FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 
345 
By the side of the camp fire the old Archaic man repointed 
\ that is re-chipped) his axes and refashioned his arrow-heads. 
Sometimes the flint broke unkindly, and it was flung aside as a 
broken knife would he. 
As an American would whittle a chip, as a boy amuses him- 
self by carving a boat out of a block of wood, to pass the dull 
evenings of winter, so, we can well imagine, the Archaic boy, 
copying his elders, learnt on his own account to chip and 
fashion flints. The evening meal had to be cooked and the 
u strike-a-light ” came into requisition, to be cast aside when 
done with, for any other piece of flint at the next halting-place 
would do as well. And remember his materials for fire-making 
were very simple. A piece of iron pyrites, some vegetable fibre, 
and a flint stone. It must have often taken a long time to get 
a light in damp weather. Many chips must have been knocked 
off uselessly with cold hands and such rough material. 
No wonder, then, that “ briquets” are numerous and are 
much worn. But the meat had to be cut, the bones well 
scraped, perhaps even the finer ones converted into needles, or 
arrow-heads, and for this longer flakes would be required. 
So from larger blocks long sharp-edged flakes were struck 
off and used. Some of these rough blocks, when so denuded, 
were sharp enough for blunt chisels ; others could be made so 
by breaking them across at a sharp angle, like a rough mortice 
chisel, as Dr. Gillespie has suggested. With these, stakes burnt 
in the fire could be roughly shaped down to a point to form 
stockades, &c. When the occupation of the site lasted for any 
time it may have been thus protected with stakes and wattle. 
Remember there was no iron to dig with ; only sharp-edged 
stone to use for cutting purposes. Then skins had to be dressed 
down, scraped with a thumb-shaped flint which would rub and 
not pierce or cut them. Needles were wanted and were shaped 
from fragments or splinters of the bones of rabbits and birds 
by flint flakes, and the eyes bored with a small pointed tool. 
All these operations would he the natural outcome of natural 
necessity ; and it therefore follows that to seek with compara- 
tive certainty for traces of early man, the following conditions 
must be, as a rule, fulfilled : 1. Occupation sites, more or less 
permanent, are to be looked for near the older roadways lead- 
ing to fords or ancient bridges, their outline being, though now 
marked by hedgerows, as devious and winding as the ancient 
track was. 2. Sheltered spots near these roads, protected from 
view by trees, and comparatively dry though still close to 
water (especially if the sites be likely to afford food supplies of 
roots or rabbits) are necessary. 3. The ancient names of places 
are often a valuable guide. All old camping-grounds being near 
water, the different equivalents for water in local names may 
NEW SERIES, VOL. I. — NO. IV. A A 
