PERFORATED AXES.
I now come to a very important class of antiquities, the stone axes and
axe-hammers with a hole for the insertion of a shaft, like the ordinary
axes and hammers of the present day. As to the method by which these
shaft-holes were bored, I have already spoken in a previous chapter. I
have also mentioned that many of them appear to belong to a time when
bronze was already in use, at all events for knife-like daggers, and
that they have in many countries shared with the more simply-formed
celts the attribution of a heavenly origin as thunderbolts, together
with the superstitious reverence due to their supernatural descent. I
have, therefore, but little here to add beyond a classification and
description of the various forms; but I may mention that the name by
which such implements were “popularly known in Scotland almost till the
close of last century was that of the Purgatory Hammer,” buried with
its owner that he might have the wherewithal “to thunder at the gates
of Purgatory till the heavenly janitor appeared.”[635]
They are for the most part made from metamorphic or volcanic rocks, and
occasionally from quartzite, but I have never seen a British perforated
axe made from ordinary flint, though hammers of this material are
known. Stukeley,[636] indeed, mentions that in cleansing the moat at
Tabley, near Knutsford, “they found an old British axe, or some such
thing, made of large flint, neatly ground into an edge, with a hole in
the middle to fasten into a handle; it would serve for a battle-axe.”
Stukeley was probably mistaken as to the material; but there are in
the Museum at Copenhagen one or two flint axes ground to an edge,
the |184| shaft-holes in which are natural, and no doubt led to the
stones being selected for the purpose to which they were applied. An
artificially-perforated French specimen will subsequently be mentioned.
Flints both naturally and artificially perforated, have also been
occasionally converted into hammers and maces.
In Scandinavia and Northern Germany, perforated axes and axe-hammers
are frequently known as Thor’s hammers, as already mentioned,[637]
and some authors have maintained that they were in use for warlike
purposes so late as eight or ten centuries after our era. Kruse,[638]
however, has urged that though found in the neighbourhood of graves
of the Iron Age in Livonia and Courland, they are never found in the
graves themselves, and that their use is not mentioned in any ancient
histories.
The principal forms may be classified as follows:—
1. Double-edged axes, or those with a cutting, or but slightly blunted
edge at either end.
2. Adzes, or implements with the edge at right angles to the shaft-hole.
3. Axes with the edge at one end only, the hole being near the other
end, which is rounded. These shade off into—
4. Axe-hammers sharp at one end, and more or less hammer-like at the
other, the shaft-hole being usually near the centre.
To the weapons of the first of these classes the name of Amazon Axe
has been applied by Professor Nilsson;[639] but the Scandinavian axes
expanding considerably at the cutting ends, resemble the _Amazonia
securis_ of classical sculpture more than do the English specimens.
* * * * *
Fig. 118 represents a beautifully formed axe of the first class, in
my own collection. It is of greenstone, and was found near Hunmanby,
Yorkshire. The two sides are concave longitudinally, so that it expands
towards the edges. They are also slightly concave transversely. The
angles are rounded, and the edges are blunt, especially that at the
shorter end. The shaft-hole is oval, and tapers slightly from each end
towards the middle. It would appear to have been worked out with some
sort of chisel, and to have been afterwards made smoother by grinding.
A broader weapon of granite, expanding more at the ends (5 1∕2 inches)
was found in the Tay,[640] near Newburgh, Fife. A flatter specimen
of porphyritic stone (4 inches) was found on the shore of Cobbinshaw
Loch,[641] West Calder, Midlothian, in 1885. |185|
A specimen of nearly the same type, found near Uelzen, Hanover, is
engraved by von Estorff;[642] another from Sweden, by Sjöborg.[643]
In the Museum at Geneva is a very similar axe of greenstone (5 1∕4
inches), found in the neighbourhood of that town. One of serpentine,
much longer in its proportions (9 1∕4 inches), and with an oval
shaft-hole, is in the Museum at Lausanne. It was found at Agiez, Canton
de Vaud.
[Illustration: Fig. 118.—Hunmanby. 1∕2]
In the _Collections_[644] published by the Sussex Archælogical Society
is a figure, obligingly lent to me, of a beautiful axe-head of this
class (Fig. 119) found with the remains of a skeleton, an amber cup
(Fig. 307), a whetstone (Fig. 186), and a small bronze dagger with two
rivet holes, in an oaken coffin in a barrow at Hove, near Brighton. The
|186| axe-head is said to be formed of some kind of ironstone, and is
5 inches long. The hole is described as neatly drilled. A weapon of
the same kind (3 1∕2 inches) blunter at the ends and described as a
hammer, was found with a deer’s-horn hammer, and a bronze knife in a
barrow at Lambourn, Berks.[645] A small black stone axe-head of nearly
similar form was found near the head of a contracted skeleton at a
depth of 12 feet in a barrow in Rolston Field, Wilts.[646] A somewhat
similar specimen, with the sides faceted and blunt at one end, has
been engraved as having been found in Yorkshire.[647] It is, however,
doubtful whether, like many other objects in the same plate, it is not
foreign. The original is now in the Christy Collection.
A double-edged axe-head of basalt, injured by fire, and 4 1∕2
inches long, was found by the late Mr. Bateman, in a large urn with
calcined bones, bone pins, a tubular bone laterally perforated, a
flint “spear-head,” and a bronze awl, in a barrow near Throwley,
Derbyshire.[648] This was the only instance in which he found a
perforated stone axe accompanying an interment by cremation.
An axe-head of basalt, with a double edge to cut either way, was also
dug up in the neighbourhood of Tideswell, Derbyshire.[649]
[Illustration: Fig. 119.—Hove. 1∕2]
A specimen of this kind (5 inches), edged at both ends, but “the one
end rather blunted and lessened a little by use,” was found near
Grimley, Worcestershire, and is figured by Allies.[650]
I have a specimen (5 1∕8 inches), much weathered, which is said to have
come from Bewdley in that county, but which may be that from Grimley.
An example, 5 inches long, engraved in the Salisbury volume[651] of the
Archæological Institute, from a barrow on Windmill Hill, Abury, Wilts,
is described as double-edged.[652]
The Danish and German axe-heads of this form have usually, but not
always, one edge much more blunted than the other. Occasionally there
is a ridge on each side at the blunt end, which shows that this
thickening was intentional. A fine double-edged axe-head of this
form from Brandenburg is engraved in the “Horæ Ferales.”[653] The
double-edged form is found also in Finland.[654]
The form likewise occurs in France, but the faces are usually flatter.
I have one from the Seine at Paris (5 1∕2 inches). Another from the
|187| department of the Charente is engraved by de Rochebrune;[655]
and a third from the department of Seine et Oise is in the Musée de
St. Germain.[656] A fine example of the same form is in the Museum
at Tours, and another in that of Blois. In the collection of M.
Reboux[657] was a curious implement from the Seine, formed of flint,
pointed at each end, and perforated in the middle. Another, in flint,
from Mesnil en Arronaise[658] (Somme) (8 1∕2 inches), has been figured.
The perforations may be natural, though improved by art. In my own
collection is one of the finest specimens that I have ever seen. It is
also from the Seine at Paris. It is 9 3∕4 inches long, and slightly
curved in the direction of its length; on either side there is a long
sunk lozenge, in the centre of which is the cylindrical shaft-hole,
and the ends expand into flat semicircular blades about 2 1∕4 inches
across. The material is a hard basaltic rock, and the preservation
perfect. It was found in 1876.
A stone axe in the Museum of the Royal Institution at Swansea, and
found at Llanmadock, in Gower, has been kindly lent me for engraving,
and is shown in Fig. 120. It expands at the sharper end much more
suddenly and to a much greater extent than does that from Hunmanby.
The edge at that end, which is almost semicircular in outline, has
suffered from ill-usage since it was discovered; the material of which
it is made being felspathic ash, the surface of which has become soft
by decomposition. The other and narrower end is flattened to about half
an inch in width. The implement has already been engraved on a smaller
scale.[659]
In Bartlett’s “History and Antiquities of Manceter, Warwickshire,”[660]
is engraved an axe of the same character as this, but expanding at the
blunter end almost as much, as it does at the edge, which is described
as being very sharp. It is said to have been formed of the hard blue
stone of the country, but “from age or the soil in which it has lain”
to be “now coloured with an elegant olive-coloured patina.” It was
found on Hartshill Common, in 1770, where a small tumulus had been cut
through, “the bottom of which, was paved with brick, which by the heat
of the fire had been nearly vitrified.” There is probably some mistake
as to the bricks.
Another axe-head like Fig. 120, 8 inches in length, and more distinctly
hammer-like at the narrow end, was found in the parish of Abernethy,
Perthshire, and has been engraved by Wilson.[661]
In character these axes with expanded ends more nearly resemble some
of the Scandinavian and North German types than do most of the other
British forms. Broken stone axes expanding at the edge have been found
on the site of Troy.
In the Museum of the Leeds Philosophical Society is a double-edged
axe-head of a larger and coarser kind, which, is said to have been
found near Whitby. Its authenticity was strongly vouched for by the
late Mr. Denny, but I fear that it is a modern fabrication.
An implement of the same form, from Gerdauen, East Prussia, is |188|
preserved in the Berlin Museum; and another of greenstone was found at
Hallstatt.[662] A singular variety from the same spot has the edge at
one end at right angles to that at the other.
[Illustration: Fig. 120.—Llanmadock. 1∕2]
A small sketch of a very remarkable curved blade, pointed at one end
and with an axe-like edge at the other, is given in the _Journal of the
Archæological Association_.[663] It is of greenstone, 11 inches long
and 2 1∕2 inches across, and was found in Guernsey. By the kindness
of the late Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., of Wath, I am enabled to give
an engraving of the type in Fig. 121. A number of specimens have been
found in the Channel Islands, to which the form seems peculiar.
* * * * *
The second class into which I proposed to divide these implements
consists of adzes, or blades having the edge at right angles to the
shaft-hole. Apart from a short notice by Mr. Monkman, I believe that
attention was for the first time called in the former edition of this
book, to the occurrence of this form in Britain. |189|
* * * * *
The specimen I have selected for engraving, as Fig. 122, gives a good
idea of the typical character. It is of greenstone, with the shaft-hole
tapering inwards from both faces, one of which is less convex than the
other. It was found at Fireburn Mill, near Coldstream, Berwickshire,
and is in the Greenwell Collection. In the same collection is another
of similar character, but having the butt-end broken off and the edge
more circular, found at Willerby Carr, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
[Illustration: Fig. 121.—Guernsey. 1∕2]
I have a smaller specimen (4 3∕4 inches), of a hard micaceous grit,
found at Allerston, in the North Riding; as also a remarkably fine and
perfect adze of porphyritic greenstone (6 3∕8 inches), ground to a
|190| rounded edge at the butt, instead of being truncated like Fig.
122. The shaft-hole, like that of all the others, tapers inwards from
both faces, in this instance from 1 3∕8 inch to 7∕8 inch. This specimen
was found at South Dalton, near Beverley. An adze or hoe of the same
kind, found at Wellbury,[664] near Offley, Herts, is in the collection
of Mr. W. Ransom, F.S.A.
[Illustration: Fig. 122.—Fireburn Mill, Coldstream. 1∕2]
Another implement of the same class (9 inches), flat on one face, and
much like Fig. 122, is in the National Museum at Edinburgh. It is of
greenstone, much decomposed, and was found at Ormiston Abdie, Fife.
A shorter specimen (3 3∕4 inches) sharpened at each end, found at
Sandwick, Shetland, is in the fine collection of Mr. J. W. Cursiter, at
Kirkwall.
Another, in outline more like the celt Fig. 57, though sharp at the
sides, is also in the Greenwell Collection. It is formed of red |191|
micaceous sandstone (6 3∕4 inches), and was found at Seackleton, in
the North Riding of Yorkshire. A rough sketch of it has been published
by Mr. Monkman.[665] In the same collection is another, rather narrower
in its proportions, being 7 1∕2 inches long and 3 inches broad, found
at Pilmoor, as well as one 6 inches long and 2 3∕8 inches broad, found
at Nunnington.
Another, 5 1∕2 inches long, square at both ends, found near Whitby, is
in the Museum at Leeds.
The form is known in Denmark, but is rare. A more celt-shaped specimen
is engraved by Worsaae.[666] He terms it a hoe (_hakke_), and it is, of
course, possible that these instruments may have been used for digging
purposes.
Two short, broad hoes (_hacken_), of Taunus slate, found near Mainz,
are given by Lindenschmit.[667] Another is in the Museum at Brunswick.
Some hoe-like, perforated stone implements from Mexico, are in the
Ethnological Museum at Copenhagen. The so-called stone hoes of North
America[668] are not perforated, though sometimes notched at the sides.
Dr. Keller[669] has suggested that a circular perforated disc from one
of the Swiss Lake-settlements may have been a hoe.
In the Museum of the Deutsche Gesellschaft at Leipzig, is a greenstone
implement resembling these adzes or hoes at its broader end, but at the
other, instead of being square or rounded, presenting an axe-like edge.
A narrow, thick adze of this character, flat on one face, rounded on
the other, 4 1∕2 inches long, found at Scudnitz, near Schweinitz,
Prussian Saxony, is in the Berlin Museum. A rather similar form has
been found in Bohemia.[670]
An intermediate form between a hammer and an adze will be subsequently
described at p. 231.
A small perforated adze in the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian
Society, Fig. 123, is more truly celt-like in character, and appears,
indeed, to have been made from an ordinary celt by boring a shaft-hole
through it. It is formed of a hard, green, slaty rock, and was found in
Burwell Fen. I believe that another, but larger, specimen of the same
type, was found in the same district in Swaffham Fen.
[Illustration: Fig. 123.—Burwell Fen. 1∕2]
The late Mr. G. W. Ormerod, F.G.S., brought under my notice another
|192| specimen found, in 1865, at North Bovey, Devon. It is of
greenstone, about 3 3∕4 inches long. The sides taper towards the
butt-end, which is rounded, and the hole in the middle appears to be
only about 1∕2 inch in diameter, but bell-mouthed at each face. It
is now in the Museum at Exeter. Another (3 7∕8 inches) was found at
Ugborough, Devon.[671]
[Illustration: Fig. 124.—Stourton. 1∕2]
The implement shown in Fig. 124 seems to be an unfinished specimen
belonging to this class. It is formed of greenstone, portions of the
natural joints of which are still visible on its surface. It seems to
have been worked into shape by picking rather than by grinding; but the
hole appears, from the character of the surface, to have been ground.
Had it been continued through the stone, it would probably have been
considerably enlarged in diameter, and if so, the implement would have
been much weakened around the hole. It seems possible that it was on
this account that it was left unfinished. It was found near Stourton,
on the borders of Somerset and Wilts.
* * * * *
The third of the classes into which, for the sake of convenience, I
have divided these instruments, consists of axe-heads with a cutting
edge at one end only, the shaft-hole being near the other end, which is
rounded.
* * * * *
Fig. 125 represents an elegant specimen of this class, found at
Bardwell, in Suffolk, and formerly in the collection of Mr. Joseph
Warren, of Ixworth, but now in my own. The material appears to be
felstone. The edge is slightly rounded, the shaft-hole carefully
finished, and the two faces ground hollow, probably in the manner
suggested at p. 43. |193|
I have another made from a quartzite pebble (4 5∕8 inches) with the
sides hollowed transversely, but rounded longitudinally, found with an
urn on Wilton Heath, near Brandon, in 1873. The blunt end is bruised
and flattened by wear. I have a second, also of quartzite (5 3∕8
inches), rounded in all directions, found near Ipswich, in 1865. It
retains much of the form of the original pebble.
[Illustration: Fig. 125.—Bardwell. 1∕2]
In the Museum at Newcastle is preserved a specimen very similar to
Fig. 125, of mottled greenstone, beautifully finished; the sides
are, however, flat and not hollowed. It is 6 1∕2 inches long, the
faces are rounded, and the hole, which is about 7∕8 inch in diameter,
tapers slightly towards the middle. It was found in the River Wear at
Sunderland. Another of the same character, formed from a beautifully
veined stone, accompanied a bronze dagger in a barrow near East Kennet,
Wilts.[672]
I have another axe of the same kind, with both sides flat, 6 1∕8 inches
long, formed of porphyritic greenstone, and found near Colchester.
|194| Another, formed of basalt, 6 1∕4 inches long, the sides slightly
hollowed, from Chesterford, Cambridge,[673] was in the possession of
the late Mr. Joshua Clarke, of Saffron Walden.
Another, 5 inches long, was found in the Thames off Parliament Stairs,
and passed with the Roach Smith Collection into the British Museum.
One, 5 3∕4 inches long, from Cumberland, is in the Christy Collection.
One of sandstone (4 1∕2 inches) was discovered at Northenden,[674]
Cheshire, in 1883.
In the Greenwell Collection is one of greenstone, 6 3∕4 inches long,
found at Millfield, near Sunderland. The hole is somewhat oval, and
tapers inwards from each side. There is also one of basalt, 4 1∕4
inches long, with an oval hole and slightly convex sides, from
Holystone, Northumberland. The edge, as usual, is blunt.
An axe-head of this kind, from a chambered tumulus or dolmen at
Craigengelt, near Stirling, Scotland, is engraved by Bonstetten.[675]
One with flat sides (6 1∕4 inches) was found in the Tay, near Mugdrum
Island, Perth,[676] and another (7 inches) at Sorbie, Wigtownshire.[677]
Implements or weapons of this character occasionally occur in
Ireland,[678] but the sides are usually flat.
The exact form is rare in Denmark and North Germany. Lindenschmit[679]
engraves a thin specimen from Lüneburg. It occurs also in Styria.
A specimen from Lithuania, more square at the butt, is engraved by
Mortillet.[680] I do not remember to have met with it in France.
In one of the barrows on Potter Brompton Wold,[681] Yorkshire, explored
by Canon Greenwell, accompanying an interment by cremation, he found a
beautifully-formed axe-head of serpentine(?) the surface of which was
in places scaling off from decomposition, arising from its having been
partly calcined. A single view of it is given in Fig. 126. The hole is
about 1 1∕4 inches in diameter on each side, but rather smaller in the
middle. The cutting edge has been rounded as well as the angles round
the sides, but this process has been carried to a greater extent on one
than the other; possibly this was the outer side.
[Illustration: Fig. 126.—Potter Brompton Wold. 1∕2]
A somewhat similar, but rather broader, axe-head of basalt, 5 1∕4
inches long, was found by the late Mr. T. Bateman in a barrow called
Carder Low,[682] near Hartington, in company with a small bronze
dagger, and near the elbow of a contracted skeleton. |195|
Another, expanding rather more at the edge, from a barrow in
Devonshire,[683] was in the Meyrick Collection.
A somewhat similar axe-head, more rounded at the butt and rather more
expanded at the cutting edge, was found in Annandale in 1870, and was
described to me by the late Mr. Joseph Clarke, F.S.A.
One of granite, much like Fig. 126, came to light in a cairn at
Breckigoe,[684] Caithness.
[Illustration: Fig. 127.—Rudstone.]
In the same barrow at Rudstone,[685] near Bridlington, as that in which
the block of pyrites and flint scraper, subsequently to be described
(Fig. 223), were found, but with a different interment, Canon Greenwell
discovered the beautifully formed axe-hammer shown in Fig. 127. It
is of very close-grained, slightly micaceous grit, and presents the
peculiarity of having the rounded faces slightly chamfered all round
the flat sides. The edge is carefully rounded, and the broad end
somewhat flattened. It lay behind the shoulders of the skeleton of an
old man lying on his left side, with his right hand on his head, and
his left to his face. Before the face, was a bronze knife 4 inches
long, with a single rivet to fasten it to its handle, and close to
the axe-hammer lay a pointed flint flake re-chipped on both faces. In
a barrow at Sledmere[686] with burnt bones lay a weapon of this kind
battered at the blunt end.
An axe-head (6 1∕4 inches), with convex faces, rounded at the butt, and
with an oval shaft-hole, was dredged from the Thames at London,[687]
and is now in the British Museum.
It seems almost indisputable that these elegantly formed axe-heads
belong to the period when bronze was in use, and from their occurrence
in the graves they appear to have formed part of the equipment of
warriors. |196|
The careful manner in which their edges are blunted shows that they
cannot have been intended for cutting tools, but that they must have
been weapons of war. A blow from a battle-axe with a blunted edge would
be just as fatal as if the edge had been sharp and trenchant, while the
risk of accidental injury to the scantily-clothed warrior who carried
the axe was next to none when the edge of the weapon was thus blunted.
The practice of removing the edge by grinding was, no doubt, introduced
in consequence of some painful experience.
[Illustration: Fig. 128.—Borrowash. 1∕2]
Fig. 128 is of still more ornamental character, having a beaded
moulding towards each edge of the faces and following the curvature
of the sides. The drawing is taken from a cast in the Museum of the
Society of Antiquaries, presented by Sir W. Tite. M.P.[688] The
original is said to have been found near Whitby. A fine axe-head “of
red granite, ornamented with raised mouldings,” was, however, found
with |197| human bones near Borrowash, Derbyshire, in 1841,[689] and
is in the Bateman Collection, now at Sheffield. To judge from the
woodcut in the Catalogue, the cast must have been taken from this
specimen.
“A very elegant axe-head, 5 inches long, of reddish basalt, beautifully
wrought, with a slight moulding round the angles, and a perforation for
the shaft,” is described by Mr. Bateman[690] as having been found on a
barrow eleven miles E. of Pickering, Yorkshire.
Mouldings of various kinds occur on Danish and German axe-hammers of
the Bronze Age,[691] but this form of small axe with a rounded butt is
of rare occurrence. The longitudinal line in relief which occurs on the
sides of some German battle-axes[692] has been regarded as an imitation
of the mark left on bronze axes by the junction of the two halves of
the mould. The small axe-heads from Germany[693] are wider at the butt,
and more like Figs. 118 and 120 in outline.
[Illustration: Fig. 129.—Crichie, Aberdeenshire.]
The beautiful battle-axe, formed of fine-grained mica schist, found
placed on burnt bones in a “Druidical” circle at Crichie, near
Inverurie, Aberdeenshire,[694] and presented by the Earl of Kintore to
the National Museum at Edinburgh, has deeply-incised lines round the
margins of the hollow sides at the mouth of the shaft-hole. This weapon
is 4 inches in length, and is considerably sharper at the broader end
than at the other, though the edge is well rounded. For the loan of
Fig. 129 I am indebted to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In
general character this specimen approximates to a somewhat rare Irish
form, shortly to be mentioned, of which I possess a |198| specimen.
The battle-axe from the barrow at Selwood, Fig. 140, is also slightly
ornamented by lines on the sides, and that from Skelton Moors, Fig.
139, is fluted.
Two axe-hammers of granite and greenstone (4 1∕2 and 5 inches) of
much the same type as Fig. 129, but more elongated, so as in form to
resemble Fig. 136, were found near Ardrossan,[695] Ayrshire.
An unfinished axe-head of the same kind was found at Middleton,[696]
Stevenston, Ayrshire.
An axe-head of porphyritic greenstone (7 3∕4 inches long), from
Stainton Dale, near Scarborough,[697] is said to resemble in form an
Irish axe-head engraved in the _Ulster Journal of Archæology_.[698] If
so, the sides through which the hole is bored were hollow, as in Fig.
129, and there was also a moulding round them. This Irish axe-head is
formed of a kind of pale green hone-stone, and is now in the British
Museum. Instead of incised lines there are raised flanges on each face,
bordering the concave side in which is the shaft-hole. The length is
5 1∕4 inches, and the butt-end is half an oval, just flattened at the
end. It was found in the river Bann.
Axe-heads of a much more clumsy character than any of those last
described are of more frequent occurrence in this country. The
one I have selected for illustration as Fig. 130, is rather small
of its kind. It is made of greenstone, the surface of which has
considerably suffered from weathering, and was found in draining at
Walsgrave-upon-Sowe, near Coventry. It was presented to my collection
by the late Mr. J. S. Whittem, F.G.S. The shaft-hole, as usual, tapers
inwards from both sides; its surface is more polished than that of the
exterior of the implement. A small portion of the end of the butt is
flat, but this appears due to accident rather than design. I have a
rather longer axe-head, of porphyritic greenstone, which was washed
out of the ground by a brook at Ayside, near Newby Bridge, Windermere,
and was given to me by Mr. Harrison, of Manchester. It is considerably
rounded in both directions at the butt, the edge is narrow, and one
side, probably the outer, much more rounded than the other. The edge is
carefully ground, but farther up the face, the surface shows that it
has been picked into form. The shaft-hole is much like that of Fig. 130.
[Illustration: Fig. 130.—Walsgrave-upon-Sowe. 1∕2]
I have another specimen from Plumpton, near Penrith (9 1∕2 inches),
rounded at the butt, but unsymmetrical, owing to a natural plane of
cleavage interfering with the shape, and, as it were, taking off
a slice of the stone. The shaft-hole is oval, the longer diameter
being lengthwise of the blade, and the edge is oblique. The sides
are flatter than those of Fig. 130. In my collection are others
from Mawbray and Inglewood Forest, Cumberland (7 1∕2 and 8 inches),
and one (7 inches) from Cader Idris, Merionethshire. Another (10
inches) was found at Llanfairfechan,[699] Carnarvonshire, another at
Llanidloes,[700] Montgomeryshire, and a third in Anglesey.[701] The
late Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., had a flatter and longer specimen
of this form (10 inches), found at Winster, Derbyshire. Implements
of this character, but often |199| approximating in shape to Fig.
131, have been found in considerable numbers, though as isolated
specimens, in the North. One found in Aberdeenshire (8 1∕2 inches
long), of this class, but with the butt-end slightly hollowed, and
having a well-marked shoulder on each face, as if by continual
reduction by sharpening at the edge, is engraved in the _Archæological
Journal_.[702] One from Scotland[703] (10 1∕4 inches) was exhibited by
the Marquis of Breadalbane at Edinburgh, in 1856, and one (12 inches)
from Alnwick.[704] Others have been found at Tillicoultry Bridge,[705]
Clackmannan; Kelton,[706] Kircudbrightshire; in Wigtownshire[707];
|200| Silvermine,[708] Torphichen, Linlithgow; and Laurie Street,[709]
Leith; another from the coast of Scotland is engraved in Skelton’s
“Meyrick’s Armour,”[710] but is there regarded as having been
brought over by Danish invaders. Other Scottish[711] specimens are
numerous. There are thirteen in the Grierson Museum, Thornhill,
Dumfriesshire. One of the same form as the figure (9 3∕8 inches) was
found at Dean,[712] near Bolton, Lancashire, and others at Hopwood
and Saddleworth in the same county. One of grit (7 1∕2 inches) was
found at Siddington,[713] near Macclesfield. Another (8 inches), found
at Kirkoswald, Cumberland, is in the museum at Newcastle, together
with a similar specimen from Haydon Bridge; and others have been
found at Thirstone, Shilbottle, Barrasford,[714] and Hipsburn,[715]
Northumberland; and in Yorkshire.[716] One (10 1∕2 inches) was found at
Ehenside Tarn,[717] Cumberland. Others at Rusland, North Lonsdale, and
Troutbeck. A long list of stone-hammers, &c., found in Cumberland and
Westmorland, has been given by Chancellor R. S. Ferguson, F.S.A.,[718]
and a similar list has been compiled for Lancashire and Cheshire.[719]
They occur also in more southern districts. I have seen one (8 inches)
from the neighbourhood of Glastonbury. Another of the same length was
found on Dartmoor, near Burnt Tor. Others (8 1∕2 and 9 inches) from
Ashbury and Holsworthy,[720] Devon, are in the Museum of the Plymouth
Institute. One was found at Withycombe Raleigh,[721] Devon. A fine
specimen (8 inches long), with the sides somewhat hollowed, was found
at Tasburgh, Norfolk. Another of greenstone (5 1∕2 inches), and rather
curved longitudinally, was found in the same parish. Other specimens
from Norfolk are mentioned in the Norwich volume of the Archæological
Institute. I have one of serpentine from Chatteris Fen, which has been
broken diagonally, and had a fresh edge ground quite away from the
middle. The Rev. S. Banks had one of hard sandstone (7 3∕4 inches),
found in Cottenham Fen. Its faces are more parallel, so that the edge
is more obtuse. I have seen one, found near Stourton (9 1∕2 inches),
Somersetshire, straighter at the sides, and having the angles rounded.
They occur in Leicestershire.[722] One (7 inches) from the Cemetery at
Leicester, and one (9 1∕2 inches) from Barrow-on-Soar, are recorded. An
axe of the same kind, but smaller, found near Imola, has been engraved
by Gastaldi.[723]
Perhaps the more common variety, in Cumberland, is that which is
somewhat flattened at the butt, like Fig. 131, and which is, more
|201| properly speaking, an axe-hammer. This specimen was found near
Bed Dial, Wigton, Cumberland, and is in my own collection. The two
sides are nearly flat and parallel, and the edge appears to have been
re-sharpened since the axe-head was first formed, as it is ground away
to a shoulder a little below where it is perforated. It is formed of an
igneous rock. A very symmetrical example, 8 1∕2 inches long, with the
sides nearly flat, from Aikbrae, Culter, Lanarkshire, is engraved in
the _Journal of the Archæological Association_.[724]
[Illustration: Fig. 131.—Wigton. 1∕2]
A very similar specimen, 11 inches long, found in a turf moss near
Haversham, Westmorland, is engraved in the _Archæologia_,[725] as
is |202| another from Furness.[726] Another, with the sides more
parallel, and rounder at the end, 8 inches in length, was found
near Carlisle upwards of a century ago, and forms the subject of an
interesting paper by Bishop Lyttelton.[727] Two also were found at
Scalby,[728] near Scarborough. In the Greenwell Collection are several
implements of this character, obtained in the North of England. They
are 8 to 9 inches long, and 4 to 5 inches broad. One (10 inches) is
from Helton, in the parish of Chalton, Northumberland; and another,
of nearly the same size and form as Fig. 131, from Castle Douglas,
Kircudbrightshire; another of greenstone (6 inches) from Brompton Carr,
Yorkshire; and others, varying in form, from Ousby Moor, Cumberland,
and Heslerton Wold, Yorkshire. A fine example (8 inches), truncated at
the butt, from Dunse Castle,[729] Berwickshire, has been figured.
In the British Museum are several axe-heads of this form. One, 9 inches
long, of a porphyritic rock, is said to have been found in a barrow on
Salisbury Plain. One, 12 inches long, is from Stone, Staffordshire, as
well as another in which the boring is incomplete, there being only a
conical depression on each side. A third, thinner (8 inches), was found
near Hull. A fourth, of compact felspathic material, 8 1∕4 inches long,
is from the parish of Balmerino, Fife. A fifth, of similar material, 8
inches long, is from Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire.[730] It is worked
to a flat oval at the butt-end, but with the angles rounded. The hole,
as usual, tapers inwards from each side, but is not at right angles to
the central line of the axe. I have a fine implement of this class, but
larger and narrower than the figure, and concave on the sides, so that
the edge is wider than the butt. It is of basalt, much eroded on the
surface, and was found at Hardwick, near Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire.
It is 10 1∕2 inches long, about 4 1∕4 inches wide at the butt, where it
is 3 inches thick. The shaft-hole is nearly 2 inches in diameter, and
almost parallel; the weight, 8 1∕2 lbs.
One (9 1∕2 inches) was found at Grimley,[731] Worcestershire. Another,
of porphyry, nearly triangular in outline (7 inches), from Necton,
Norfolk, is in the Norwich Museum. The shaft-hole, in this case, is
parallel, but in most, it tapers both ways, contracting from about
1 3∕4 or 2 inches on each face to about 1 1∕4 inches in diameter in the
middle. One of greenstone (6 inches), found near Ely, has an oval hole.
[Illustration: Fig. 132.—Wollaton Park. 1∕2]
The late Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., had an axe-hammer of this
class (7 1∕2 inches), but still more flattened at one end, found in
Cambridgeshire. At the edge the faces form an angle of 45° to each
other, and there is little doubt that the implement has lost much of
its original length through continual sharpening. He also kindly lent
me for engraving the curious axe-hammer shown in Fig. 132, and has
made use of my wood-cut in his “Grave Mounds and their Contents.”[732]
It is formed of a very fine-grained, hard, and slightly micaceous
grit, and its weight exceeds 7 3∕4 lbs. It is somewhat rounded at the
hammer-end, which appears to have lost some splinters by use, though
the broken surface has since been partially re-ground. The blade is
slightly curved longitudinally, and both the |203| outer and inner
sides have been hollowed from the point, as far as the perforation. The
faces have each four parallel grooves worked in them, so that they are,
as it were, corrugated into five ribs, extending from near the edge to
opposite the centre of the hole. The hollows on the sides also show two
slight ribs parallel with the faces of the blade, the angles of which
are rounded. The shaft-hole tapers slightly in both directions towards
the centre, where it is about 1 3∕8 inch in diameter. |204| The
grooves seem to have been produced by picking, but have subsequently
been made smoother by grinding. It was found at a spot known as the
Sand Hills, in Lord Middleton’s Park,[733] near Wollaton, Notts. The
Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., had a closely similar specimen (10 inches),
found at Jervaux, near Bedale, Yorkshire. It is not, however, fluted on
the faces.
[Illustration: Fig. 133.—Buckthorpe. 1∕2]
Some of these instruments are so heavy that they can hardly have
been wielded in the ordinary manner as axes, though they may have
served for splitting wood, either by direct blows or by being used as
wedges. Bishop Lyttelton thought they might have been battle-axes, but
Pegge[734] pointed out that they were too heavy for such a purpose or
for use as missiles, and came to the conclusion “that these perforated
stones were not originally applied to any warlike purpose, but rather
to some domestic service, either as a hammer or beetle for common
use.” Professor Nilsson,[735] at a later date, has arrived at the same
conclusion, and considers them most suitable for being held in the left
hand by a short handle, and driven into wood by blows from a |205|
club held in the right hand. He has suggested for them the name of
“handled wedges.” In some parts of France I have seen extremely heavy
iron axes, much resembling these stone implements in form, used for
splitting wood. It seems possible that in old times these heavy stone
implements may also have been employed in agriculture.
Axes of this character, usually formed of greenstone, are very common
in Denmark and Northern Germany. They are much rarer in France, partly,
no doubt, in consequence of the less abundance of suitable material.
They also occur in Russia[736] and in Italy.[737]
A small specimen of the same form but rather more square at the butt
than Fig. 131, made of dark serpentine, and only 3 5∕8 inches long, was
found at Tanagra, in Bœotia, and was formerly in the collection of Dr.
G. Finlay,[738] of Athens.
* * * * *
Some of the forms last described, having square butt-ends, might,
perhaps, with greater propriety, have been included in the fourth
class into which I have proposed to divide these instruments, viz.,
axe-hammers, sharpened at one end and more or less hammer-like at the
other, and with the shaft-hole usually about the centre.
* * * * *
One of the simplest, and at the same time the rarest varieties of this
class, is where an implement of the form of an ordinary celt, like Fig.
69, has been bored through in the same direction as the edge. Fig. 133
represents such a specimen, in the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, of
Driffield. It was found at Buckthorpe, Yorkshire, and is formed of
close-grained greenstone. The butt-end is circular and flat, and the
shaft-hole, which is oval, tapers considerably both ways.
An axe-hammer of diorite, of nearly similar form, found at Groningen,
in the Netherlands, is in the museum at Leyden.
[Illustration: Fig. 134.—Aldro’. 1∕2]
Another simple form is that exhibited in Fig. 134, taken from a
specimen in greenstone found at Aldro’, near Malton, Yorkshire, and
in the possession of Mr. Hartley, of Malton. Its principal interest
consists in its having been left in the unfinished state, previous to
its perforation. We thus learn that the same practice of working the
axe-heads into shape before proceeding to bore the shaft-hole, |206|
prevailed here as in Denmark. In that country numerous specimens
have been found, finished in all respects except the boring, and in
many instances this has been commenced though not completed. It would
appear from this circumstance that the process of boring was one
which required a considerable amount of time, but that it was most
satisfactorily performed after the instrument had been brought into
shape; the position of the hole being adjusted to the form of the
implement, and not the latter to the hole. In the extensive Greenwell
Collection is the cutting end of an axe which has been broken half-way
across the hole, which, though commenced on both faces, was never
finished. The conical, cup-shaped depressions produced by the boring
instrument, extend to some depth in the stone, but are still 1∕4 inch
from meeting. The fragment is 3 1∕8 inches long, and was found at
Sprouston, near Kelso.
In the same collection is a small unfinished axe-head of greenstone, 4
inches long, in which the hole has not been commenced. It was found at
Coxwold, in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
An unpierced axe-head of greenstone, 4 inches long, in form much like
Fig. 136, but with the hollowed face shorter, was found in a grave in
Stronsay, one of the Orkney islands, and is now in the National Museum
at Edinburgh. There are slight recesses on each face, showing the spots
at which the perforation was to have been commenced.
[Illustration: Fig. 135.—Cowlam. 1∕2]
A perforated axe of serpentine, of the same character as Fig. 134, but
wider at the butt, was found in the Thames, and is now in the British
Museum. It is 4 inches long and has the peculiarity of being much
thicker at the cutting end than at the butt; the two sides tapering
from 1 1∕2 inch at the edge to 3∕4 inch at the butt.
A similar feature is to be observed in another axe of hornblende schist
(5 3∕4 inches), and of rather more elongated form than Fig. 134, found
at Cawton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and in the Greenwell
Collection.
A partially-finished axe-head, with one side and about two-thirds of
the width of the faces worked into form, is engraved in the “Horæ
Ferales.”[739] It is not a British specimen, but its place of finding
is unknown. Perforated hammers, in form much like Fig. 134 and 135,
occurred among the early remains at Troy.[740]
A rather more elaborate form, having the two sides curved |207|
longitudinally inwards, and the edge broader than the hammer-end,
is shown in Fig. 135. The cutting edge is carefully removed, so that
it was probably a battle-axe. The original, which is of porphyritic
greenstone, was discovered by Canon Greenwell, in a barrow at
Cowlam,[741] near Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire. It lay in front of the face
of a contracted skeleton, the edge towards the face, and the remains of
the wooden handle still grasped by the right hand. Connected with this
grave was that of a woman with two bronze ear-rings at her head.
[Illustration: Fig. 136.—Seghill. 1∕2]
Another of much the same form, but of coarser work and heavier, was
found near Pickering, and is preserved in the Museum at Scarborough.
I have seen a small axe of similar type, but with the edge almost
semicircular, and the hole nearer the butt, found at Felixstowe,
Suffolk. It is of quartzite, 4 1∕2 inches long. The hole, though 1 3∕4
inch in diameter |208| at the sides, diminishes to 1∕2 an inch in the
centre. In this respect it resembles some of the hammer-stones shortly
to be described.
Fig. 136 presents a rather more elaborate form, which is, however,
partly due to that of the flat oval quartzite pebble from which this
axe-hammer was made. The hammer-end seems to preserve the form of
the pebble almost intact; it is, however, slightly flattened at the
extremity. The original is preserved in the Greenwell Collection, and
was found in a cist at Seghill,[742] near Newcastle, in 1866. The
bones, by which it was no doubt originally accompanied, had entirely
gone to decay. A Scotch example, made of basalt, the sides of which are
much more concave, is shown in Fig. 136A, kindly lent by the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland. It was found at Wick,[743] Caithness.
[Illustration: Fig. 136A.—Wick, Caithness. 1∕2]
It was an axe-head somewhat of the character of Fig. 136, but sharper
at the hammer-end, that was found in an urn, near Broughton in Craven,
in 1675, and with it a small bronze dagger (with a tang and single
rivet hole) and a hone. It is described and figured by Thoresby.[744]
Hearne[745] regarded it as Danish. It is described as of speckled
marble polished, 6 inches long and 3 1∕2 inches broad, with the edge
at one end blunted by use. A nearly similar form (4 1∕2 inches) has
occurred in Shetland.[746] What appears to be an unbored axe of this
kind is in the Powysland Museum.[747] |209|
A still greater elaboration of form is exhibited in Fig. 137, from
an implement found at Kirklington, Yorkshire, and in the Greenwell
Collection. It is of basalt, worked to a flat oval at the hammer-end,
and to a curved cutting edge at the other. The two sides are ground
concave, and the shaft-hole is nearly parallel. This axe-hammer is of
larger size than usual when of this form, being 8 inches in length.
[Illustration: Fig. 137.—Kirklington. 1∕2]
Nearly similar weapons have been frequently found in barrows. |210|
One such, of greenstone, about 4 inches long, was found by the late
Mr. Charles Warne, F.S.A., in a barrow at Winterbourn Steepleton, near
Dorchester, associated with burnt bones. He has given a figure[748] of
it, which, by his kindness, I here reproduce, as Fig. 138. Another (4
inches) was found in a barrow at Trevelgue,[749] Cornwall, in 1872.
An extremely similar specimen, found near Claughton Hall, Garstang,
Lancashire, has been figured.[750] It is said to have been found, in
cutting through a tumulus in 1822, in a wooden case, together with
an iron axe, spear-head, sword, and hammer. There must, however, be
an error in this account; and as an urn, containing burnt bones, was
found in the same tumulus with the Saxon or Danish interment, it seems
probable that the objects belonging to different burials, primary and
secondary in the barrow, became mixed during the twenty-seven years
that elapsed between their discovery and the communication to the
Archæological Institute. Another weapon of much the same shape, but
4 3∕4 inches long, and formed of dark greenstone, is in the British
Museum. It was found in the Thames, at London. The process by which
these hollow sides appear to have been ground will be described at page
266.
[Illustration: Fig. 138.—Winterbourn Steepleton. 1∕2]
Sir R. Colt Hoare has engraved two axe-hammers of this form, but
slightly varying in size and details, from barrows in the Ashton
Valley.[751] In both cases they accompanied interments of burnt bones,
in one instance placed beneath an inverted urn; in the other there was
no urn, but an arrow-head of bone lay with the axe.
An axe (5 1∕4 inches), of nearly the same form, but having a small oval
projection on each face opposite the shaft-hole, was found in the bed
of the Severn, at Ribbesford, Worcestershire, and is now in the Museum
of the Society of Antiquaries. It has been somewhat incorrectly figured
by Allies,[752] and rather better by Wright.[753]
An axe-head (5 4∕10 inches), of the same character as Fig. 138, but
in outline more nearly resembling Fig. 137, found near Stanwick,
Yorkshire, is in the British Museum.[754] The cutting end of such
a weapon was dredged with gravel from the Trent, at Beeston, near
Nottingham, in 1862. |211|
Another axe-hammer of greenstone, with projections on the faces
opposite the centre of the hole, and with a hollow fluting near each
margin, that is carried round on the sides below the holes, is shown
in Fig. 139. The original was found by the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, who
kindly lent it me for engraving. It lay in an urn about 17 inches high,
containing burnt bones and some fragments of burnt flint, in a large
barrow on the Skelton Moors, Yorkshire. In the same barrow were found
eight other urns, all containing secondary interments. In another
barrow, on Westerdale Moors, Mr. Atkinson found a second axe-hammer of
nearly the same size and form, but more hammer-like at the end. This
also has the channels on the faces. It is of fine-grained granite,
and lay in an urn with burnt bones, a small “incense-cup,” and a sort
of long bone bead, having a spiral pattern upon it and a transverse
orifice into the perforation, about the centre. In this case, also, the
interment was not that over which the barrow was originally raised.
In another barrow, on Danby North Moors, also opened by Mr. Atkinson,
a rather larger axe-hammer of much the same outline, lay with the
hole in a vertical position, about 15 inches above a deposit of burnt
bones. It is of basalt much decayed. An axe-hammer from Inveraray,[755]
Argyllshire (5 3∕4 inches), in outline rather like Fig. 143, has small
projections on each face opposite to the centre of the shaft-hole.
[Illustration: Fig. 139.—Skelton Moors. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 140.—Selwood Barrow. 1∕2]
A longer and more slender form has also occasionally been found in
tumuli. Sir R. Colt Hoare has given an engraving of a beautiful
specimen from the Selwood Barrow,[756] near Stourton, which is here
reproduced as Fig. 140. The axe is of syenite, 5 1∕2 inches long,
and lay in a cist, in company with burnt bones and a small bronze
dagger, which in the description is erroneously termed a lance-head.
Parallel with each side, there appears to be a small groove worked
on the face of the weapon. A very pretty example of the same form
|212| accompanied an interment in a barrow at Snowshill,[757]
Gloucestershire. With it were associated two bronze daggers and a
bronze pin.
In the Christy Collection is a similar but larger specimen, 7 inches
long, formed of dark greenstone. It also has the grooves along the
margin of the faces, and has an oval flat face about 1 inch by 7∕8 inch
at the hammer-end. The hole, which is 1 1∕8 inch full in diameter at
one side, contracts rather suddenly to 1 inch at the other. This weapon
was formerly in the Leverian Museum, and is said to have been found
in a barrow near Stonehenge, which, from its similarity to Sir R. C.
Hoare’s specimen, there seems no reason to doubt.
[Illustration: Fig. 140A.—Longniddry. 1∕2]
An axe-hammer of clay-stone porphyry, 4 3∕4 inches long, and in form
the same as those last described—except that there appears to be more
of a shoulder at the hammer-end—was found in a barrow at Winwick,[758]
near Warrington, Lancashire. It was broken clean across the hole, and
had been buried in an urn with burnt bones. With them was also a bronze
dagger with a tang, and one rivet hole to secure it in the handle.
An axe-hammer of much the same proportions, but more square at the
hammer-end, was discovered in a dolmen near Carnac,[759] in Brittany. A
beautiful axe of the same character with ornamental grooves and |213|
mouldings is in the Museum at Edinburgh, and is here, by favour of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, shown as Fig. 140A. The original is
of diorite, and was dug up in 1800 at Longniddry,[760] East Lothian.
[Illustration: Fig. 141.—Upton Lovel. 1∕2]
Another variety of form is shown in Fig. 141, reduced from Sir R. Colt
Hoare’s great work.[761] In this case the hammer-end would appear to be
lozenge-shaped, as there is a central ridge shown on the face. It was
found in the Upton Lovel barrow, on the breast of the larger skeleton,
near the feet of which the flint celts, polished and unpolished, and
various other objects in bone and stone, were found, as previously
mentioned.[762] The engraving of this weapon in the _Archæologia_
differs considerably from that given by Sir R. C. Hoare.
[Illustration: Fig. 142.—Thames, London. 1∕2]
In Fig. 142 is shown another form, in which the hammer-end, though flat
in one direction, forms a semicircular sweep, answering in form to
the cutting edge at the other end. The two faces are ornamented with
a slight groove, extending across them parallel to the centre of the
shaft-hole. The material of which this axe-hammer is made appears to
be serpentine. It was found in the Thames, at London, and is in the
British Museum. A “hammer” from a barrow at Wilsford,[763] Wilts, which
was associated with a flat bronze celt and other articles of bronze,
was of the same type as Fig. 142, but without the grooves.
The very neatly formed instrument represented in Fig. 143, seems
to occupy an intermediate place between a battle-axe and a mace or
fighting hammer. It is rounded in both directions at the butt-end, but
instead of having a sharp edge at the other end it is brought to a
somewhat rounded point. The inner side is concave, though hardly to the
extent shown by the dotted line in the cut. The shaft-hole is nearly
parallel, though somewhat expanding at each end. The |214| material is
greenstone. This weapon was found in the middle of a barrow, or rather
cairn, formed of stones, in the parish of Pelynt, Cornwall.[764] It lay
among a considerable quantity of black ashes, which had evidently been
burnt on the natural surface of the ground at the spot. There was no
urn, nor any other work of art in company with it. In another barrow,
in the same field, was a bronze dagger with two rivets. I have never
seen any other stone hammer of this form found in Britain, nor can I
call to mind any such in continental museums. The nearest approach to
it is to be observed in some of the Scandinavian weapons, in which the
outer side is much more rounded than the inner, but in these there is
usually an axe-like edge, though very narrow. A shuttle-shaped weapon
of porphyritic stone, found in Upper Egypt,[765] is not unlike it, but
is equally pointed at both ends. The perforation narrows from 3∕4 inch
to 1∕4. The concave side of the Pelynt weapon is so much like that of
some of the battle-axes, such as Fig. 137, as to suggest the idea that
originally it may have been of this form, but having in some manner
been damaged, it has been re-worked into its present exceptional shape.
[Illustration: Fig. 143.—Pelynt, Cornwall. 1∕2]
It will have been observed that instruments, such as most of those
engraved, have accompanied interments both by cremation and inhumation,
and have, in some cases, been found in association with small daggers,
celts, and pins or awls of bronze. Other instances may be adduced from
the writings of the late Mr. T. Bateman, though sometimes the exact
form of the weapons is not recorded. In the Parcelly Hay Barrow,[766]
near Hartington, an axe-head of granite, with a hole for the shaft, and
a bronze dagger, with three rivets for fastening the handle, had been
buried with a contracted body, above the covering stones of the primary
interment.[767] Another, of basalt, apparently like Fig. 126, broken in
the middle, is said to have lain between two skeletons at full length,
placed side by side in a barrow at Kens Low Farm.[768] On the breast
of one lay a circular brooch of copper or bronze. With the axe was a
polished porphyry-slate pebble, the ends of which were ground flat.
|215|
* * * * *
Looking at the whole series, it seems probable that they were
intended to serve more than one purpose, and that while the adze-like
instruments may have been tools either for agriculture or for
carpentry, and the large heavy axe-hammers also served some analogous
purposes, the smaller class of instruments, whether sharpened at both
ends or at one only, may with some degree of certainty be regarded as
weapons. That the perforated form of axe was of later invention than
the solid stone hatchet is almost self-evident; and that many of the
battle-axe class belong to a period when bronze was coming into use
is well established. That all instruments of this form belong to so
late a period there is no evidence to prove; but in other countries
where perforated axes are common, as in Scandinavia and Switzerland,
those who have most carefully studied the antiquities, find reason for
assigning a considerable number to a period when the use of bronze
was unknown. On the other hand, it is possible that in some instances
the large heavy axe-hammer may have remained in use even in the days
when bronze and iron were well known. Sir W. Wilde mentions one in the
museum of the Royal Irish Academy, 10 3∕4 inches long, which is said to
have been recently in use. Canon Greenwell had another which was used
for felling pigs in Yorkshire. Such, however, may be but instances of
adapting ancient implements, accidentally met with, to modern uses.
I have already, in the description of the various figures, mentioned
when analogous forms were found in other parts of Western Europe, so
that it is needless again to cite instances of discoveries on the
Continent. I may, however, notice a curious series from Northern Russia
and Finland.[769] They are for the most part pointed at one end, the
other being sometimes carved to represent the head of an animal. Some
are pointed at each end. In several there is a projection on both sides
of the shaft-hole, designed to add strength to a weak part, but at the
same time made ornamental. The animal’s head occurs also on bronze axes.
Out of Europe this class of perforated instruments is almost unknown.
Turning to modern savages, the comparative absence of perforated
axes is striking. In North America, it is true that some specimens
occur, but the material is usually too soft for cutting purposes, and
the haft-holes are so small that the handles would |216| be liable
to break. It has therefore been inferred that they were probably
used as weapons of parade. They are, however, occasionally formed
of quartz.[770] Schoolcraft,[771] moreover, regards the semilunar
perforated maces as actual weapons of war. One of them, pointed at each
end, he describes as being 8 inches long, and weighing half a pound.
The more hatchet-like forms he considers to be tomahawks. In some
instances[772] the hole does not extend through the blade.
In Central America, Southern Africa, and New Zealand, where the art of
drilling holes through stone is, or was, well known, perforated axes
appear to be absent. I have, however, heard of an instrument of the
kind having been discovered in New Zealand, but have not seen either
the original or a sketch. Some perforated hoe-like implements have been
found in Mexico.
The nearest approach to such instruments is perhaps afforded by
the sharp-rimmed perforated discs of stone, mounted on shafts so
as to present an edge all round, which are in use, apparently as
weapons, in the Southern part of New Guinea, and Torres Straits. Some
perforated sharp-rimmed discs of flint and serpentine, have been
found in France.[773] They are probably heads of war-maces. In New
Caledonia,[774] flat discs of jade, ground to a sharp edge all round,
are mounted as axes, being let into a notch at the end of the haft and
secured by a lashing that passes through two small holes in the edge of
the blade.
The cause of this scarcity of perforated weapons appears to be, that
though it might involve rather more trouble and skill to attach a
solid hatchet to its shaft, yet this was more than compensated by the
smaller amount of labour involved in making that kind of blade, than
in fashioning and boring the perforated kind. These latter, moreover,
would be more liable to break in use. Looking at our own stone axes
from this point of view, it seems that with the very large implements
the shaft-hole became almost a necessity; while with those used for
warlike purposes, where the contingencies of wear and breakage were
but small, it seems probable that the possession of a weapon, on the
production of which a more than ordinary amount of labour had been
bestowed, was regarded as a mark of distinction, as is the case among
some savages of the present day.
|217|