160 



On the Ancient Stone and Flint Implements of Berwick- 

 shire and the Borders. No. III. By James Hardy. 



Through the interposition of several friends and members of 

 the Club, I am enabled to offer another view of the expedients 

 for use or warfare, to which the primitive people of the district 

 had recourse, when metals were either unknown or sparsely- 

 diffused amidst a prevailing barbarism. Mr Middlemas has 

 again performed the good office of furnishing exact and lively- 

 representations of these curious objects ; and I am happy to say, 

 there still remain others, which may be available for further 

 illustrations. Along with a general unity of type, there is a very 

 considerable variety of detail in these articles, scarcely two being 

 the exact counterpart of each other. This originated from the 

 want of correspondence in shape of the original intractable 

 material that formed the basis, it being sufficient for the object 

 intended, that each should be worked to an ideal model. Judg- 

 ing from these examples, the stone-equipment of a native com- 

 munity, either for warlike or domestic purposes, must have been 

 of a very heterogenous character, the result of necessity, rather 

 than of diversity of taste. 



The figures in Plates I. and II., are about half the natural 

 size, those on Plates III. and IV., are of full proportion. 

 I. Axe-Hammer and Adzes or Hoes. 



1. The large perforated axe-hammer, Plate I., fig. 1., is formed 

 of the coarse-grained greywacke of the district. It is 7f- inches 

 long ; 4^ inches broad ; 2% inches thick. The thickness is not 

 uniform, but is less behind the perforation for the shaft, than in 

 front of it. The weight is 6^- pounds. The diameter of the 

 haft-hole is 2 inches on one side, and 1|- on the other ; it is neatly 

 and uniformly drilled, apparently from one side only. It would 

 admit of a stout handle. It was probably bored by a metal im- 

 plement. The perforation is 2£ inches from the blunt end, and 

 3£ from the other. The flat faces have been rubbed down with 

 considerable labour, and then hollowed out. The shallow de- 

 pression is of the shape of the outline of the axe, and is deepest 

 round the haft-hole. The side where moisture has not acted on 

 it, is the smoother, and has even a polish on it. The edges are 

 rounded, sharpest towards the narrow end. The blunt end is 

 slightly flattened. The narrow end is not sharp, but blunted, so 



