. 95 to 104, show examples of pointed flakes. Figs. 95 

 to 97, or the top row in jS'o. XII., are a selection fi'om the fijid of thirty- 

 foiu' which I have mentioned, and fig. 101 is one of another small iind 

 of six pointed flakes found together near Kells, county Antrim. The 

 others are nearly all from the valley of the Bann, where, as I have 

 mentioned, pointed flakes are found in considerable numbers. They 

 would be suitable for either spear-points or as knives and daggers. 

 Makes of the Australian natives, having handles formed of gum, have 

 a great likeness to oiu" Irish pointed flakes, while those from the 

 Admii'alty Islands, mounted as spear-points, have also a close 

 resemblance. 



There is another kind of flake which I consider was equally the 

 result of design on the part of the workman. This is a kind that is, 

 as a rule, long and thin with sharp edges, and though the pointed flake 

 may have been used as a knife as well as a spear-point or dagger, this 

 was specially suited for knives or saws. Such flakes may have only 

 one ridge down the back or they may have two or more ridges, but no 

 matter whether they were triangular, flat, polygonal or outside flakes, 

 all were evidently intended for the same purpose. They were probably 

 used first without any trimming of the edges, as in the four examples 

 shown in figs. 87 to 90, in No. XL, part of a find of 67 such flakes 

 found near Portglenone, county Antrim. Eventually the marks of 

 use begin to show on the edges, as in fig. 9 1 , then there is a partial 

 trimming of the edge, as in fig. 92, then both edges are trimmed, as in 

 fig. 93, which it will be seen was an outside fiake, with part of the 

 outside crust showing up the centre of the implement. The most 

 highly finished stage is shown in fig. 94 of '^o. XL, where the flake is 

 carefully chipped over the entire back, which now shows an even curve, 

 as will be seen in the section, while the under side of the flake still 

 remains in a plain or undressed state. We find shorter knife-flakes, 

 which, when manufactured into tools, have one of the edges of the flake 



