ON THE SO-CALLED BOW-PULLER OF ANTIQUITY. 145 



cylinder as shown in Fig. 3a, Plate III. The front side 

 is conspicuously ornamented with circles, cross lines, ver- 

 tical ribs, knobs, and in a few cases with the phallic em- 

 blem on each side and pointing away from the centre. At 

 the base of the front spine a steer's head is sometimes seen 

 in high relief, or a lion's head with a lion on both sides, 

 stretching toward it. The outline of the object shows 

 strong indentations and the spines are usually heavier and 

 longer. In both types the spines vary greatly in form ; 

 the paired spines may be widely separated at their bases, 

 or united nearly to their apices ; the bases of the three 

 spines may be close together, or a space of a centimeter 

 or more may separate the front spine from the back spines ; 

 the spines may be long and pointed 

 or they may be very short and 

 blunt ; they may be round, Square 

 or angular in section or elongate 

 oval (Plate IV, Fig. 8), but in the 

 latter case the Hatten ing is parallel «SsJ 

 to the longitudinal axis of the ob- 

 ject. The three spines may be of 

 equal length, or may vary ; in some 

 the front spine is the longest, in ^ ^ 



others the two back spines are §§§) ®> 



longer. The paired spines may 

 also vary, sometimes the left one, 

 sometimes the right one being the 

 longer. While there is no uni- ^S SSJ 



formity in the length, thickness 

 or form of the spines, the larger 

 number of bow-pullers have three FlG * 4 " 



spines, though they are found rarely with four spines 

 (Plate IV, Fig. 1), sometimes long and tapering and again 

 in the shape of four short knobs (Plate IV, Figs. 2, 3, 4). 



