1883.] 
J. H. Rivett-Carnae —Stone Implements. 
225 
round the centre in a manner which is best shown by the accompanying 
sketch. The base has been hollowed out with equal care in a gouge like 
form, to the depth of about *13 of an inch. The whole arrangement sug¬ 
gests that the hammer was attached by a ligature to a wooden or withy 
handle, the ligature being kept in its place by the upper groove, while 
the lower groove held the hammer in position on the rounded haft, in a 
manner somewhat resembling the annexed sketch. Mr. Coekburn has 
pointed out certain minute marks, especially on the lower groove, which 
suggest the possibility of metal implements having been used in the fa¬ 
shioning of the hammer, and it may be that this implement belongs to the 
transition stage from stone to metal, when metal, though available, was 
scarce. The arrangement for hafting the hammer, closely resembles that 
described by Dr. C. Rau, in his account of the Archaeological collection of 
the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, U. S. America, a copy of which he 
has recently been good enough to send me. This description of the manner 
of hafting the grooved axes, extracted below, applies equally to the handling 
of the hammer, and figs. 78 and 79 of the Smithsonian catalogue strongly 
resemble the Indian specimen now described. 
“ Owing to their frequency these implements may be counted among 
“ the best known relics of the aborigines and especially in the rural dis- 
“ tricts of the older states. Indian stone tomahawks are familiar objects. 
“ In general they can be defined as wedges, encircled by a groove, usually 
“ nearer the butt end than the edge. The groove served for the reception 
“ of a withe of proper length which was bent round the stone head till 
“ both ends met when they were firmly bound together by ligatures of 
“ hide or some other material. The withe thus formed a convenient han- 
“ die.” 
The specimen now figured is it, is believed, the first of this description 
found in India. It is now in the British Museum, casts having been sup¬ 
plied to several of the leading Museums, including the Indian Museum 
Calcutta. 
The collection contains several other grooved hammers of a less perfect 
form, bearing no trace of metallic tooling. They appear to be water-worn 
pebbles, which have been grooved to admit of being attached to a withy 
handle. 
The next specimen, Fig. 2, which I take to be a hammer also, is quite 
unlike any of those figured in the Catalogues of the European and American 
Museums that have yet reached me, though it is approached by a Scandi¬ 
navian hammer, to be noticed later, and is of a type not hitherto found in 
India. It is a cubical mass of basalt measuring 2‘50" each way. On each 
of its six sides is a hole or depression about 1" in diameter and ’25" in depth. 
The whole form is not unlike an astragalus, or die of the ancients, and will 
