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SOME NEOLITHIC HAMMER=HEADS FROM E. YORKS. 



T. SHEPPARD, F.G.S., F.S.A.Scot. 

 (plate XVI.) 



The archaeological section of the Hull Museum has recently 

 been enriched by a number of interesting objects. Amongst 

 these are some hammer-heads of more than usual value, from 

 the careful way in which they have been constructed, and also 

 from the fact that they are of somewhat uncommon types. 

 In each case the entire surface of the stone has been carefully 

 worked, in order to give the shape to the implement, though in 

 one instance, namely the Bempton specimen (fig. 2), it is quite 

 possible that a well-rounded beach pebble may have been 

 selected, the implement being shaped from it with less trouble 

 than would have been the case from a rough piece of stone. 



Perhaps the neatest weapon is that shown in fig. 3, which 

 was found at Sproatley in Holderness. This is made from a 

 highly crystalline fine-grained igneous rock, probably obtained 

 from the local drift, and is very symmetrically shaped. In 

 proportion to the weapon, the hole for the haft is large. 

 It seems to be rather different in type from any figured by the 

 late Sir John Evans in his ' Ancient Stone Implements of Great 

 Britain.' The weapon is roughly egg-shaped, the sides and ends 

 being convex, whilst the top and bottom are slightly concave. 

 It is 3 inches in length, 2f inches in width, 1^ inch in thickness, 

 and the hole is an inch in diameter at the outsides, being slightly 

 less in the centre. It weighs 7J ounces. 



A somewhat similar type of weapon is that shown in fig. 4, 

 though the top and bottom are convex, and the extremities 

 are rather more pointed than in the Sproatley example. It 

 was found in the Carrs at Burton Agnes in 1890 by a game- 

 keeper, and was presented to our collection by the Rev. C. V. 

 Collier, F.S.A. The stone is of a hard quartzite or altered 

 sandstone, such as occurs in the local drift, but the chief 

 interest in the weapon is the fact that it is in an unfinished 

 state. The sides have not been rounded off as in the Sproatley 

 example, and although an attempt has been made to bore a 

 hole for the shaft from each side, the work has not been com- 

 pleted, there being less than one-eighth of an inch still to cut 

 through. It well illustrates the probable method of boring the 

 hole, viz., by means of sand and a stick, the scratches round and 

 round being distinctly visible. The length of the implement is 



1909 Aug. I. 



