HARPOON BARBS AND TRIANGULAR KNIVES. 
553 
seem too thick and bulky to have been used in this way. 
Two Norfolk specimens in my collection can, however, I think 
be safely described as harpoon-barbs. One found on Santon 
Warren has been previously described* as an awl. It is of 
light yellow flint, highly polished. The base is extremely 
thin and with the sharp edge taken off either by intent, or by 
being forced into the side of a harpoon-shaft. This base is 
one inch in length ; one straight edge of the same length is 
beautifully chipped on both sides, and a deeply concave edge, 
likewise chipped from both sides is just under an inch in 
length. The other implement is of light mottled yellow flint, 
with a thin base, chipped or worn, ii in. in length, a beauti- 
fully chipped and slightly convex edge just over il in. in 
length, and a concave edge ^ in. in length. Both the latter 
are splendidly chipped on both sides, and the junction between 
them forms a stout curved barb. This implement is from 
Thetford Abbey Heath. It seems probable that these barbs 
were fixed in slits in the sides of the harpoon-shaft, the ends 
being bound with green sinews which when they contracted 
would bind the barbs with the utmost security. These 
would have the concave sides facing the base of the shaft, and 
as the strain would be on the ends of the barbs, that is where 
they are most usually found broken. An arrowhead may have 
been used to point the harpoon, but as the object in the first 
place is to get the weapon as deeply imbedded as possible. 
I would suggest that an implement such as one I have from 
Bromehill, Weeting, would be more efficacious. It is if in. 
in length, and slopes from the point to a base slightly over 
half an inch in width. It is flat-backed and bulkiest in the 
middle from which it slopes to point and base, the latter being 
thin, so that it could be fixed in the end of a shaft. 
The occurrence of these implements so far inland may be 
accounted for by the fact that Neolithic man had probably 
a much wider range of usefulness for the harpoon than is 
known to us. All three were found on the banks of the 
Little Ouse marshland, and as the tides regularly flowed to 
Wilton until Denver Sluice was constructed in 1652, and 
* Trans. Norfolk & Norwich Nat. Soc. vol. vi. p. 29, 
