SIMILAR STONES PROM DENMARK. 141 



described by Professor Nilsson* as a hammer-stone, " in which the usual 

 indentures have been carried through the stone." Another specimen (Plate 

 X, Fig'. 11) is made of a very hard arid heavy black stone, probably basalt, 

 with a straight perforation through its longest diameter. It is difficult to 

 consider such a stone as this as having' been made for any other purpose 

 than as a weapon of some kind, and the small hole suggests that the stone 

 was fastened to a handle by means of a thong of hide. Mounted in this 

 way it would form a formidable weapon like a " slung-shot." Two other 

 specimens in the collection, one of which is beautifully polished, must be 

 regarded as of the same character as the one first described. Fig. 8 of the 

 plate represents one of the rudest specimens in the lot, and consists of a dis- 

 coidal pebble of Cjuartz schist, which has been perforated. A stone like this 

 mav have been used as a net-sinker, or for any ordinary purpose where a 

 small weight was required, as it seems too rude and rough for a spindle- 

 whorl, and it is not heavy enough for a club-head or for a hammer. Two 

 of the Danish specimens, Plate X, Figs 9 and 13, are identical with the 

 thin fiat examples from the Swiss lakes, and may well be considered as 

 spindle-whorls. With them should be classed the bead-like specimen 

 represented by Fig. 6, which is probably made of baked clay. In con- 

 nection with these Danish specimens, I was much interested by finding 

 four which illustrated the method of manufacture, and showed that much 

 labor was expended in the production of the largest and best made of 

 these perforated stones. These examples showed that the desired form, 

 either spherical or discoidal, was attained by first hammering the stone 

 roughly into shape and then polishing. A close examination of all the 

 larger perfect specimens from Denmark shows that they were thus finished, 

 and that they were not simply perforated pebbles. The same is the case 

 with most, if not all, of the best finished of the California specimens. One 

 of the Danish stones appears to have been ornamented by numerous incised 

 lines, but this is the most weathered of the lot, and, although made of a 

 hard stone, its long exposure to atmospheric action has so disintegrated its 

 surface as to nearly obliterate the markings. Several of the Californian 

 stones show similar rude attempts at ornamentation by incised lines 



" The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia, English edition, 1868, p. 16, pi. i, fig. 12. 



