TRIMMED FLAKES, KNIVES, ETC.
Besides being converted into round-ended scrapers, and pointed
boring-tools, flint flakes were trimmed on one or both faces into a
variety of forms of cutting, scraping, and piercing tools, and weapons.
In one direction these forms pass through daggers and lance-heads, into
javelin and arrow heads; and in another through cutting tools, wrought
into symmetrical shape, and ground at the edges, into hatchets or celts
adapted for use in the hand without being hafted.
[Illustration: Fig. 233.—Cambridge (1). 1∕2]
The first I shall notice are flakes trimmed into form by secondary
working on both edges, but only on the convex face, the flat face being
left either almost or quite intact. The illustrations of these forms
are no longer full size, but on the scale of one half, linear measure.
* * * * *
The simplest form of such instruments is when merely the edge of the
flake is worked, so as to reduce it to a regular leaf-like shape. A
beautiful specimen of this kind is preserved in the Christy Collection,
and is shown in Fig. 233. It was probably found in the neighbourhood
of Cambridge, having formed part of the collection of the late Mr.
Litchfield of that town. It is of grey flint, curved lengthwise, as
is usually the case with flint flakes, and worked to a point at each
end, though rather more rounded at the butt-end of the flake. Such
instruments have sometimes been regarded as poignards, though not
improbably they were used for various cutting and scraping purposes.
They rarely occur in Britain of so great a length as this flake, which
is 5 1∕2 inches long, but those of shorter proportions are not uncommon.
In Ireland also the long flakes are scarce.
In France they are more abundant, though still rare. Some of those
formed from the Pressigny flints were, judging from the cores, as
much |327| as 12 inches long, but none have as yet been found of
this length. One trimmed on both edges, and 8 1∕4 inches long, was
dredged from the bed of the Seine[1461] at Paris, and is now in the
Musée d’Artillerie, with another nearly as long found about the same
time in the same place. Both appear to be of Pressigny flint. Others
have been found in different parts of France.[1462] A beautiful flake,
8 3∕4 inches long, trimmed on its external face, and found near
Soissons,[1463] was in the collection of M. Boucher de Perthes. I have
one of the same character, 8 1∕2 inches long and 1 3∕8 inches broad in
the middle, most symmetrically shaped and perfectly uninjured, which
was formerly in the collection of M. Meillet, of Poitiers. It is said
to have been found at Savanseau, and in places has a red incrustation
upon it, as if it had been embedded in a cave. In the Grotte de St.
Jean d’Alcas,[1464] was found a blade of the same kind, together with
some lance-heads of flint worked on both faces. Occasionally they
are found in the dolmens. The _Allée couverte_[1465] of Argenteuil
furnished one, 7 1∕4 inches long; and one of the dolmens in the
Lozère[1466] another, 8 inches in length. One almost 10 inches long and
1 inch broad, found at Neuilly-sur-Eure,[1467] has on the convex face
the delicate secondary working, like ripple marks, such as is seen in
perfection on some of the Danish and Egyptian blades of flint.
Others have been found in the dolmen at Caranda[1468] (Aisne), du
Charnier[1469] (Ardèche), and in the Grotte Duruthy (Landes).[1470]
Curiously enough, the long flakes found in some abundance in
Scandinavia are rarely, if ever, worked on the convex face alone, but
are either left in their original form, or converted by secondary
working on both faces, into some of the more highly finished tools or
weapons.
In the Swiss Lake-dwellings flakes trimmed at the edges and ends are of
not unfrequent occurrence. Some of these, as already described, have
been regarded as saws.
Two long trimmed flakes, from Chevroux, tied to wooden handles,
both string and handle partially preserved, are in the Museum at
Lausanne.[1471] There is a small pommel at the end of the handle.
A remarkably fine Italian specimen of a ridged flake, 11 inches in
length, and carefully trimmed along both edges, is in the British
Museum. It is stated to have been found at Telese, near Pæstum.[1472]
Many of these trimmed flakes, as well as in some cases those entirely
untrimmed, have been called by antiquaries spear-heads and lance-heads.
They have frequently been found with interments in barrows.
Not to mention numerous instances recorded by Mr. Bateman, I may
cite a flake found in company with a barbed flint arrow-head at |328|
the foot of a contracted skeleton in a barrow[1473] at Monkton Down,
Avebury, and a “triangular spear-head of stone curiously serrated
at the edges,” found with a flint arrow-head and perforated boar’s
tusk, in an urn at the foot of a skeleton, in a barrow on Ridgeway
Hill,[1474] Dorsetshire.
Among the flint implements occurring on the surface of the Yorkshire
Wolds and elsewhere, flakes trimmed to a greater or less extent along
both edges, and over the convex face, are frequently found. The point
as well as the base is often neatly rounded, though the former is
sometimes chipped to a sharp angle.
There is a considerable difference in the inclination of the edge to
the face, it being sometimes at an angle of 60° or upwards, like the
edge of some scrapers, at other times acute like a knife-edge.
There is so great a range in the dimensions and proportions of this
class of instruments that it is almost impossible to figure all the
varieties. I have, therefore, contented myself with the selection of a
few examples, and will commence with those having the more obtuse edges.
[Illustration: Fig. 234.—Yorkshire Wolds. 1∕2]
Fig. 234, from the Yorkshire Wolds, is an external flat flake,
weathered white, and trimmed all round the face, showing the natural
crust of the flint, to a point in form like a Gothic arch. A part of
the edge is bruised, but it is impossible to say for what weapon such
an instrument was intended. It can hardly have been for a javelin-head,
though from the outline it would seem well adapted for such a weapon;
for in that case the edge would not have become bruised. It may
possibly be an abnormal form of scraper.
A nearly similar specimen, but narrower in proportion, was found by
the late Lord Londesborough[1475] in a barrow near Driffield, and is
described as a spear-head.
[Illustration: Fig. 235.—Yorkshire. 1∕2]
Another form, usually very thick in proportion to its breadth, and
neatly worked over the whole of the convex face, is shown in Fig. 235.
This specimen, also from the Yorkshire Wolds, is in the Greenwell
Collection, now Dr. Sturge’s. I have seen another from a barrow near
Hay, Breconshire; and in the National Museum at Edinburgh is a specimen
found near Urquhart, Elgin. In an implement of the same form in my
own possession some small irregularities on the flat face have been
removed by delicate chipping. I have several examples from Suffolk.
There is nothing to guide us in attempting to determine the use of such
instruments, but if inserted in handles they would be well adapted for
boring holes in wood or other soft substances. The same form occurs in
Ireland. In the Greenwell Collection is an Irish specimen ground all
along the ridge, and over the whole of the butt-end. A pointed flattish
flake (4 1∕2 inches), worked over the whole of the outer face, from
Rousay,[1476] Orkney, has been figured. |329|
Another much coarser but somewhat similar form is shown in Fig. 236.
The instrument in this case is made from a very thick curved flake,
roughly chipped into a boat-like form, and then more carefully trimmed
along the edges. It may possibly have been used as a borer, as the
edges near the point show some signs of attrition. It is of flint
weathered grey, and was found near Bridlington. I have found a similar
scaphoid form in Ireland.[1477]
[Illustration: Fig. 236.—Bridlington. 1∕2]
A rather thick external flake, worked over nearly the whole of its
convex face and reduced to about half its breadth for about a third of
its length from the point, is shown in Fig. 237. The narrower part is
nearly semicircular in section. It is difficult to imagine a purpose
for this reduction in width; and it hardly seems due to wear. I have,
however, another specimen, also from the Yorkshire Wolds, reduced in
the same manner along fully three-quarters of its length.
Some of the worked flakes from the Dordogne Caves[1478] show a somewhat
similar shoulder, but it seems possible that with them the broader part
may have been protected by some sort of handle, as the original edge of
the flake is there preserved.
I now come to the instruments with more acute edges, made by dressing
the convex face of flint flakes. Of these the form shown in Fig.
238 is allied to that of Fig. 235, but is considerably flatter in
section and more distinctly oval in outline. The original was found
near Bridlington. A hard particle of the flint has interfered with
the regular convexity of the worked face, but in some specimens the
form is almost as regular as a slice taken lengthways off a lemon,
though in others the outline presents an irregular curve. The flat
face is generally more or less curved longitudinally, and the ends
are sometimes more pointed than in the specimen engraved. I have
an exquisitely chipped and perfectly symmetrical implement of this
character (3 inches) from the neighbourhood of Icklingham, Suffolk,
in which county the type is not uncommon. The flaking on the convex
surface is very even and regular, and produces a slightly corrugated
surface, with the low ridges following each other like ripple marks on
sand. The edge is minutely and evenly chipped, and is very sharp. The
instrument may perhaps be regarded as a sort of knife.
[Illustration: Fig. 237. 1∕2 Yorkshire.]
[Illustration: Fig. 238. 1∕2 Bridlington.]
[Illustration: Fig. 239. 1∕2 Castle Carrock.]
The form is well known in Ireland, but I do not remember to have seen
it in foreign collections.
The beautifully wrought blade of flint, shown in Fig. 239, presents
|330| a more elongated variety of this form. It was found by Canon
Greenwell, with a burnt body, in a barrow at Castle Carrock,[1479]
Cumberland. Another blade, curiously similar in workmanship and
character, was found by the same explorer in a barrow near Rudstone,
Yorkshire, but in this case the body was unburnt. Another, with
both ends rounded and the edges more serrated, was found in a
barrow at Robin Hood Butts, near Scarborough, and is preserved
in the museum of that town. Mounted with it on the same card are
arrow-heads—leaf-shaped, lozenge-shaped, and stemmed and barbed. Mr.
Carrington[1480] describes a flake flat on one face, and laboriously
chipped to a convex shape on the other, as found with burnt bones in
a barrow at Musdin, Staffordshire. A similar specimen in Ribden Low
accompanied a contracted interment. Mr. Bateman terms them lance-heads.
In the Greenwell Collection is a leaf-shaped blade of this kind, flat
on one face, found in Burnt Fen. A knife of the same kind (2 inches)
was found with an interment at Chollerford,[1481] Northumberland.
[Illustration: Fig. 240.—Ford, Northumberland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 240A.—Etton. 1∕1]
The skilful character of the surface chipping on these blades is
perhaps better shown in Fig. 240, which is drawn full-size from
another specimen, also in Canon Greenwell’s collection, which was
found in a cist with the remains of a burnt body, on Ford Common,
Northumberland.[1482] |331|
Canon Greenwell found other knives in barrows at Sherburn[1483] and
Etton,[1484] Yorkshire. The latter is beautifully serrated and I am
enabled to reproduce his figure of it as Fig. 240A.[1485] He found
another of the same character in a barrow at Bishop’s Burton,[1486]
Yorkshire. Knives not serrated have been found at Carn Brê,[1487]
Cornwall; Chagford,[1488] Devon; and Grovehurst[1489] near Milton, Kent.
[Illustration: Fig. 241.—Weaverthorpe. 1∕2]
A serrated knife was found in a barrow at Dalmore,[1490] Alness,
Ross-shire, and another, less distinctly serrated, at Tarland,[1491]
Aberdeenshire. In some instruments, evidently belonging to the same
class, the secondary flaking does not extend over the whole of the
convex surface of the blade, but some of the facets of the original
flake are still visible, or if it has been an external flake, some
portion of the original crust of the flint remains. This is the case
with the blade engraved in Fig. 241, which was found by Canon Greenwell
in a barrow near Weaverthorpe,[1492] Yorkshire. In another barrow at
Rudstone, Yorkshire, also opened by him, was a rather smaller but
similar instrument, very neatly formed, and somewhat serrated at the
edge. It lay at the feet of a skeleton. General Pitt Rivers found one
nearly similar in a pit in the Isle of Thanet.[1493]
Knives of much the same form, but more rudely chipped, from Udny,
Aberdeenshire, and Urquhart, Elgin, are in the National Museum
at Edinburgh. They have also been found on the Culbin Sands,
Elginshire.[1494]
[Illustration: Fig. 242.—Wykeham Moor. 1∕2]
Some of these blades are left blunt at the butt-end of the flake, or
else not so carefully worked round at that end, but that the square
end of the original flake may be discerned. A very fine specimen of
this kind was obtained by Canon Greenwell in a barrow on Wykeham Moor,
Yorkshire,[1495] and is shown in Fig. 242. It was found lying side
by side with a fluted bronze dagger, affording, as Canon Greenwell
observes, a valuable illustration of the contemporaneous use of bronze
and stone. He has found others, both with burnt and unburnt bodies,
in barrows in Yorkshire and Northumberland. I have a beautiful blade
of the same general form, but rather more rounded at the point and
curved slightly in the other direction, |332| and but little more
than half the length of this specimen, which was found by Mr. E.
Tindall, with another nearly similar, in a barrow near Bridlington.
Dr. Travis in 1836 described another (2 3∕4 inches) from a barrow near
Scarborough. Another (2 inches) was found with food-vessels in a barrow
at Marton,[1496] Yorkshire, E.R. A knife of the same kind from a cave
at Kozarnia,[1497] Poland, has been figured by Dr. F. Römer.
Among other English examples I may mention a thin flake (4 1∕4 inches),
somewhat curved laterally, and trimmed along both edges and rounded
at the point, found in Burwell Fen, Cambridge. Another from the same
locality (3 3∕4 inches) is even more curved on the concave edge. A
recurved flake or knife of flint, 3 1∕2 inches long, finely chipped
at the sharp convex edge, was found with jet ornaments and an ovoid
instrument of serpentine, accompanying a skeleton, in a barrow near
Avebury, Wilts.[1498] I have several from the surface, Suffolk, and
from the Cambridge Fens. In a larger instrument from Icklingham, both
edges are worn smooth and rounded by use, as if in scraping some soft
but gritty substance, possibly hides in the process of preparation as
leather.
In some of these instruments the point is sharp instead of being
rounded. One of them, found by Canon Greenwell in a barrow on Potter
Brompton Wold,[1499] is shown in Fig. 243.
I have a more triangular form of implement, of the same kind, 3 3∕4
inches long, showing the crust of the flint at the base, found near
Icklingham, Suffolk. Another from the same locality is of the same form
as the figure.
Instruments of the same character as these were discovered by the late
Mr. Bateman in many of the Derbyshire Barrows. What appears to be one
of the same kind was found with a flake and burnt bones in an urn at
Broughton, Lincolnshire.[1500] It may, however, have been convex on
both faces. A fragment of another was found at Dorchester Dykes,[1501]
Oxfordshire, by General Pitt Rivers.
[Illustration: Fig. 243.—Potter Brompton Wold. 1∕2]
The sharp-edged instruments of the forms last described seem to have
been intended for use as cutting, or occasionally as scraping tools,
and may not improperly be termed knives, as has been proposed by Canon
Greenwell.[1502] Even the last described, though sharply pointed,
cannot with certainty be accepted as a spear-head. To regarding the
other form, Fig. 242, as such, Canon Greenwell objects that “the people
who fashioned the arrow-heads so beautifully, if they fabricated
a spear-head in flint, would not have made one side straight, the
other curved, and carefully rounded it off at the sharper end.” One
of these pointed instruments (3 inches), trimmed on one face and
slightly curved, was found with an urn and a whetstone in a cairn at
Stenton,[1503] East Lothian. |333|
Sometimes the secondary working extends over part of both faces of the
flake, the central ridge of which is still discernible. Canon Greenwell
found a fine instrument of this kind (3 1∕4 inches), made from a ridged
flake, with neat secondary chipping along both sides, and on both
faces, with a burnt body, in a barrow on Sherburn Wold.[1504] The flint
itself is partially calcined. It is difficult to determine the claims
of such an instrument to be regarded as a knife or as a lance-head.
[Illustration: Fig. 244.—Snainton Moor. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 245.—Ford. 1∕2]
The pointed instrument from Snainton Moor, Yorkshire, which is shown
in Fig. 244, and was kindly lent to me by the late Mr. C. Monkman, of
Malton, has more the appearance of having been a lance-head. A fragment
of another weapon of this kind was found in Aberdeenshire.[1505] Larger
lance-heads of this form have been found in tumuli in the South of
France.[1506] A closely similar javelin-head, found at Vercelli, has
been engraved by Gastaldi,[1507] as well as another longer and more
distinctly tanged, from Telese.[1508] A third from Tuscany has been
engraved by Cocchi.[1509] A fourth of the same form, but slightly
notched on each side near the base, was found with skeletons in
Andalusia.[1510] In the English specimen the secondary flaking extends
over the whole, or nearly the whole, of both faces of the original
flake; and the same is the case with the other instruments of this
class which I am now about to describe.
Fig. 245 represents an implement of dark grey almost unweathered flint,
found with burnt bones in a barrow at Ford.[1511] Northumberland,
examined by Canon Greenwell. It has been made from an external flake
subsequently brought into shape by working on both faces. Judging
from its form only, it would appear to have been a lance-head; but
there are some signs of wear of the edge at the |334| butt-end, which
seem hardly compatible with this assumption, unless, indeed, like the
natives of Tierra del Fuego,[1512] who are said to make use of their
arrow-heads for cutting purposes, its owner used it also as a sort of
knife. Mr. C. Monkman had a blade of this character (3 3∕8 inches) from
Northdale, Yorkshire. Some lance-heads (3 and 2 1∕2 inches) have been
found at West Wickham,[1513] Kent; and Carn Brê,[1514] Cornwall.
[Illustration: Fig. 246.—Bridlington. 1∕2]
The original of Fig. 246 was found at West Huntow, near Bridlington.
It is boldly chipped on both faces, so that hardly any portion of the
original surface of the flake remains. It has a sharp edge all round,
which is, however, slightly abraded at the blunter end; a small portion
of the point at the other end has been broken off. In character it
so closely resembles a leaf-shaped arrow-head that there seem some
grounds for regarding this form as that of a lance-head, though from
the doubtful character of other specimens of nearby similar form I
have thought it better to place it here. A much larger specimen of
brown flint (3 3∕4 by 2 3∕8 inches), but of nearly the same form and
character, was found by the late Rev. J. C. Clutterbuck, at Hounslow
Heath. In the Greenwell Collection is one of almost the same dimensions
found on Willerby Wold, and others not quite so large from Rudstone,
Yorkshire.
Some blades, similar in general form, were found, with various other
stone implements, in sand-beds, near York, and have been described by
Mr. C. Monkman.[1515]
I have collected somewhat similar blades to that here engraved,
though of rather smaller dimensions, in the ancient encampment of
Maiden Bower, near Dunstable; and I have several found on the surface
near Lakenheath and Icklingham, Suffolk. I have seen one of the same
character, which was found near Ware, Herts. General Pitt Rivers found
in the Isle of Thanet[1516] two lance-heads, curiously like this and
the preceding figure.
[Illustration: Fig. 247.—Cambridge Fens. 1∕2]
A far more highly-finished blade, but still preserving the same general
character, is shown in Fig. 247. The original, of brown flint, was
found in the Cambridge Fens, and is now in my own collection. Though
ground on some portions of both faces, apparently for the purpose of
removing asperities, the edges are left unground. They are, however,
very carefully and delicately |335| chipped by secondary working to
a regular sweep. I think this instrument must be regarded rather as
a form of knife than as a head for a javelin or lance. In size, and
to some extent in shape, it corresponds with the more crescent-like
or triangular tools described under Fig. 256. I have a rather smaller
example from Bottisham, ground along one side only.
This correspondence is still more evident in a blade now in the
Blackmore Museum, Salisbury, of nearly the same shape but somewhat less
curved on one edge than the other, which has been ground along the more
highly curved edge. It was found at Hamptworth, near Salisbury.
A narrower form of blade is shown in Fig. 248. The original, of flint
weathered nearly white, was found at Scamridge, Yorkshire, and is
preserved in the Greenwell Collection. It is, as will be observed,
slightly unsymmetrical in form, so that it would appear to have been
intended for a knife rather than for a lance-head. A remarkably fine
specimen in the same collection, found at Flixton, Yorkshire[1517]
(5 1∕8 inches), is in form much like that from Scamridge. A part of
the edge towards the point on the flatter side is slightly worn. There
is a considerable diversity of form amongst the instruments of this
character, some having the sides almost symmetrical, while others have
them curved in different degrees, so much so as to make the instrument
resemble in form some of the crescent-shaped Danish blades. In a
specimen which I possess, from Ganton Wold, one side presents the
natural crust of the flint along the greater part of its length, and
has been left unworked; the other side has been chipped to an obtuse
edge, which is considerably bruised and worn. I have others from
Suffolk, sharpened by cross-flaking on one edge only. Some such knives
are rounded at one or both ends instead of being pointed. A blade from
the neighbourhood of Bridlington, in my collection, is pointed at one
end but rounded at the other, where also the edge is completely worn
away by attrition. In the case of another symmetrical and flat blade,
from Icklingham (3 3∕4 inches), rather more convex on one face than the
other, the edge on one side at the more pointed end is also completely
rubbed away. I have as yet been unable to trace on the face of any of
these pointed specimens signs of those polished markings which occur so
frequently at a little distance within the more highly curved margin of
the Danish semi-lunar blades, and from which Professor Steenstrup has
inferred that they were inserted in handles of wood or bone. A specimen
from Craigfordmains,[1518] Roxburghshire, has been figured.
[Illustration: Fig. 248.—Scamridge. 1∕2]
A blade of the same kind as Fig. 248, 3 5∕8 inches long, found in
the Department of the Charente, is engraved by de Rochebrune.[1519]
Others of larger size were found in the Grotto des Morts, Durfort
(Gard).[1520] |336|
The view that many of these blades were used as knives rather than as
lance-heads, seems to be supported by a specimen from Burwell Fen, in
the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, and engraved in Fig.
249. This blade is rather more convex on one face than the other, and
shows along half of its flatter face the original inner surface of the
flake from which it was made. One of its side edges has been rounded by
grinding along its entire length, so that it can be conveniently held
in the hand; the other edge is left sharp, and is polished as if by use.
[Illustration: Fig. 249.—Burwell Fen. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 250.—Saffron Walden. 1∕2]
A remarkably large specimen of this kind, but with no traces of
grinding upon it, was found in digging the foundations of a house
on Windmill Hill, Saffron Walden, and was in the possession of Mr.
William Tuke,[1521] of that town. It is shown in Fig. 250. One face
is somewhat flatter than the other, but both faces are dexterously
and symmetrically chipped over their whole surface. The small flakes
have been taken off so skilfully and at such regular intervals, that,
so far as workmanship is concerned, this instrument approaches in
character the elegant Danish blades. The form seems well adapted for a
lance-head, but on examination the edges appear to be slightly chipped
and worn away, as if by scraping some hard material. It would appear,
then, more probably to have been used in the hand. In the often-cited
Greenwell Collection is a blade of grey flint, also 5 3∕8 inches long,
but rather narrower than the figure, and straighter on one edge than
the other, found in Mildenhall Fen. In the same collection is a large
thin flat |337| blade of flint, 8 3∕8 inches long and 3 inches broad,
more curved on one edge than the other, and rounded at one end. The
straighter edge is also the sharper. It was found at Cross Bank, near
Mildenhall. In general outline it is not unlike some of the Danish
lunate implements. It may, however, be only the result of a somewhat
unskilful attempt to produce a symmetrical dagger or spear-head, such
as Fig. 264. I have several instruments of this kind, found near
Icklingham and at other places in Suffolk.
A lance-head of almost the same size and form as Fig. 250, from the
neighbourhood of Brescia, has been engraved by Gastaldi.[1522] They are
also said to be found in Greece.[1523]
They sometimes occur among American antiquities. One of them, 11 inches
in length, pointed at each end, is engraved by Squier and Davis.[1524]
I have a beautiful blade of pale buff chalcedony, acutely pointed at
one end and rounded at the other, which was found in company with a
second of the same size and character, near Comayagua, in Spanish
Honduras. It is 6 3∕8 inches long and 1 1∕8 inches broad. Other
lance-heads from Honduras have been published.[1525] A flint sword or
spear-head 22 inches long, serrated at the end towards the point, is
said to have been found in Tennessee.[1526] Lance-heads of flint, not
unlike Figs. 249 and 250, are found in South Africa.[1527]
[Illustration: Fig. 251.—Fimber. 1∕2]
Messrs. Mortimer, of Driffield, Yorkshire, have in their collection
a remarkable specimen belonging to this class of instrument, which
instead of being pointed is almost semicircular at both ends. They have
kindly allowed me to engrave it in Fig. 251. It has been neatly chipped
from a piece of tabular flint, and not from a flake, and is equally
convex on both faces; some of the salient parts along both edges are
polished, as if by wear, and on either face are some of the polished
“Steenstrup’s markings,” possibly arising from its having been inserted
in a handle. This form is perhaps more closely connected with some of
those which will shortly follow than with those which precede it. A
somewhat similar oval blade 3 3∕4 inches long and 2 3∕4 inches wide,
found in the Thames at Long Wittenham, and formerly belonging to the
Rev. J. C. Clutterbuck, is ground along both sides, and is now in the
Oxford Museum.
A blade of the same form was found in the Grotte des Morts, Durfort
(Gard).[1528]
* * * * *
In none of the specimens hitherto figured in this chapter, have the
edges been sharpened by grinding; in the only instances |338| where
that process has been used, it has been for the purpose of removing,
not of sharpening the edge. In the case of the next examples which I
am about to describe, one or both edges, and in some the whole of both
faces, have been ground.
* * * * *
I have already mentioned instances of untrimmed flakes of flint having
been ground on the edge, but knives of a similar character made from
carefully chipped blades also occur, though so far as I have at present
observed, principally in Scotland.
[Illustration: Fig. 252.—Argyllshire. 1∕1]
[Illustration: Fig. 253.—Glen Urquhart.]
One of these, carefully worked on both faces, and with one edge
sharpened by grinding, was found at Strachur,[1529] Argyllshire, and
is shown full size in Fig. 252. Another, 2 1∕2 inches long and 7∕8
inch broad, with less grinding on the surface, was found at Cromar,
Aberdeenshire. A third, of almost the same size, with the edge nearly
straight and the back curved, and with neatly chipped faces but little
ground, was found in a chambered cairn at Camster,[1530] Caithness.
A nodule of iron ore was found with it, but whether this was for
fire-producing purposes is not apparent. A fragment of another knife of
the same kind was found, in 1865, by Messrs. Anderson and Shearer in a
cairn at Ormiegill Ulbster, Caithness; and among the numerous articles
of flint found at Urquhart,[1531] Elgin, is a very perfect knife of
this kind, which is shown in Fig. 253. All five specimens are in the
National Museum at |339| Edinburgh. I have two English specimens
of the same kind but pointed at the butt, from the neighbourhood of
Icklingham.
The sharpened ends of stone celts, when broken off, have occasionally
been converted into knives. One such, from Gilling, Yorkshire, with the
fractured surface rounded by grinding, is in the Greenwell Collection.
Another form of knife closely allied to the type of Fig. 251, is
broader, and has all its edges sharpened. The instrument shown in Fig.
254 was found near Bridlington. It is made from a large broad flake,
the outer face of which has been re-worked to such an extent that not
more than one-fourth of the original surface remains intact. The inner
face, on the contrary, is left almost untouched, except just at the two
ends. As will be seen from the engraving, a portion of the original
edge has been chipped away, apparently in modern times, by the first
finder having used it as a “strike-a-light” flint. What remains of the
original edge has been carefully sharpened, and the angles between some
of the facets on the convex face have also been removed by grinding.
An example of the same kind from Butterlaw,[1532] near Coldstream, has
been figured.
[Illustration: Fig. 254.—Bridlington. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 255.—Overton. 1∕2]
Others more or less perfect have been found at Glenluce,[1533]
Earlston, and on the Culbin Sands.[1534]
A nearly similar instrument, from Sweden, has been engraved by
Nilsson,[1535] but its edges are not described as ground.
A more highly finished form of the same implement is shown in Fig.
255. The original was found at Pick Rudge Farm,[1536] Overton, Wilts,
in company with the large barbed arrow or javelin-head, Fig. 305, and
both are now in the Blackmore Museum. Like Fig. 254, it is flatter on
one face than the other; it is, however, polished all over as well as
ground at the edges. These are rather sharper at the two ends than
at the sides. Another specimen of the same form, and of almost |340|
identically the same dimensions, was found at Pentrefoelas,[1537]
Denbighshire. A third specimen, 3 1∕2 inches long and 2 1∕4 inches
wide, was found at Lean Low, near Newhaven, Derbyshire, and is in the
Bateman collection.[1538]
In my own collection are two very fine and perfect specimens of this
class of instrument, both from the neighbourhood of Cambridge. The
larger of these is 4 1∕4 inches long, 2 3∕4 inches broad at one end,
and 2 5∕8 inches at the other. The ends are ground to a regular sweep,
and the sides are somewhat hollowed. It has been made from a very
broad thin flake, and is ground over nearly the whole of the outer and
over part of the inner face, and brought to a sharp edge all round.
It was found in Burwell Fen. The smaller instrument has been even
more highly finished in the same manner, every trace of the original
chipping of the convex face having been removed by grinding. The edge
is sharp all round, but the ends are more highly curved than in the
larger instrument. It is 3 1∕4 inches long, 2 1∕8 inches broad at one
end, and 1 7∕8 inches at the other, and was found in Quy Fen. In the
Greenwell Collection is a portion of what appears to have been another
of these instruments, ground on both faces and sharp at the edges, from
Lakenheath.
[Illustration: Fig. 256.—Kempston. 1∕2]
I have the half of another, 2 inches wide, found near Bridlington,
and one of the same character, but oval in outline, from the same
place. The latter has lost one of its ends. Its original dimensions
must have been about 3 inches in length by 1 7∕8 inches in extreme
breadth, and 3∕16 inch in thickness. Both faces are coarsely ground,
the striæ running crossways of the blade. The edges appear to have been
sharpened on a finer stone. It has been supposed that these instruments
were intended to serve for dressing[1539] the flesh side of skins,
or for flaying-knives.[1540] Mr. Albert Way has called attention
to the analogy they present to an unique bronze implement found at
Ploucour,[1541] Brittany.
The beautifully-formed instrument shown in Fig. 256 belongs apparently
to the same class. It was found at Kempston, near Bedford, and was
kindly lent to me for engraving by the late Mr. James Wyatt, F.G.S.,
who afterwards presented it to the Blackmore Museum.[1542] It is of
dark flint, the two faces equally convex, and neatly chipped out
but not polished. Regarding it as of triangular form, with the apex
rounded, the edges on what may be described as the two sides in the
|341| [1543] engraving have been carefully sharpened, while that of
the base has been removed by grinding. In the same field was found a
flint lance-head or dagger of fine workmanship, which will subsequently
be mentioned.
Messrs. Mortimer, of Driffield, possess an instrument of the same
character found near Fimber. It is more equilaterally triangular in
form than the Kempston specimen, though the sides are all curved and
the angles rounded. It is polished all over on one face, though some
traces of the original flaking are still apparent. On the other face,
which is rather more convex, the grinding is confined to two sides
of the triangle, which are thus brought to a sharp edge. The edge on
the third side, which is rather straighter than the others, is very
slightly rounded. It seems probable that this blunter edge was next the
hand when the instrument was in use.
[Illustration: Fig.—256A.—Eastbourne. 1∕2]
Another specimen, even more triangular in outline, was found in the
Thames, at Windsor; it is of ochreous flint, and the base, which is
3 3∕8 inches long, exhibits the natural crust of the flint; each of
the other two sides, which are ground to a sharp edge, is about 2 3∕4
inches long. Another from Lakenheath, 3 1∕4 inches long and 3 inches
wide at the unground base, was in the collection of the late Rev. W.
Weller Poley, of Brandon.
I have an implement of this kind, much like that from Kempston, but
more curved at what is the base in the figure. All along this sweep the
edge produced by chipping out the form has been removed by grinding.
All round the other sweep the edge has been carefully sharpened by the
same means. A portion only of each face is ground. This specimen was
found near Mildenhall. I have another, more curved both at the edge and
the base, found near Icklingham. From the same district I have the form
entirely unground. Other specimens found in Derbyshire are preserved in
the Bateman Collection. There are several in the Museum at Oxford.
In Fig. 256A is shown an almost circular knife of this kind found at
Willington Mill, near Eastbourne, which was kindly given to me by Mr.
R. Hilton, of East Dean.
In the Greenwell Collection is another nearly circular tool, about 2
inches in diameter, ground to an edge along most of the periphery,
and found in Yorkshire. Another rather smaller disc, in the same
collection, |342| and found at Huntow, near Bridlington, is partly
ground on both faces, but not at the edge. A circular knife of the
same kind was found at Trefeglwys,[1544] Montgomeryshire. It is 2 3∕4
inches in diameter and ground to an edge all round except at two places
at opposite ends of one of its diameters, where for a short distance
the edge is left as it was originally chipped out. It is now in the
Powysland Museum. A circular knife from Mam Tor,[1545] Derbyshire, is
in the Castleton Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 257.—Kintore. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 258.—Newhaven, Derbyshire.]
In the Greenwell Collection is an implement, about 2 inches in
diameter, found at Sherburn Carr, Yorkshire, and in outline like a
scraper, but with the greater part of the semicircular edge sharpened
by grinding. In character it much resembles some instruments
occasionally found both in Britain and Ireland, of which an example is
given in Fig. 257. This is a horseshoe-shaped blade of flint, 3 inches
over, with the rounded part of the circumference ground to a fine
cutting edge, so that it was probably used as a knife. It is in the
National Museum at Edinburgh, and was presumably found near Kintore,
Aberdeenshire. In the same Museum is another instrument of the same
kind, but somewhat kidney-shaped in outline, found in Lanarkshire. It
is 3 3∕8 inches in length, and 2 5∕8 inches in extreme width. On a part
of the hollowed side it shows the natural crust of the flint, but the
rest of the periphery is ground to a sharp edge, and the projections
on the faces have been removed by grinding. Others were found at
Pitlochrie,[1546] Kincardineshire, and Turriff,[1547] Aberdeenshire.
Mr. C. Monkman, of Malton, had a knife much like Fig. 257, 2 3∕4 inches
across, which was found at Huntow, near Bridlington. I have an Irish
specimen from near Ballymena almost like that from Kintore, as well as
one of longer horseshoe shape found at Swan Brake, North Stow, Bury St.
Edmunds, another large |343| one more subtriangular (3 8∕10 by 3 1∕2
inches) found near Wallingford, and a broad hatchet-shaped one from the
Cambridge Fens.
In the collection (now in the British Museum) of the late Mr. J. F.
Lucas, is an instrument of this kind, 3 inches over, found at Arbor
Low, Derbyshire, in 1867. He kindly presented me with another, closely
resembling Fig. 257, and found at Mining Low. He also possessed a
remarkably fine knife of this form, but with the edge unground, which
was found at Newhaven, Derbyshire, and is shown in Fig. 258. An example
more pear-shaped in outline and ground half-way round the edge, found
near Whitby, has been figured.[1548] I have a fine one (4 inches) more
rhomboidal from Swaffham Fen, Cambridge, and another smaller from
Burwell. From the latter place I have an oval knife made from a broad
external flake (2 3∕4 inches) ground along one side, and a thick one
also of oval form from Icklingham.
In all the specimens with the circular edge sharpened by grinding, the
flat side has been purposely made blunt, as if for being held in the
hand. The backs, however, may have been let into wooden handles, in
which case these instruments would have been the exact counterparts of
the Ulus, or Women’s knives of the Eskimos.[1549]
[Illustration: Fig. 259.—Harome, Yorkshire. 1∕2]
Though not formed of flint, but of a hard slaty rock of the nature
of hone-stone, an implement of much the same form as that from
Fimber[1550] may be here described. It was found at Harome, in
Ryedale, Yorkshire, and is in the Greenwell Collection, now Dr. Allen
Sturge’s. As will be seen from Fig. 259, it approximates in form to an
equilateral spherical triangle with the apices rounded. It is carefully
polished over the whole of both faces, except where small portions
have broken away, owing to the lamination of the stone. Each of the
three sides is ground to a cutting edge, which however is not continued
over the angles; these are rounded in both directions, as each would
probably be in contact with the palm of the hand when the opposite edge
was used for cutting. |344|
There can be no doubt that all these triangular instruments, whether
of flint or other material, were used as cutting tools; and the name
of skinning-knife, which has been applied to them as well as to the
quadrangular instruments, not improbably denotes one of the principal
purposes for which they were made.
[Illustration: Fig. 260.—Harome, Yorkshire. 1∕2]
In the Greenwell Collection is another curious instrument, from the
same locality as that last described, which is shown in Fig. 260. It
is formed of a hard slaty stone, having one side ground to a regularly
curved and sharp edge, and the others rounded by grinding. The two
faces, which are equally convex, are also ground to such an extent
that but little of the original chipped surface can be discerned. In
the face shown in the figure there is a slight central depression,
and on the other face two such at about 2 inches apart, and in a line
parallel with the top or back of the instrument. When it is held in the
right hand, with the fore-finger over the end, the thumb fits into the
depression on the one face and the middle and fourth fingers into those
on the other, so that it is firmly grasped. It is evident that this
must have been a cutting or chopping tool: but the materials on which
it was employed would seem to have been soft, as the edge is by no
means sharp, and is also entirely uninjured by use. These depressions
for the thumb and fingers resemble in character those on the handles of
some of the Eskimo[1551] scrapers and knives already described.
Another implement, of nearly the same form, but rather longer and
narrower, is in the same collection, and was found in Ryedale,
Yorkshire. It is of hard clay-slate, 5 1∕8 inches long at the blade
and 2 1∕2 inches wide, with a curved sharp edge, and a straight back
rounded transversely. It is bevelled at one end, which is flat,
apparently owing to a joint in the slate; and somewhat rounded
at the other, where it fits the hand. Neither in this nor in a
third instrument of the same class, also from Harome, are there
any depressions on the face. This last has been formed from a flat
kidney-shaped pebble of clay-slate, the hollow side and one end left
almost in the natural condition so as to fit the hand, and the curved
side ground to a sharp edge, which is returned round the end almost
at a right angle. The edge at the end |345| is polished as if by
rubbing, and looks as if it might have been used in the same manner as
bookbinders’ tools for indenting lines on leather. This instrument is
6 inches long, 3 inches wide at the butt-end, and 2 1∕2 inches at the
sharp end. It is nearly 1 1∕4 inches thick.
Besides the three which I have mentioned several other instruments of
the same description have been found in the same part of Yorkshire.
I have never seen any specimens of precisely this character from
other localities; but they were apparently destined for much the same
purposes as the “Picts’ knives,” shortly to be mentioned, unless
possibly they were merely used in the manner just indicated. It is
very remarkable that the form should appear to be limited to so small
an area in England; and though the specimens occur under the same
circumstances as polished celts, it seems probable that for stone
antiquities they belong to a late period.
[Illustration: Fig 261.—Crambe. 1∕2]
The large thin flat blades, usually subquadrangular or irregularly
oval in form, of which a large number has been found in the Shetland
Islands, and which are known as “Pech’s knives,” or “Picts’ knives,”
apparently belong to the same class of instruments as the quadrangular
and triangular tools lately described, and this would therefore appear
to be the proper place for making mention of them. They are never
formed of flint; the principal materials of which they are made being
slate and compact greenstone, porphyry, and other felspathic rocks, and
madreporite. Their usual length is from 6 inches to 9 inches, and the
breadth from 3 inches to 5 inches; their thickness is rarely more than
1∕2 inch in the middle, and sometimes not more than 1∕10 of an inch.
They are usually polished all over, and ground to an edge all round.
Sometimes, however, the edge on one or more sides is rounded, and
occasionally an end or side is left of the full thickness of the blade,
and rounded as if for being held in the hand. I have a specimen, 4 1∕2
inches long, and 3 1∕4 inches wide at the base, formed of porphyritic
greenstone, and found at Hillswick, in Shetland, which was given me by
the late Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S. Its cutting edge may be described
as forming nearly half of a pointed ellipse, of which the thick side
for holding forms the conjugate diameter. This side is rounded and
curved slightly inwards; one of the angles between this base and the
elliptical edge is rounded, and a portion of the edge is also left
thick and rounded, so that when the base is applied to the palm of
the hand the lower part of the forefinger may rest upon it. When thus
held it forms a cutting tool not unlike a leather-cutter’s knife.
Instruments of this character are extremely rare in England, but in
the extensive Greenwell Collection is a specimen which I have engraved
as Fig. 261. It was found at Crambe, in the North Riding of Yorkshire,
and is formed of an oolitic shelly limestone, a material also used
for the manufacture of celts in |346| that district. Though smaller,
and rather more deeply notched at the base than my Shetland knife, it
is curiously like it in general form. The edge, however, only extends
along one side, and is not carried round the point.
[Illustration: Fig. 262.—Walls, Shetland. 1∕2]
The specimens that I have engraved as Figs. 262 and 263, are in the
Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London. They are formed of
thin laminæ of what is said to be madreporite, and are sharp all
round.[1552] They were found with fourteen others at the depth of six
feet in a peat-moss, the whole of them being arranged in a horizontal
line, and overlapping each other like slates upon the roof of a house.
There are several specimens formed of felspathic rocks, and from
various localities in Shetland, preserved in the British Museum. A note
attached to one of them states that twelve were found in Easterskild,
in the parish of Sandsting. An engraving of one of them is given in
the “Horæ Ferales.”[1553] I possess several; one of porphyritic stone,
oval, 8 inches long, is polished all over both faces, one side is sharp
and the other rounded.
In the National Museum at Edinburgh[1554] are other examples, also
from Shetland. Several have been figured.[1555] Some have a kind of
haft.[1556] They occasionally have a hole for suspension.[1557] Sir
Daniel Wilson[1558] states that a considerable number of implements,
mostly of the same class, were found under the clay in the ancient
mosses of |347| Blairdrummond and Meiklewood, but in this he was in
error. There are some fine specimens from Shetland in the Ethnological
Museum at Copenhagen. Mr. J. W. Cursiter, of Kirkwall, has fine
examples of such knives from Shetland. One in his collection is 8
inches long and 5 3∕4 inches broad, being in form much like Fig. 262.
[Illustration: Fig. 263.—Walls, Shetland. 1∕2]
There can be little doubt of these implements having been cutting tools
for holding in the hand, though they have been described by Dr. Hibbert
and Mr. Bryden[1559] in “The Statistical Account of the Shetland Isles”
as double or single-edged battle-axes. They appear, however, as Mr.
Albert Way[1560] has pointed out, to be too thin and fragile for any
warlike purpose. Those with the cutting edge all round were probably
provided with a sort of handle along one side, like the flensing-knife
from Icy Cape in the possession of Sir Edward Belcher, of which mention
has already been made. This is a flat thin blade, about 5 inches long,
and of subquadrangular form. It is sharp at the edge, but has a guard
or handle along the opposite side, made of split twigs attached by
resinous gum. In some Eskimo knives of the same kind in the Christy
Collection and in the Ethnological Museum at Copenhagen the |348|
wooden back is tied on by a cord which passes through a hole in the
blade. It is possible that the “Picts’ knives” may in some cases have
been used, like those of the Eskimos, for removing the blubber from
whales.
It is difficult to assign a date to these instruments, which are almost
peculiar to the Shetland Islands. There are traditions extant of their
having been seen in use within the present century, in one instance
by an old woman for cutting kail, and in Lewis,[1561] a sharp stone
was used in 1829, for cutting out a wedding dress. In the latter case
the reason assigned was the want of scissors, but it would appear to
have probably been merely an experimental trial of the cutting powers
of a stone which may not have been one of these primitive tools. The
occurrence of Picts’ knives under so thick a deposit of peat shows,
however, that they do not belong to any recent period, though five or
six feet of peat do not of necessity indicate any very high degree of
antiquity.
When the Princess Leonora Christina[1562] was imprisoned in Copenhagen
in 1663 and she was deprived of scissors and cutting instruments, she
records, in 1665, that, “Christian had given me some pieces of flint
which are so sharp that I can cut fine linen with them by the thread.
The pieces are still in my possession, and with this implement I
executed various things.”
Stone knives of any form, having the edges ground, are of rare
occurrence on the Continent, though in Norway and Sweden[1563] those
of what have been termed Arctic types are found. Nearly similar forms
occur in North America. A peculiar knife, with a rectangular handle,
much like a common table-knife, has been found in the Lake Settlement
of Inkwyl.[1564]
A North American knife,[1565] with a somewhat similar handle, has a
curved blade very thick at the back.
* * * * *
To return to the implements made of flint. Those which I have next
to describe have been termed spear-heads, lance-heads, knives, and
daggers. Their ordinary length is from 5 to 7 inches, and their extreme
width from 1 1∕2 to 2 1∕2 inches. Their general form is lanceolate,
but the greater breadth is usually nearer the point of the blade than
the butt, which is in most instances either truncated or rounded.
They exhibit remarkable skill in the treatment of flint in their
manufacture, being as a rule symmetrical in form, with the edge in
one plane, and equally convex on the two faces—which are dexterously
chipped into broad flat facets—while the edges are still more carefully
shaped by secondary working. Towards the butt, the converging sides are
usually nearly straight, and in many, the edge at this part has been
rounded by grinding, and the butt-end has had its angles removed in a
similar manner. |349| This may have been done either with the view of
rendering the instrument more convenient for holding in the hand, or
in order to prevent the blade from cutting the ligaments by which it
was attached to a handle. For the latter purpose, however, there would
be no advantage in rounding the butt-end; and as this, moreover, is
frequently the thickest part of the blade, it seems probable that the
majority of the instruments were intended for holding in the hand, so
that the term dagger appears most appropriate to this form.
Other blades, with notches on the opposite sides, seem to have been
mounted with handles or shafts, and may have served either as daggers
or possibly as spear-heads.
I have figured four specimens showing some difference in shape, mainly
in consequence of the different relative positions of the broadest part
of the blades. This in Fig. 265 may be, to some extent, due to the
point having been chipped away by successive sharpening of the edge by
secondary chipping, in the same manner as we find some of the Danish
daggers worn to a stump, by nearly the whole of the blade having been
sharpened away.
[Illustration: Fig. 264.—Lambourn Down. 1∕2]
* * * * *
In Fig. 264 is shown a beautiful dagger of white flint, which was
found in a barrow on Lambourn Down, Berks, in company with a celt
and some exquisitely-finished stemmed and barbed arrow-heads of the
same material. It is now in the British Museum. Its edges are sharp
all along, and not blunted towards the butt-end. It may have been
an entirely new weapon, buried with the occupant of the barrow for
use in another state of existence, or it may have had moss wrapped
round that part, so as to protect the hand; like the blade[1566] of
flint with _Hypnum brevirostre_ wrapped round its butt-end to form a
substitute for a handle, which was found in the bed of the River Bann,
in Ireland. Some North American implements of similar character are, as
Sir Wollaston Franks[1567] has pointed out, hafted by insertion into a
split piece of wood in which |350| they are bound by a cord. One from
the north-west coast, thus mounted, is in the British Museum.
Professor Nilsson[1568] has engraved another American knife, in the
same collection, but erroneously refers it to New Zealand.
A good specimen (6 1∕2 inches) was found in 1890 in a field known as
Little Wansford, near Great Weldon, Northamptonshire. I have specimens
(6 1∕4 inches) from Fiskerton, Lincolnshire, and from Bottisham Fen,
Cambs (4 5∕8 inches). There is a slight shoulder on the latter rather
nearer the butt than the point. A beautiful specimen (6 3∕4 inches)
from a barrow at Garton.[1569] Yorkshire, E. R., has been figured.
[Illustration: Fig. 265.—Thames. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 266.—Burnt Fen.]
The blade shown in Fig. 265 is in the British Museum, having been
formerly in the Roach Smith Collection. It is of nearly black flint,
and was found in the Thames. Its length is still 7 inches, but from the
form of the point it seems possible that it may, as already suggested,
originally have been even longer. There is in the Museum another
specimen from the Thames,[1570] 5 3∕4 inches long, in form like Fig.
264. Both of these have the edges towards the butt rendered more or
less blunt, and have had any prominences removed by grinding. The same
is the case with a blade 6 inches long and 2 3∕8 inches wide, found
|351| in Quy Fen in 1849, and now in the Museum of the Cambridge
Antiquarian Society. In the same collection is a smaller specimen,
4 3∕4 inches long and 1 5∕8 inches wide, from Burwell Fen. This has
its edges sharp, and shows the natural crust of the flint at the butt,
as does also one 7 inches long by 2 1∕2 inches wide, found at Jackdaw
Hill, near Cambridge.[1571] Another blade (5 3∕8 inches) found at
Wolseys, near Dunmow, Essex, is in the British Museum. A blade of this
type from a garden at Walton-on-Thames[1572] is recorded.
A remarkably fine spear-head of the notched class, 6 3∕4 inches long,
was exhibited some years ago to the British Archæological Association,
and their _Proceedings_,[1573] without giving any information as to the
size, shape, or character of the specimen, record as an interesting
fact that it weighs nearly four ounces. It was found in Burnt Fen,
Prickwillow, Ely, and is now in my own collection. It is engraved as
Fig. 266. It is of black flint, and has in the first instance been
boldly chipped into approximately the requisite form, and then been
carefully finished by neat secondary working at the edges, no part of
which has been rounded by grinding. On either side, at rather less
than half way along the blade from the base, are two deep rounded
indentations not quite half an inch apart, in character much like the
notches between the barbs and stems of one form of flint arrow-heads.
The same peculiarity is to be observed in a somewhat smaller spear-head
found at Carshalton,[1574] in Surrey, and forming part of the Meyrick
Collection. Of this it is observed that it “was let into a slit in
the wooden shaft, and bound over with nerves diagonally from the four
notches which appear on the sides.” There can, I think, be little doubt
of the correctness of this view, nor of the method of attachment to
the shafts or handles having been much the same as that in use among
the American tribes for their arrow-and lance-heads with a notch on
either side. Whether the British blades were mounted with a short
handle or a long shaft, we have no means of judging; but if those with
the edges rounded towards the butt were knives or daggers, there seems
some probability of these also having served the same purpose, though
provided with handles like some North American and Mexican examples,
and of their not having been spear-or lance-heads.
I have another blade of this kind found in Burwell Fen, Cambridge,
about 5 3∕4 inches in length, and 1 7∕8 inch in width. At about 3 1∕2
inches from the point there is on either side a slight notch; beyond
this there is a narrow projection, and then the width of the blade is
suddenly reduced by a full eighth of an inch on either side, so as
to leave a sort of shoulder. Between this and the butt, at intervals
of about an inch, there are on each side two other notches, as if to
assist in fastening the blade into a shaft or handle. There has in this
case been no attempt to remove the edges by grinding.
A flint dagger (6 3∕8 inches) found in the Thames,[1575] near London
Bridge, has a notch on each side 2 7∕8 inches from the base. A smaller
notched example was found at Hurlingham.
In the Christy Collection is another of these blades, 5 3∕8 inches
long, |352| with a notch on either side about 1 3∕4 inches from the
butt. It is uncertain where it was found.
One with a notch at each side about mid-length was found at Hare
Park,[1576] Cambridge.
A blade remarkably like Fig. 266 was found in the Dolmen of
Vinnac[1577] (Aveyron).
A beautifully formed blade, chipped square at the base, and with a
series of notches along the sides towards the butt, was found at Arbor
Low, Derbyshire.[1578] The late Mr. J. F. Lucas obligingly lent it
to me for engraving, as Fig. 267. It is now preserved in the British
Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 267.—Arbor Low. 1∕2]
In the Wiltshire Barrows, explored by Sir R. Colt Hoare, were several
of these daggers. One,[1579] 6 1∕2 inches long, was found with a
skeleton beneath a large “sarsen stone” near Durrington Walls, in
company with a small whetstone, a cone and ring of jet like a pulley,
and two small discoidal scrapers. Another,[1580] of much the same form
and size as Fig. 264, occurred in company with a drinking-cup, and what
was probably a whetstone of “ligniformed asbestos,” at the feet of a
skeleton in a barrow near Stonehenge.
Others have been found in the barrows of Derbyshire and Yorkshire. In
Green Low, on Alsop Moor,[1581] a dagger-blade of flint, 6 inches long,
stemmed and barbed arrow-heads, a bone pin, and other bone instruments,
were associated with a contracted interment. It was in this barrow also
that the pyrites and scrapers, previously mentioned at p. 313, were
found. Another leaf-shaped dagger of white flint, 4 1∕2 inches long,
with the narrow half curiously serrated—as boldly as Fig. 266, but
with many more notches—was found by Mr. Bateman beneath the head of
a contracted skeleton in Nether Low,[1582] near Chelmorton. Another,
4 1∕4 inches long, was found with burnt bones in one of the Three
Lows,[1583] near Wetton. A flint dagger,[1584] elegantly chipped, 5 1∕4
inches long, was found on Blake Low, near Matlock, in 1786. Fragments
of similar daggers have been found with interments in barrows near
Pickering;[1585] and in Messrs. Mortimer’s rich collection is a fine
specimen from a barrow on the Yorkshire Wolds.
One like Fig. 264, but of coarser workmanship, 5 3∕4 inches long and
2 3∕8 inches wide, was found in 1862, with a skeleton and an earthen
vessel, at Norton, near Daventry, and particulars sent to me by the
|353| late Mr. S. Sharp, F.S.A., F.G.S.; and what would appear to have
been an instrument of the same character, 8 inches long, was found near
Maidstone.[1586] A very good specimen, of fine workmanship, is in the
Museum at Canterbury, but its place of finding is unknown.
Another, more like Fig. 267, but not serrated, 6 3∕4 inches long and 2
inches broad, was found with an urn at Ty ddu Llanelieu,[1587] Brecon,
and has been engraved.
In the Greenwell Collection is a blade like Fig. 264, 6 inches long and
2 1∕4 inches wide, finely chipped along the edges for 4 inches from the
point, which was found at Kempston, near Bedford, in the same field as
that shown in Fig. 256. There is also a specimen rather more rudely
chipped, and pointed at each end, from Irthington, Cumberland, which
has more of the character of a spear-head. In the Fitch Collection is a
fine but imperfect dagger from the neighbourhood of Ipswich, and I have
one in similar condition from Peasemarsh, near Godalming.
In Scotland one has been found in a cairn at Guthrie, Forfarshire,
6 3∕4 inches long and 1 1∕2 inches wide, which is engraved in the
_Gentleman’s Magazine_.[1588] Sir Daniel Wilson[1589] also mentions one
15 inches long, found in a cairn at Craigengelt, near Stirling, but I
think there must be some error as to the length.
Mr. J. W. Cursiter, of Kirkwall, has a very symmetrical blade like Fig.
264, but smaller, found in Blows Moss, South Ronaldsay, Orkney. A blade
from Nunraw,[1590] Haddingtonshire (7 1∕4 inches) with notches at the
side for hafting, has been engraved. Another (3 3∕8 inches), was found
in a cairn near Kirkmichael, Ayrshire.[1591]
Though occurring in so many parts of England and Scotland, these
daggers appear to be unknown in Ireland, where, however, some large
lozenge-shaped blades, ground on both faces, occur. Sword-like
blades made of slaty stone are also found in Ireland[1592] and in
Shetland.[1593] I have Irish specimens up to 15 inches in length, and
have seen the sketch of one of subquadrate section, and pointed at each
end, 20 3∕4 inches in length. It was found in the Lower Bann, near
Portglenone, co. Antrim.
In some Continental countries, and especially in Denmark, Sweden, and
Northern Germany, similar weapons are far more abundant than here. The
shape is somewhat different, for the English specimens are as a rule
broader in proportion, and more obtusely pointed than the Scandinavian.
These latter frequently exhibit the blunting at the edges towards
the butt-end, such as has been already mentioned. Occasionally they
have the notches at the sides. Daggers with square or fish-tailed
handles, like Worsaae, Nos. 52 and 53, some of which present delicately
ornamented and crinkled edges, have not as yet been found in Britain,
though somewhat analogous forms occur in Honduras and in North America.
The crinkling is seen on some Egyptian knives.
Nearly similar blades to those from Britain are found in other parts
of Europe. Two lance-heads, made from flakes 5 1∕4 inches and 5 3∕4
inches long, more or less worked on both faces, and reduced in width
at the |354| butt, so as to facilitate insertion in a handle, were
found in the sepulchral cave of St. Jean d’Alcas,[1594] in the Aveyron.
Another, worked on both faces, about 7 inches long and 1 1∕4 inches
broad, notched in two or three places on each side at the base, was
found in one of the dolmens of the Lozère.[1595] A third, shorter and
broader, but also notched at the base, was in the dolmen[1596] of
Grailhe (Gard).
A finely-worked, somewhat lozenge-shaped, blade of flint, 10 inches in
length, was found at Spiennes,[1597] near Mons, in Belgium.
A lance-head (6 3∕4 inches) from the Government of Vladimir,[1598]
Russia, has been figured.
A lance-head of flint, 9 inches long and 2 1∕8 broad, tanged at the
butt, and with a notch on each side of the tang, has been figured by
Gastaldi[1599] from a specimen in the Museum at Naples, found at Telese.
In Egypt, associated with other objects betokening a considerable
civilization, have been found several thin blades of flint, of much the
same character as the highly-finished European specimens. A magnificent
lance-head (14 1∕2 inches) has been presented to the Ashmolean Museum
by Prof. Flinders Petrie[1600]. It is delicately serrated along the
edges for most of its length. A smaller blade is more leaf-shaped and
minutely serrated all round. Another appears to have been hafted as
a dagger. In my own collection is a leaf-shaped blade 7 inches long,
most delicately made and serrated. Others are, however, thick at the
back, and provided with a tang like a metallic knife. Two of these
in the Berlin Museum,[1601] are 7 1∕4 inches and 6 3∕4 inches long
respectively, and 2 1∕4 inches and 2 inches wide; I have one 5 1∕8
inches in length. There are other specimens in the Egyptian Museums
at Leyden and Turin, and in the National Museum[1602] at Edinburgh. A
larger blade, and even more closely resembling some of the Scandinavian
lunate instruments in form, being leaf-shaped, but more curved on
one edge than the other, is also in the Berlin Museum.[1603] It is 9
inches long and 2 1∕2 inches wide. A curved scimitar-like knife from
Egypt[1604] is figured, as is one with a notch on each side of the
butt.[1605] Another blade, of ovate form, and without tang, 2 3∕4
inches long and 1 inch wide, is preserved in the Mayer Collection in
the Museum[1606] at Liverpool.
Some other Egyptian blades will be subsequently mentioned.
A dagger-blade of flint, still mounted in its original handle, is in
the British Museum,[1607] and has already been described.
Some of the dagger-blades in use in Mexico in ancient times were of
|355| much the same character as these, being in some cases of flint,
in others of obsidian. A beautiful blade of chalcedony, 8 inches long,
found at Tezcuco, is in the Christy Collection, as well as another of
chert; but the most remarkable is of chalcedony, still in its original
wooden handle in form of a kneeling figure, encrusted with precious
materials, including turquoise, malachite, and coral.[1608] An almost
similar specimen was engraved by Aldrovandus.[1609]
There are Japanese[1610] stone knives and daggers polished all over and
with the blade and hilt in one piece. Some are as much as 15 inches
long.
[Illustration: Fig. 267A.—Sewerby. 1∕2]
A peculiar form of knife, closely resembling in character some of
the crescent-shaped blades from Scandinavia, is shown in Fig. 267A.
It was found in the parish of Sewerby,[1611] near Bridlington, and
somewhat resembles the blade from Balveny, subsequently mentioned. I
have described it in some detail[1611] elsewhere. A similar form occurs
in Arctic America.[1612] A wider form from New Jersey[1613] has been
regarded as a scalping-knife.
Another form of curved knife—for as such it would seem the instrument
must be regarded—seems to be more abundant in Britain than in other
European countries, unless possibly in Russia. A somewhat similar
form is known in Denmark,[1614] of which a highly finished variety
is engraved by Worsaae[1615] from an almost, if not quite, unique
example. Examples of analogous knives from other countries will also
be subsequently cited. As the form has not hitherto received much
attention from antiquaries, I have engraved three specimens slightly
differing in character, and found in different parts of England. |356|
Fig. 268 represents a beautifully formed knife, with a curved blade
tapering to a point, and found in draining at Fimber, Yorkshire. It
is preserved in the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, of Driffield, who
have kindly allowed me to engrave it. It is about 7 inches in length,
formed of flint, which has now become ochreous in colour, and exhibits
a portion of the natural crust at the butt-end. The blade is nearly
equally convex on the two faces, but thickens out at the butt, which
seems to have formed the handle, as the side edges which are elsewhere
sharp are there slightly blunted. The faces present no signs of having
been ground or polished.
[Illustration: Fig. 268.—Fimber. 1∕2]
[Illustration: Fig. 269.—Yarmouth. 1∕2]
I have two or three fragments of similar knives also from the Yorkshire
Wolds; and one almost perfect, but only 4 1∕2 inches long, from Ganton
Wold. In the Greenwell Collection is a fragment of one from Wetwang,
and the point of another from Rudstone. I have one (5 inches) perfect
except at the butt, found at North Stow, Bury St. Edmunds.
Fig. 269 represents a nearly similar knife, which has, however,
been already described, though not figured, in the _Archæological
Journal_[1616] and in the _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries_.[1617] It was found on Corton Beach, midway between
Yarmouth and Lowestoft, and belonged |357| to the late Mr. C. Cory,
of Yarmouth, who kindly lent it to me for engraving. It has been
suggested that it was fixed to a haft, possibly of stag’s horn or of
wood, but there are no _indiciæ_ of this having been the case, though
the side-edges are blunted towards the butt-end, where also remains
a considerable portion of the crust of the long nodule of flint from
which the instrument was chipped.
For the loan of the original of Fig. 270 I am indebted to the late Mr.
Caldecott, of Mead Street, near Eastbourne, near which place it was
found. It is of grey flint, and presents the peculiarity of having
one face partially polished by grinding, which extends to the point,
but does not touch the edges, which, as in the other instances, are
produced by chipping only. It is rather more convex on the polished
face than on the other, and it appears probable that recourse was had
to grinding in order to remove a hard projection of the flint which had
been too refractory to be chipped off. As usual, there is a portion of
the crust of the original flint visible at the butt, where also the
side edges have been blunted, in this case by grinding. This instrument
has already been described and figured.[1618]
A curved knife (7 3∕4 inches) now in the British Museum, much like Fig.
270, was found at Grovehurst,[1619] near Milton, Kent.
[Illustration: Fig. 270.—Eastbourne. 1∕2]
In the same museum is a beautifully-chipped knife, 8 1∕4 inches long,
without any traces of grinding, and of much the same form as this, but
with the point more sharply curved. It was found in the Thames, at
London, in 1868.
One from Bexley, Kent, is in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and
another from the Thames at Greenwich in the Jermyn Street Museum.
The Greenwell Collection contains an implement of this class, but
of broader proportions, 4 inches long and 1 3∕4 inches wide, with a
portion of the natural crust of the flint left on the convex side, not
far from the point. It is sharp at the base, which is semicircular, and
the edge shows signs of wear. It was found on Heslerton Wold.
A thinner form of curved knife (6 1∕2 inches), found at Balveny,[1620]
Banffshire, has been figured.
The point of what appears to have been a curved knife of this character
was found in the Lake-dwelling of Bodmann.[1621] Some curved knives
from one at Attersee[1622] have been engraved. A long flint knife from
Majorca,[1623] nearly straight at the edge, but curved at the back, may
also be mentioned. |358|
Some curved knives of polished slate, about 5 inches long, notched at
the base as if for suspension by means of a string, have been found in
Norway. Small blades of chipped flint with a neck for the same purpose
are not uncommon in Japan, and occur more rarely in Russia.[1624] In
the Greenwell Collection is preserved a curved knife of slate sharpened
on the concave side, found in Antrim.
Curved knives of flint, as well as some of the crescent shape, have
been found in Volhynia.[1625]
I have seen flint knives in outline very like Fig. 240 in the museums
at Cracow, Moscow, and Kiev. Some are highly polished by friction and
may have served as sickles.
It is difficult to assign any definite use to the British form of
knife, but as the curvature is evidently intentional, and as probably
it was more difficult to chip out such curved blades than it would
have been to make them straight, there must have been some advantage
resulting from the form. As both edges of the blade are sharp, it
is hard to say whether the convex or concave edge was the principal
object. But inasmuch as the convex edge might more readily be obtained,
and that twice over, in a leaf-shaped blade, it appears that the
concave edge was the desideratum. The blunting of the edges at the
butt-end suggests the probability of the instruments having been held
immediately in the hand without the intervention of any form of haft;
and the view of the concave edge being the principal one is supported
by the circumstance that in the short knife from Ganton Wold, already
mentioned, a considerable portion of the crust of the round-ended
nodule of flint from which it was made is left along the convex side
at the butt-end, while on the opposite side the edge extends the whole
length, so that it cannot be comfortably held in the hand except with
that edge outwards from the palm. It seems, indeed, adapted for holding
in the hand and cutting towards rather than from the operator; and
looking at the form universally adopted for reaping instruments, which
seem to require a concave edge, so as to gather within them all the
stalks that have to be cut, I am inclined to think that these curved
flint knives may not impossibly have supplied the place of sickles
or reaping hooks, whether for cutting grass to serve as provender or
bedding, or for removing the ears of corn from the straw. We know that
amongst the inhabitants of the Swiss Lake-dwellings some who were
unacquainted with the use of metals had already several domesticated
animals, and cultivated more than one kind of cereal, and it is not
unfair to infer that the same was the case in Britain. It has already
been suggested that some serrated flint flakes may have served for the
armature of another form of sickle, like that in use in Egypt at an
early period.
The analogy in form between these flint blades and those of the bronze
reaping-hooks occasionally found in Britain is striking, when we leave
the sockets by which the latter were secured to their handles out of
view. These also have usually the outer edge sharp as well as the
inner, but for what purpose I cannot say.
This seems a fitting place to say a few words with regard to some
|359| Egyptian flint knives, for the knowledge of which we are mainly
indebted to Prof. Flinders Petrie, and the workmanship of which is
absolutely unrivalled. They are of two kinds, both presenting an
outline curved on one or both sides. For the one kind a flake from 8 to
9 inches long of triangular section with a thick back and sharp edge
has been taken: the back has been most carefully retouched and left
slightly convex: the ridge of the flake has been wrought so as to show
a crinkled line like that on the handles of some Danish daggers, the
edge has been more or less re-worked, producing a bold convex sweep,
and what was originally the inner face of the flake has first been
delicately fluted by cross-flaking and then still more finely retouched
along both the back and the edge.
For the other kind the whole surface of the original flake has, as
Mr. Spurrell[1626] has pointed out, been carefully ground, one face
being made rather more convex that the other. The flatter face has
been left almost untouched, but one side has been trimmed by flaking
at the edge into almost a straight or slightly concave line: the
other side is boldly curved, the general outline having been produced
during the grinding process. The more convex face has been fluted or
“ripple-marked” by cross-flaking from either side in the most skilful
manner, the whole of the original polished surface being sometimes
removed. The projections at the butt-end between the successive flakes
have next been levelled down by secondary chipping, and finally the
curved edge has been minutely serrated, there being about 36 teeth
to the inch. These blades are from 7 to 9 1∕4 inches in length, and
occasionally made of beautiful chalcedonic flint. They are attributed
by Professor Flinders Petrie[1627] to a period between the fourth
and the twelfth Dynasty, but may possibly be of even earlier date.
As already mentioned, some beautiful leaf-shaped lance-heads with
finely-serrated edges have been made in the same manner.
One of the fluted knives in the Ghizeh Museum[1628] is hafted for a
distance of about 4 inches in a thin plate of gold, engraved on the one
face with well-drawn figures of animals, and on the other with floral
ornaments arranged between two serpents. The plates of gold are not
soldered together, but sewn one to the other with gold wire.
|360|