CHIPPED OR ROUGH-HEWN CELTS.
Celts which have been merely chipped into form, and left unground,
even at the edge, are of frequent occurrence in England, especially in
those counties where flint is abundant. They are not, however, nearly
so common in collections of antiquities as those which have been ground
either wholly or in part; and this, no doubt, arises from the fact that
many of them are so rudely chipped out, that it requires a practised
eye to recognize them, when associated, as they usually are, with
numerous other flints of natural and accidental forms. No doubt many
of these chipped celts, especially where, from the numbers discovered,
there appears to have been a manufactory on the spot, were intended to
be eventually ground; but there are some which are roughly chipped, and
which may possibly have been used as agricultural implements without
further preparation; and others, the edges of which are so minutely
and symmetrically chipped, that they appear to be adapted for use as
hatchets or cutting-tools without requiring to be farther sharpened by
grinding. There are others again, as already mentioned at page 32, the
edges of which have been produced by the intersection of two facets
only, and are yet so symmetrical and sharp, that whetting their edge on
a grindstone would be superfluous.
* * * * *
Of this character I possess several specimens from Suffolk, of which
one from Mildenhall is engraved in Fig. 12. As will be observed, the
edge is nearly semicircular, but it is nevertheless formed merely by
the intersection of two facets, each resulting from a single chip or
flake of flint having been removed. I have in my collection another
hatchet from the same place, which is so curiously similar to this in
all respects, that it was probably made by the same hand. I am not,
however, aware whether the two were found together.
There is in these implements a peculiar curvature on one face, as
shown in the side view, which, I think, must be connected with the
method by which they were attached to their handles. From the form,
|68| it seems probable that they were mounted as adzes, with the edge
transversely to the line of the handle, and not as axes. I have a more
roughly-chipped specimen of the same type, found near Wanlud’s Bank,
Luton, Beds, by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., in which the same curvature of
one of the faces is observable. It is not so conspicuous in a larger
implement of the same class, also from Mildenhall (Fig. 13), but this
likewise is slightly curved longitudinally. In the Christy Collection
is another, found at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, of the same type. It
is rounded at the butt, but nearly square at the cutting edge, which
is formed by the junction of two facets, from which flakes have been
struck off. I have seen others of the same character from near the
Bartlow Hills, Cambs, and from Sussex. Others, from 4 3∕4 to 6 inches
in length, from Burwell, Wicken, and Bottisham Fens, are preserved
in the museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, and in my own
collection. In the Greenwell collection is a specimen 7 3∕4 inches
long, from Burnt Fen. I have also a French implement of this kind from
the neighbourhood of Abbeville.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.—Near Mildenhall. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 13.—Near Mildenhall. 1∕2]
Implements with this peculiar edge, are found in Denmark. Indeed, the
edges of the common form of Kjökken-mödding axes[266] are usually
produced in the same manner, by the intersection of two facets, each
formed by a single blow, though the resulting edge is generally almost
straight.
Closely approaching this Danish form, is that of a celt of brown |69|
flint, shown in Fig. 14, and found near Thetford by the late Mr. J.
W. Flower, F.G.S., with one face nearly flat, and the edge formed by a
single transverse facet. The implements, however, of this type, with
the chisel edge, are rarely met with in this country; and, generally
speaking, axes similar to those which occur in such numbers in the
Danish Kjökken-möddings and Coast-finds are of very rare occurrence
elsewhere. I have, however, a small nearly-triangular hatchet of the
Danish type, and with the sides bruised in the same manner (probably
with a view of preventing their cutting the ligaments by which the
instruments were attached to their handles, or, possibly, to prevent
their cutting the hand when held), which I found in the circular
encampment known as Maiden Bower, near Dunstable.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.—Near Thetford. 1∕2]
Hatchets of this type have also been found in some numbers in the
valley of the Somme, at Montiers, near Amiens, as well as in the
neighbourhood of Pontlevoy (Loir et Cher), in the Camp de Catenoy
(Oise), and in Champagne.[267] I have also specimens from the
neighbourhood of Pressigny-le-Grand and of Châtellerault. It would
therefore appear that this form of implement is not confined to
maritime districts, and that it can hardly be regarded as merely a
weight for a fishing-line,[268] as has been suggested by Professor
Steenstrup.[269]
A few of the large Polynesian adzes of basalt have their edges produced
by a similar method of chipping and are left unground.
Capt. G. V. Smith[270] has experimented in Jutland with the
Kjökken-mödding axes, and has cut down fir-trees of seven inches
diameter with them. The trees for Mr. Sehested’s[271] wooden hut were
cut down and trimmed with stone hatchets ground at the edge.
In the British Museum are several roughly-chipped flints that seem
to present a peculiar type. They are from about 4 to 6 inches long,
nearly flat on one face, coarsely worked to an almost semicircular
bevel edge at one end, and with a broad rounded notch on each side, as
if to enable them to be secured to a handle, possibly as agricultural
implements. They formed part of the Durden collection, and were found
in the neighbourhood of Blandford.
Another and more common form of roughly-chipped celt is that of which
an example is given in Fig. 15, from my own collection. It was found at
Oving, near Chichester, and was given me by Professor W. Boyd Dawkins,
F.R.S. The edge, in this instance, is formed in the same manner, by the
intersection of two facets, but the section is nearly |70| triangular.
If attached to a handle it was probably after the manner of an adze
rather than of an axe. I have a smaller specimen of the same type, and
another, flatter and more neatly chipped, 7 3∕4 inches long, from the
Cambridge Fens.
I have seen implements of much the same form which have been found
at Bemerton, near Salisbury (Blackmore Museum); at St. Mary Bourne,
Andover; at Santon Downham, near Thetford; at Little Dunham, Norfolk;
near Ware; and near Canterbury; but the edge is sometimes formed by
several chips, in the same manner as the sides, and not merely by the
junction of two planes of fracture.
There are also smaller rough celts with the subtriangular section,
of which I have a good example, 4 1∕2 inches long, found by Mr. W.
Whitaker, F.R.S., near Maiden Castle, Dorsetshire. It is curiously
similar to one that I found near Store Lyngby, in Denmark.
The same form occurs in France.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.—Oving, near Chichester. 1∕2]
Other roughly-chipped implements are to be found in various parts of
Britain, lying scattered over the fields, some of them so rude that
they may be regarded as merely flints chipped into form, to serve some
temporary purpose; as wasters thrown away as useless by those who were
trying to manufacture stone implements which were eventually destined
to be ground; or as the rude implements of the merest savage. Certainly
some of the stone hatchets of the Australian natives are quite as rude
or ruder, and yet we find them carefully provided with handles. In
Hertfordshire, I have myself picked up several such implements; and
they have been found in considerable numbers in the neighbourhood of
Icklingham in Suffolk, near Andover, and in other places. An adze-like
celt of this kind (4 1∕2 inches) is recorded from Wishmoor,[272]
Surrey. Were proper search made for them, there are probably not many
districts where it would be fruitless. In Ireland they appear to be
rare; but numerous roughly-shaped |71| implements of this class have
been found in Poitou and in other parts of France. They are also met
with in Belgium and Denmark.
As has already been suggested, it is by no means improbable that some
of these ruder unpolished implements were employed in agriculture, like
the so-called shovels and hoes of flint of North America, described by
Professor Rau. I have a flat celt-like implement about 6 1∕2 inches
long and 3 inches broad, found in Cayuga County, New York, which,
though unground, has its broad end beautifully polished on both faces,
apparently by friction of the silty soil in which it has been used
as a hoe. It is, as Professor Rau has pointed out in other cases,
slightly striated in the direction in which the implement penetrated
the ground.[273] I have also an Egyptian chipped flint hoe from Qûrnah,
polished in a precisely similar manner. It is doubtful whether many of
the rough implements from the neighbourhood of Thebes are Neolithic or
Palæolithic.[274]
[Illustration: Fig. 16.—Near Newhaven. 1∕2]
The implement represented in Fig. 16, rude as it is, is more
symmetrical and more carefully chipped than many of this class. I
found it, with several other worked flints, on the surface of the
soil in a field between Newhaven and Telscombe, Sussex, where had
formerly stood a barrow, one of a group of four, the positions of
which are shown on the Ordnance Map, though they are now all levelled
to the ground. It is, of course, possible that such an implement may
have been merely blocked out, with the intention of finishing it by
subsequent chipping and grinding, and that it was not intended for use
in its present condition; or it may possibly have been deposited in
the tumulus as a votive offering, or in compliance with some ancient
custom, as suggested hereafter. (See p. 282.) It will be observed
that the original crust of the block of flint from which it was
fashioned is left at the butt end. A somewhat similar specimen, from
the neighbourhood of Hastings, and another from a tumulus at Seaford
are figured in the _Sussex Archæological Collections_[275]; and I have
one from the Thames at Battersea, and others from Suffolk and from the
Cambridge Fens. The late Sir Joseph Prestwich, F.R.S., found one of
the same character at Shoreham, near Sevenoaks, and the late Mr. J. F.
Lucas had |72| another, 4 inches long, from Arbor Low, Derbyshire. A
small chipped celt was found in a barrow at Pelynt,[276] Cornwall.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.—Near Dunstable. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 18.—Burwell Fen. 1∕2]
Fig. 17 shows an implement found by my eldest son, at the foot of the
Downs, near Dunstable. It has been chipped from a piece of tabular
flint, and can hardly have been intended to be ground or polished. It
is more than usually oval in form, and in general character approaches
very closely to the ovate implements from the River gravels; from the
manner in which it is fashioned, and from its being found in company
with worked flints unquestionably belonging to the Surface Period, I
regard it, however, as of Neolithic and not of Palæolithic age.[277]
Another implement of much the same form, found near Grime’s Graves,
in Norfolk,[278] has been figured by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. Others
were found at Cissbury,[279] Sussex, and at Dunmer,[280] and near
Ellisfield Camp, Hants. Mr. C. Monkman had another, 5 3∕4 inches long,
and rather narrower in its proportions, found at Bempton, Yorkshire. I
have implements of much the same shape, though larger, from some of the
ancient flint-implement manufactories of Belgium.
The next specimen (Fig. 18) is from Burwell Fen, Cambridge, and
|73| is in my own collection. It is of beautiful workmanship, most
skilfully and symmetrically chipped, and thinner than is usual with
implements of this class. The edge is perfectly regular, and has been
formed by delicate secondary chipping. So sharp is it, that I should
almost doubt its ever having been intended to be ground or polished.
That a sufficient edge for cutting purposes could be obtained by
careful chipping without grinding, seems to be evinced by the fact that
some stone celts, the whole body of which has been polished, are found
with the edge merely chipped and not ground. No doubt when these blades
were new, they were polished all over; but as the edge became broken
away by wear, it would appear as if the owners had contented themselves
by chipping out a fresh edge, without taking the trouble of grinding
it. Still it must be borne in mind, that a vast amount of labour in
grinding was saved by the implement being brought as nearly to the
required shape as possible by chipping only, so that the circumstance
of polished celts having unground edges may be due to merely accidental
causes.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.—Mildenhall. 1∕2]
These neatly-chipped flint celts are found also in Ireland. I have one
of the same section as Fig. 18, but longer and narrower. It was found
in Ulster. I have also specimens from Poitou.
They are of occasional but rare occurrence with this section in Denmark.
A neatly-chipped flint hatchet of small size and remarkably square at
the edge is shown in Fig. 19. It was found at Mildenhall, Suffolk, and
is in the Greenwell collection, now Dr. Sturge’s. There are traces
of grinding on some portions of the faces. In the same collection is
another hatchet of the same character from Ganton Wold, Yorkshire, the
edge of which is ground. I have an unground example of this type from
Lakenheath.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.—Bottisham Fen. 1∕2]
The original of Fig. 20 is in the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian
Society, and was found in Bottisham Fen. In neatness of workmanship it
much resembles the last; but it is slightly curved longitudinally, and
has the inner face more ridged than the outer. It was probably intended
to be mounted as an adze.
I have a beautiful implement of the same general form, but nearly flat
on one face, found in Burwell Fen. It has been manufactured from a
large flake. |74|
The hatchet engraved as Fig. 21, was found in ploughing near
Bournemouth, and was kindly brought under my notice by the late Mr.
Albert Way, F.S.A. Its principal peculiarity is the inward curvature of
the sides, rendering it somewhat narrower in the middle than at either
end. Its greatest expansion is, however, at what appears to have been
intended for the cutting edge, so that at this end its outline much
resembles that of one of the Scandinavian forms. The sides, however,
instead of being square are sharp. The specimen from Burwell Fen, Fig.
36, exhibits nearly the same form, but has the edge ground. A thinner
specimen, also from Burwell Fen, and in the Museum of the Cambridge
Antiquarian Society, is unground. It is 5 3∕8 inches long, 2 1∕8 inches
broad at one end and 1 1∕2 inches at the other, but only 1 1∕4 inches
broad towards the middle of the blade. Mr. T. Layton, F.S.A., possesses
a celt found in the Thames, that presents this peculiarity in a still
more exaggerated manner. It is 6 3∕4 inches long, 2 3∕4 inches broad at
one end and 2 1∕4 inches at the other, but only 1 1∕2 inches in width
at the middle of the blade.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.—Near Bournemouth. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 22.—Thetford. 1∕2]
A remarkably elegant specimen of similar character is shown in Fig.
22. It was found on the surface at Thetford Warren, Suffolk, and was
formerly in the collection of Mr. J. W. Flower, F.G.S., but |75| now
in mine. It is of grey flint, and has been formed from a large flake, a
considerable portion of the flat face of which has been left untouched
by the subsequent working. All along the sides, however, as well as at
the ends, it has been chipped on both faces to a symmetrical form. The
outer surface of the original flake has almost entirely disappeared
during the process of manufacturing the adze, for such it appears to
have been rather than an axe. The form is suggestive of the tool having
been copied from one in metal, and is very like that of the flat bronze
celts. It may belong to the transitional period, when bronze was coming
into use, but was still too scarce to have superseded flint.
The commonest form of the symmetrically-chipped but unground celts is
that shown in Fig. 23. The particular specimen engraved is in my own
collection; and, like so many other antiquities of this class, came
from the Fen district, having been found in Reach Fen in 1852.
It is equally convex on both faces, and, from its close resemblance in
form to so many of the polished celts, it was probably destined for
grinding. I have another of the same form, 6 1∕2 inches long, from the
neighbourhood of Thetford.
A magnificent specimen of this class, but wider in proportion to its
length, found near Mildenhall, is preserved in the Christy Collection.
[Illustration: Fig. 23.—Reach Fen, Cambridge. 1∕2]
I have a very fine specimen 9 inches long, from the Thames, and others
6 1∕2 and 5 1∕4 inches long, of a wider form, and delicately chipped
all round, from Burwell Fen. The late Mr. James Carter, of Cambridge,
had one of the narrower kind, 9 inches long, found at Blunt’s Hill,
near Witham, Essex. The same form, with numerous modifications, was
found in the pits at Cissbury,[281] which will shortly be described.
One about 8 1∕4 inches long, in outline like Fig. 20, was found in
Anglesea.[282] Another 9 1∕2 inches long, was found near Farnham,[283]
Dorset.
One of the most remarkable discoveries of celts of this character, is
that of which I have seen a MS. memorandum in the hands of the late
Mrs. Dickinson,[284] of Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, who herself had four of
the |76| implements. According to this account, a man digging flints
on Clayton Hill, on the South Downs, Sussex, in 1803, found near the
windmill, just beneath the sod, and lying side by side, eight celts of
grey flint, chipped into form and not ground. One of these was as much
as 13 inches long. Those in Mrs. Dickinson’s collection were—(1) 11 3∕4
long by 3 1∕2 broad and 2 1∕8 thick, (2) 9 1∕2 by 3 1∕4 by 1 3∕4,
(3) 7 1∕2 by 3 1∕8 by 2 1∕8, and (4) 6 1∕2 by 3 by 1 5∕8. Four such,
7 1∕4 to 9 inches long, chipped only, were found buried in a row at
Teddington.[285]
[Illustration: Fig. 24.—Scamridge, Yorkshire. 1∕2]
These deposits seem to have been intentional. “In the Hervey
Islands[286] it was customary on the eve of battle to bury the stone
adzes of the family in some out-of-the-way place. Beds of these (in
heathen times) priceless treasures are still occasionally discovered.
About a dozen adzes, large and small, were arranged in a circle, the
points being towards the centre. The knowledge of the localities where
to find them was carefully handed down from one generation to another.”
At Northmavine,[287] Orkney, seven celts were found, arranged in a
circle with the points towards the centre. From two to eight flint axes
are sometimes found together in Denmark, and by Dr. Sophus Müller[288]
are regarded as funeral offerings or ex-votos.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.—Forest of Bere, near Horndean. 1∕2]
Such roughly-chipped celts have been found in immense numbers in the
neighbourhood of Eastbourne. A large collection of them is in the
Museum at Lewes. I have seen a large celt of this section, but with
flatter edge[289] and straighter sides, which was found in peat at
Thatcham, near Newbury, Berks. Of the same class is a celt |77| found
near Norwich, engraved in the _Geologist_.[290] I have seen several
other specimens from Norfolk, as well as from Wilts, Cambridgeshire,
Dorsetshire, and other counties. Some specimens from the neighbourhood
of Grime’s Graves, Norfolk, have been figured.[291] Flint celts of this
class are occasionally found in Yorkshire, but the edge is usually
less round in outline than Fig. 23. In some cases it is straight, like
Fig. 19. Some of those from Yorkshire are extremely small, as will be
seen by Fig. 24, from Scamridge, in the North Riding. I have other
specimens, 2 and 2 1∕2 inches long and about 1 1∕2 inches broad, from
the Yorkshire Wolds. I have also one of the ordinary form from Lough
Neagh, Ireland; but it has been slightly ground near the edge.
Though rare in Ireland, flint celts of this form and character are of
common occurrence in France[292] and Belgium. Many such have been found
at Spiennes, near Mons, where there appears to have been a manufactory,
as already mentioned; and I have specimens from Amiens (including one
from Montiers, 10 inches), from various parts of Poitou, and from
the Seine, at Paris. A broad, thin instrument of this class, made of
Silurian schist, and found in the dolmen of Bernac, Charente,[293] is
engraved by De Rochebrune.
[Illustration: Fig. 25A.—Isle of Wight. 1∕2]
They occur also in Denmark and Sweden in considerable numbers.
A slightly different and narrower form of implement is shown in Fig.
25, which first appeared in the _Archæological Journal_, vol. xx., p.
371. The original is of yellow flint, and was found in the Forest of
Bere, Hampshire. I may add that I have picked up several in the |78|
parish of Abbot’s Langley, Herts. One like Fig. 25, but smaller, found
at Bedmond,[294] has been figured. A narrow specimen (6 inches, like
Fig. 25) from Aldbourne, Hungerford, is in the collection of Mr. J. W.
Brooke, of Marlborough.
Many of the other forms of polished celts occur in the unground
condition, of the same shape, for instance, as Fig. 35. It is needless
to multiply illustrations, though I must mention a remarkable
instrument of this character preserved in the Greenwell collection. It
is of flint 6 1∕4 inches long, and in outline closely resembling Fig.
35. It is, however, much curved longitudinally, the curve being more
rapid towards the butt-end, which is also somewhat thickened. The chord
of the rather irregular arc thus produced is 1∕2 an inch. Such a tool
can only have been mounted as an adze or hoe with the concave face
towards the helve. It was found at Kenny Hill, Mildenhall.
A singular instrument chipped out of flint, like three celts conjoined
into one, so as to form a sort of tribrach, is said to have been found
in the Isle of Wight. It is shown in Fig. 25A, kindly lent by the
Society of Antiquaries.[295] In form it is of much the same character
as some of the implements from Yucatan,[296] and from Vladimir,[297]
Russia. It may be compared with some examples of strange forms from
Honduras.[298]
* * * * *
I have already spoken of the method in which these and other allied
forms of stone implements were manufactured; but, before quitting the
subject of chipped or rough-hewn celts, I must devote a little space to
the interesting discovery made by General Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., on the
site of an ancient manufactory of flint implements, among which celts
predominated, within the entrenchment known as Cissbury, near Worthing,
where Colonel Ayre, R.A.,[299] found, some years ago, a very perfect
flint celt. The entrenchment has now been proved to be of more recent
date than the pits shortly to be mentioned.
Accounts of the investigations of General Pitt Rivers and of some
subsequently carried on by Mr. Ernest Willett are given in the
_Archæologia_,[300] from which most of the following particulars are
abstracted. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., also assisted at a part of the
exploration, and some of my illustrations are taken from specimens in
his collection. The earthwork, of irregularly oval form, surrounds
the summit of a chalk hill, near Worthing, in Sussex, on the western
slope of which, within the rampart, are some fifty funnel or cup-shaped
depressions, some of small size, but others about seventy feet in
diameter and twelve feet in depth. At the base of these there seem to
have been originally shafts |79| sunk into the chalk, and similar
shafts have now been found beneath the rampart. Many of these were
opened, and were found to contain, amongst the rubble with which
they were partially filled, well-chipped celts and ruder implements,
quantities of splinters and minute chippings of flint; flakes, some
worked on one or both faces; some few boring-tools and scrapers; and
many stones that had been used as hammers. Most of the flints had
become quite white on the surface, as is often the case when they rest
in a porous soil. Parts of antlers of red deer, remains of horse,
goat, boar, and ox (_Bos longifrons_), oyster and a few other marine
shells and snail-shells, as well as fragments of charcoal and rude
pottery, were also found. At the base of one of the pits explored by
Mr. Willett, galleries were found of precisely the same character as
those at Grime’s Graves, near Brandon, and at Spiennes, near Mons,
in Belgium, which I have already described, and it is evident that
they were excavated for the purpose of procuring flint, to be chipped
into the form of implements upon the spot. It does not appear certain
that the portions of antler which were found had been used, as in
the other cases, as picks for digging in the chalk; but, possibly,
some of the roughly-chipped flints, adapted for being held in the
hand,[301] and not unlike in form to the chopper-like flints from the
far older deposit in the cave of Le Moustier, Dordogne,[302] may have
been thus used, or as wedges to split the chalk. This is by no means
inconsistent with their having been originally flints partially trimmed
into shape, in order to be made into celts, and used for a secondary
purpose when it was found that they were not adapted for what they
were at first intended to be. In chipping them out, the part of the
nodule best suited for being held in the hand would be thus grasped,
and the opposite edge be trimmed by the hammer, and in this manner the
semblance of a chopper would be produced in what was merely an inchoate
celt. I have found flints on the Sussex Downs, with one side trimmed in
much the same manner as the Cissbury specimens, but which, from their
form, can hardly have been intended for “choppers.”
Looking at a series of the worked flints from Cissbury, exclusive of
flakes and mere rough blocks, the general _facies_ is such as to show
that the ordinary forms of celts, or hatchets, were those at which,
in the main, the workmen aimed. A small proportion of them are highly
finished specimens, not improbably hidden |80| away in the loose chalk
when chipped out and accidentally left there. Others are broken; not,
I think, in use, but in the process of manufacture. A great proportion
are very rude, and ill-adapted for being ground. They are, in fact,
such as may be regarded, if not as wasters, yet, at all events, as
unmarketable; for it seems probable that at Cissbury, as well as at
other manufactories of flint implements, they were produced, not for
immediate use by those who made them, but to be bartered away for
some other commodities. In Central America,[303] at the present day,
the natives use cutting instruments of flint, which must, apparently,
have been brought from a distance of four hundred miles; while, among
the aborigines of Australia,[304] flints were articles of barter
between distant tribes; and some of the chalcedony implements in the
early Belgian caves are made of material presumed to have come from
the south of France. Mr. W. H. Holmes,[305] has described an ancient
quarry in the Indian territory, Missouri, from which chert was obtained
and roughed out on the spot. Some of the rude forms exactly resemble
the “turtle backs” of Trenton, by many regarded as palæolithic. The
antiquity of the quarry does not, however, exceed two hundred years.
Only a single fragment of a polished celt was found by General Pitt
Rivers within the inclosure; though another was found by Lord Northesk
in a pit that he subsequently opened. They are equally rare in
proportion at Spiennes. This fact, and the absence of grinding-stones,
also seem to show that the process of grinding was carried on
elsewhere, in cases where a ground edge was required.
General Pitt Rivers suggests a question, whether the implements found
at Cissbury belong to the Neolithic or Palæolithic age, and seems
almost to regard the distinction between the implements of those
two ages as founded merely on the minor point of whether they are
chipped simply, or also polished. The associated fauna in this case
is however purely Neolithic or, as Professor Boyd Dawkins would call
it, Pre-historic; and whatever may be the case with a few of the
specimens which resemble in form implements from the River Drift, the
greater number are unmistakeably of forms such as are constantly found
polished, and are undoubtedly Neolithic. Indeed, as already stated, a
portion of at all events one polished specimen has been found in one of
the |81| pits. I need not, however, dwell longer on the circumstances
of this discovery, nor on the speculations to which it may give
rise, but will proceed to give illustrations of a few of the forms
of implements found at Cissbury, referring for others to the memoirs
already cited. A fine series of the implements has been presented to
the Christy Collection, now in the British Museum.
* * * * *
One of the most highly-finished forms, of which, in all, a considerable
number were found, is a long, narrow instrument, as shown in Fig.
26. So narrow and pointed are they, that General Pitt Rivers thought
that they may have been intended to be used with the pointed end as
spear-heads. Such instruments, however, are occasionally found with
the broad end ground to an edge. It is also to be observed that this
circular edge is generally more carefully chipped into form than the
pointed butt, and was therefore considered of more importance.
[Illustration: Fig. 26.—Cissbury. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 27.—Cissbury. 1∕2]
Another specimen is figured in the _Archæologia_;[306] and a narrow
flint celt of this character, 5 1∕4 inches long, found with a larger
celt in a barrow in Hampshire,[307] is in the British Museum.
Another rough-hewn celt is shown in Fig. 27. Like several others, both
from Cissbury and Spiennes, the two ends are almost similar in form,
so that it is difficult to say at which extremity the cutting edge was
intended to be. Possibly it was found convenient to fashion some of
the |82| implements, in the first instance, into this comparatively
regular oval contour, and subsequently to chip an edge at whichever
end seemed best adapted for the purpose. This instrument is not unlike
that from the Forest of Bere, Fig. 25. Another from Cissbury, with more
parallel sides, has been figured.[308] Others from the same place are
like Figs. 16, 17, and 23, and like Fig. 35, though not ground at the
edge.
[Illustration: Fig. 28.—Cissbury. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 29.—Cissbury. 1∕2]
Others, again, but much fewer in number, are of a wedge-shaped form,
with the thin end rounded. The specimen of this kind shown in Fig. 28
is in the Greenwell Collection, and is very symmetrical. The butt-end
is considerably battered at one part, but not at its extremity; so
that this bruising may possibly have been on the block of flint before
the implement was chipped out. A less symmetrical specimen is figured
by General Pitt Rivers, having the butt formed of the natural crust
of the flint. That here engraved appears well adapted for holding in
the hand, so as to be used as a kind of chopper: but the rounded edge
is uninjured. Can it have been used as a wedge for splitting open the
chalk? or is it to be regarded as a special form of implement? If
so, it seems singular that, if such a form was in use in Britain, no
specimens have hitherto been met with having the edge ground. I should
be more satisfied as to the form being intentional and for a certain
purpose, had it occurred elsewhere than among what is evidently the
refuse of a manufactory; and yet a somewhat similar hand-tool is in use
among the natives of Australia. A polished implement of analogous form
is moreover shown in Fig. 83A. Two or three pointed implements, in form
like Fig. 417, were found at Cissbury. Judging from shape alone, they
might be regarded as being of Palæolithic age, but their surroundings
prove them to be Neolithic. |83|
Fig. 29 also forms part of the Greenwell Collection, and presents a
very remarkable form, which, at first sight, has the appearance of
being a chisel or hatchet, with a large tang, intended for insertion
in a socket. The lower part is symmetrically chipped, like the cutting
end of a narrow celt, with sharp sides, such as Fig. 26; but at a point
a little more than half way along the blade, it rapidly expands, so
as to have an almost circular section. Much as I am tempted to regard
this as presenting a special type, I am almost convinced that the form
is due rather to accident than design. It appears to me, that a piece
of flint, partially chipped into shape for a larger and thicker celt,
had been broken in the process of manufacture, and a second attempt had
been made to convert it into a celt, this time of smaller size. The
lower part of this was successfully chipped out, but on arriving at
that portion of the blade where the section was nearly circular, the
flint was either so refractory, or the projections on which blows could
be administered to detach splinters were so small, that the manufacture
was abandoned, not, however, before many blows had been fruitlessly
struck, as the sides and projections of the face of the celt at this
part are considerably battered.
* * * * *
Dr. C. B. Plowright has described a number of rough-hewn instruments
of flint from what seems to have been the site of an ancient flint
manufactory on Massingham Heath, in West Norfolk. He has figured
several, including a wedge-formed implement like Fig. 28, and one of
shoe-shape, not unlike a palæolithic form.[309]
An interesting instance of the discovery of a flint celt, merely
chipped out, but associated with polished celts, and other objects, is
that recorded in the _Archæologia_,[310] and Hoare’s “Wiltshire.”[311]
In a barrow opened by Mr. W. Cunnington, in 1802, was a grave of oval
form, containing a large skeleton lying on its back, and slightly on
one side, and above it a smaller skeleton in a contracted posture. At
the feet of the larger skeleton were more than three dozen perforated
pins and other instruments of bone, and three celts of white flint,
two of which were neatly polished, with a fine circular edge; and
the third was “only chipped to the intended form and size.” With
these lay what was apparently a grinding stone to polish the celts
or similar implements; and some grooved sandstones, like Fig. 185.
About the legs were several boars’ teeth perforated, and some cups
made of hollow flints; near the breast was a flat circular stone, and
a perforated stone axe, shown in Fig. 141, and two dozen more of the
bone instruments. Some jet or cannel-coal beads and a ring of the same
substance were also |84| found, as well as a small bronze awl; but it
is doubtful to which of the bodies this belonged.
It will subsequently be seen that perforated axes similar to that in
this barrow are frequently associated with bronze daggers, so that we
seem to have, in this instance, evidence of the contemporaneous use of
unground, polished, and perforated stone axes at a period when bronze
was at all events not unknown in this country.
If the chipped celt is to be regarded as unfinished, it may be
that the survivors, in burying it, together with the grinding and
polishing stones, in company with the original occupant of the barrow,
entertained a belief that in some future state of existence he might be
at leisure to complete the process of polishing.
Very roughly-chipped pieces of flint, apparently blocked-out celts, are
occasionally found in barrows. Two such, 8 inches by 3 1∕2, and 7 by
3 1∕2, from a barrow near Alfriston, Sussex, examined by Dr. Mantell,
are in the British Museum. They may have been deposited under a similar
belief, or as votive offerings. Possibly this custom of placing
roughly-chipped implements, like, for instance, Fig. 16, in graves, may
be a “survival” from the times when warriors or hunters were buried
with the arms or weapons they had worn when living, and the burials
which they accompany may belong to a late part of the stone period. It
is worthy of notice that in the cemetery of Hallstatt, which belongs to
a date when iron was just coming into use, many of the ornaments appear
to have been manufactured expressly for funereal purposes, being like
the gold wreaths in Etruscan tombs, almost too light and fragile to be
worn by the living. In Denmark, however, the weapons of flint which
accompanied interments seem usually to have been highly finished and
perfect.
Celts, merely chipped into form and unground, occur also in other kinds
of stone. They are, however, much rarer than those of flint. One of
iron-stone, from Sussex, 8 inches long and 3 1∕4 wide at the broad
end, is in the Blackmore Museum. A very fine specimen from Anglesey,
formed of felstone, is preserved in the Museum of Economic Geology, in
Jermyn Street. I have a fragment of one in greenstone, found by Mr. R.
D. Darbishire, F.G.S., at Dwygyfylchi, Carnarvonshire, and another of
felstone, extremely rude, found by him on Pen-maen-mawr. Some rough
celts of greenstone, found in barrows near St. Just, Cornwall, are in
the Truro Museum.
In Ireland, where flint celts are comparatively rare, those in |85|
the unpolished condition appear to be relatively more abundant in that
material than in other rocks. In the large collection of the Royal
Irish Academy there are but few of either class, and I certainly have
seen some hundreds of Irish stone celts with the edges ground, for one
in which it had been left as originally chipped out.
In France the chipped celts of flint are not uncommon, but those of
other materials are extremely rare.
In Denmark, and Sweden also, the unpolished celts of flint are
abundant, but principally of a class not found in Britain, with square
sides and neatly worked wavy angles. Some of the other forms, however,
also occur, as has been already mentioned. In other materials than
flint they are almost unknown.
In North America the roughly-chipped hatchets are scarce, but are more
common in flint or horn-stone than in other materials.
In Western Australia, where the hatchets are made of rough splinters
of basalt and of silicious rocks, grinding seems but little practised.
Hatchets ground at the edge seem more common in Northern Australia. It
is, however, by no means improbable that in many countries the ruder
forms of stone implements have to a great extent escaped observation. I
much doubt whether the stone blades of the Australian hatchets, one of
which is engraved in Fig. 106, would, if detached from their handles,
be thought worthy of notice by the large majority of travellers, or
even be regarded as of human workmanship.
However this may be, it appears that in Western Europe the practice
of grinding the edges of hatchets and adzes was more universal in the
case of those formed of other stones than flint, than with those of
purely silicious material. This circumstance rather strengthens the
probability of some of the flint implements which are found in the
unground condition, having been destined for use in that state, as was
the case with the North American hoe-like implements already mentioned.
It seems almost demonstrable that some at least of these unpolished
celts must be among the earliest of the Neolithic implements of
this country; for though, in Neolithic times, some naturally-shaped
stones have been sharpened for use by grinding only, yet the art of
chipping stone into shape must in all probability have preceded that
of grinding or polishing its edges. So far as at present ascertained,
the practice of sharpening stone tools on the grindstone was unknown in
Palæolithic times; and, |86| assuming the occupation of this country
to have been continuous, into Neolithic times the transition from one
stage of civilization to the other has still to be traced. Under any
circumstances, we have as yet, in Britain, no means at command for
assigning with certainty any of these roughly-chipped forms to an
antiquity more remote than that of the carefully finished celts with
their edges sharpened by grinding, though in all probability some of
them must date back to a far remoter period.
We have, on the contrary, good evidence that whatever may have been
the date when the roughly-chipped implements of this form were first
manufactured, they continued to be chipped out in much the same manner
at a time when the practice of sharpening by grinding was well known.
Though some may have been used without being ground, they bear, for the
most part, the same relation to the finished forms, as the blade of
steel rough from the forge bears to the polished knife.
|87|