100 



On Some Uses of Flint Implements. 



(especially of those exposed to a cold climate), and the amount of 

 dressing and scraping the hides require before they can be made 

 available for the purposes of clothing or tent-making, it is evident 

 that some instrument must have been in use by the early residents 

 here for the purpose of dressing the skins. The scrapers that are 

 now found, appear to have been for the most part worn away in such 

 a manner as would have arisen from the scraping of greasy leather. 

 The edges are still sharp, and the chipping shows little trace of 

 contact with a hard substance. Some, however, are much knocked 

 about, and appear to have been subjected to rougher work, probably 

 having been used in fashioning the more finished celts, perforated 

 axes, and other implements then in use. Occasionally these scrapers 

 are found so small that it is difficult to imagine that they could 

 have been placed to either of the uses already mentioned. Their 

 edges are more worn and bruised than would have arisen from 

 scraping in the ordinary sense of the word. It has been suggested 

 that these have been used for striking against balls of iron-pyrites, 

 which are common in all chalk districts, and would be as effectual 

 as iron for producing fire. This supposition may very probably be 

 a correct one, as fire was as necessary for the purposes of cooking 

 with the early savage tribes as it is now, and they may have dis- 

 covered a more expeditious mode of obtaining it than the slow 

 process of the friction of two pieces of wood. Pyrites have been 

 found with other relics in the barrows opened in this county, as well 

 as elsewhere, and with it there is usually found a flint flake of some 

 kind. From the association of the two it is reasonable to assume 

 that they have been placed together for a common use, and that the 

 most important and necessary of all — for producing fire. 



Finger-Flakes. A question naturally arises, " How were these 

 scrapers made ? " It has been already stated that near Windmill 

 Hill the scrapers have been found in such abundance as to lead to 

 the conclusion that there was probably a manufactory in that neigh- 

 bourhood. With the scrapers there have been found a number of 

 narrow worked flints from 2 to 3 inches in length, each with a 

 well-worn pointed edge. It was difficult at first to assign any use 

 for these, but they are now supposed to have been the tools with 



