Knowlks — Prehistoric Stone Implements. 203 



implement. The dressing on this side of the implement is quite peipendicular 

 to the faces of the flake, showing a thick back and knife-like edge, but the 

 part opposite the shoulder ou the right side is rounded by di-essing like the 

 borers. This specimen has also the character of the pygmies. No. 38 is a fine 

 specimen like No. 31, but dressed from the sides towards the ridge-face only. 

 It was found at Culbane. 



These are only samples selected out of a great number of specimens. 

 It is hard to conceive what use these thin, delicate objects could have been 

 employed in. They might have been usefid in boriug holes in fine leather, 

 but that they might have been employed in the construction of fishing-hooks 

 is, I think, deserving of consideration. 



Before lea^^ng the subject of the so-called boring-tools I must refer to the 

 pointed flakes, which show a dressing all along the edge usually towards the 

 ridge-face, sometimes being only slightly dressed when the flake is broad, but 

 in some cases having the sides cut away close to the midrib, thus lea^oag 

 only a stout triangular implement that could be used either for pointing 

 a spear or for boring purposes. It would seem that there is often a regular 

 gradation from one kind of implement to another. Taking the broader flakes 

 dressed round the margins, we find, whatever their uses may have been, that 

 they resemble the Mousterian points of Palaeolithic age. Some of these are 

 very large and massive. No. 42 is a specimen of this kind. It has Kkely 

 been made from a large flake or spall, though there is now no appearance of a 

 bulb or a midrib as in ordinary flakes. Both faces are plain and flat, and the 

 dressing is towards one face only, that shown. It was foimd at Culbane, and 

 is 6 inches long, 3^ inches broad towards the base, and \\ inches thick. The 

 side not shown is plain and shows no dressing whatever. The implement is 

 quite as massive and fills the hand as well as a Palaeolithic implement of the 

 same dimensions. It is made of reddish-coloured flint. Fig. 43 is an implement 

 somewhat similar to that shown in fig. 42, but in regrouping of the figures 

 into Plates it is shown on its side with its point to the left. It was probably 

 dredged from the bed of the Bann near Coleraine, as it comes from that place. 

 It is formed of grejish fiint, and shows part of the original nodule along the 

 base. It is rather finely dressed along the two principal sides. There is no 

 bulb visible, but it may have been dressed away. It is also massive, and is 

 4 inches long, 3 inches broad at the base, and 1-^ inches thick. No. 44 shows 

 an implement formed from a thick and heavy flake It was found at Culbane, 

 and is dressed by coarse chipping to a stout point. The implement is quite an 

 inch thick, and the bulb-face at the point is slightly dressed. The implement 

 represented in No. 45 was foxmd at Gortgole. It is a stout implement 

 and thick for its size. The point is somewhat curved, owing to the chipping 



E.I. A. PROC, VOL, XXX., SECT. C. [28j 



