230 



On the Recent Discovery of Flint Implements 



and Manganese, assume in the process of crystalization ; very many 

 have also a slight incrustation of Carbonate of Lime on the lower 

 or under surface. 



The implements or weapons of the drift period are without ex- 

 ception formed by chipping alone; there is no indication of any 

 attempt at polishing or rubbing down the sharp angles, a 

 practice which was almost the rule during a subsequent stone 

 period. Chipping was apparently the only idea of this primitive 

 age. The result of this mode of manufacture in the immediate 

 neighbourhood is shown, by the presence of unrolled imple- 

 ments, and by a large number of the rough chippings or 

 " waste flakes," such as of necessity must have been produced in 

 the process of making the finished weapons. These rough flakings 

 appeal but little to the uneducated eye, yet from the peculiar 

 fracture of flint an expert can always tell the direction in which a 

 blow was struck to remove a flake from a mass of flint. By 

 carefully examining these flakes, a slight swelling or "bulb of per- 

 cussion" can generally be detected, indicating the point at which 

 the blow was given to detach each piece from the core or nucleus 

 of flint. 



Besides these " waste flakes " others occur evidently made with 

 a preconceived design ; they are more definite in their form, flat or 

 slightly concave on one side, and present a greater or less number 

 of facets on the other. This proves that one surface of the flint 

 was trimmed into shape before the last blow which separated the 

 flake from the parent block was given. A well marked " bulb of 

 percussion" on the flat side, indicates the point at which this 

 blow was struck. Some others are sharp pointed and triangular 

 in form, and might have been used as heads for darts or arrows ; 

 more likely the former, as the bow and arrow was probably a later 

 invention. 



Intermediate between the simple flakes and the more finished 

 implements, are a class of objects almost identical in form with 

 certain " skin-scrapers " from the bone caves of France, especially 

 from Le Moustier, Dordogne. They somewhat resemble large 

 waste flakes, but have been carefully chipped on one side to a blunt 



