270 R. B. Foote — Notes on some recent Neolithic and [No. 3, 



stone strikers, hammers, in fact, without handles, of which large num- 

 bers of all sizes and weights occur in all the settlements in which the 

 manufacture was carried on. In the second stage, the surface of the 

 chipped implement was picked or " pecked " over with a sharp-pointed 

 striker (by which all the little ridges between the numerous chipped out 

 surfaces were broken down and the surface rendered approximately- 

 even), and great labour saved to the grinder, who put the implement 

 through the third stage of progress, and gave it a good sharp and even 

 cutting edge. The fourth and final stage consisted in polishing the 

 implement all over. 



The grinding and polishing was done by rubbing the implements 

 backwards and forwards on the surface of the granite rocks, or of big 

 blocks, which became worn into the shallow elliptical troughs above 

 referred to, and of which several were met with on the Kapgal hill ; on 

 some of the other settlements, these are very numerous and occur in groups 

 where the grinders had sat together sociably over their work. On the 

 Budihal Hill, in Anantapur District, 8 miles south-east of Bellary, are 

 several remarkable groups of these polishing places. They are placed 

 on high rock terraces, regular coigns of vantage commanding good 

 views over the country where the operators could work and watch with 

 great ease. On one rock terrace, twenty are to be seen in a space just 

 15 yards square. Other polishing troughs are found well under cover of 

 great rock shelters, or in small caves, where perfect shade was obtainable 

 during the heat of the day. 



The implements lay about exposed on the surface or partly im- 

 bedded in the made ground, and some were found at a depth of 2 or 3 

 or more feet, where rain-gullies had cut deeply into the made ground. 

 In every case in which I obtained numerous implements, the quantity 

 of broken pottery was also very great, and I hardly ever got the one 

 without the other; and now, whenever I come across fragments of 

 antique black and red pottery, I make a special search for implements, 

 and very rarely fail in finding something of interest. 



The most numerous implements are strikers and corn-crushers, next 

 to them numerically come the mealing-stones, then celts and chisels, the 

 last being very rare. Less common than celts, but less rare than 

 chisels, are worked scrapers of the Esquimaux type; Cores and core- 

 flakes are also rare, but I imagine many more would be found, if regular 

 excavations of the made ground of the built, or natural, terraces were 

 carried out and the material all carefully sifted. This I had no oppor- 

 tunity of doing in any case, as my geological work did not admit of my 

 devoting sufficient time for close research. In many of the settlements, 

 numerous small stones differing in kind from the local rock were found, 



