more gradual than their development. They are perfectly consistent
with the idea that the fabricators of them were in a condition closely
verging upon that of the brutes. Apes are known to use stones in
cracking the shells of nuts. The advantage to be derived from a pointed
form, when it accidentally fell into the hand, would suggest itself
almost instinctively to any being capable of profiting by experience
and retaining it in the memory. Accidental fractures, producing a sharp
edge, would lead to fractures of design, and thus we may easily suppose
that such implements as are represented in the first few figures of
our diagram must necessarily have resulted from the very earliest
constructive efforts of primaeval man.
From the very first, a peculiar mode of fabrication appears to have
been adopted, which consisted of chipping off flakes from alternate
sides of the flint, and the facets thus left upon the flint produce
the wavelike edge which you will see in the side views of all the
implements here represented. This method continued to be employed
throughout the entire stone age, in all parts of the universe, and is
characteristic not merely of the drift, but of the cave, pfahlbauten,
and surface periods.
The numerous intermediate gradations of form, whether between the
oval and the spear-head form, or between the thick and the sharpened
form, have been noticed by Sir Charles Lyell (l. c., p. 164). By
selecting specimens, and arranging them in order from left to right,
I have endeavoured to trace the transition from the drift type to the
almond-shaped celt type, which latter is common to the stone age of
mankind, whether ancient or modern, in all parts of the world.
Had the discovery of drift implements been confined to one locality
or to one district, it is probable it would have attracted but little
notice. As early as the first year of the present century the attention
of the Society of Antiquaries had been drawn by Mr. Frere to the
existence of these implements, in conjunction with the remains of the
elephant and other extinct animals at Hoxne in Suffolk. An illustration
of the specimens from this locality is given in figure 4. Mr. Frere
described them as ‘evidently weapons of war, fabricated and used by a
people who had not the use of metals’. But little or no attention was
paid to the subject until the discovery by M. Boucher de Perthes of
precisely similar implements associated with the same class of remains,
in the drift gravel of St. Acheul, near Amiens, in 1858.[139] Since
then many other discoveries have been made, and still continue to be
made, by Mr. Prestwich, Mr. Evans, Mr. Flower, Mr. Bruce Foote, and
others, not only in this country but also in Asia and Africa, showing,
in so far as the discoveries have hitherto gone, that this drift type,
like the almond celt type, is common to the earliest ages in all
parts of the world, and that everywhere the drift type preceded the
almond-shaped celt type, and is found in beds of earlier formation.
Figure 5 is a drift-shaped implement from the laterite beds of Madras,
of exactly the same form as those found in England. Figure 6 is an
implement of the same class from the Cape of Good Hope, found fourteen
feet from the surface. In America, implements of the drift type have
not yet been discovered, but stone spear-heads have been found in
Missouri in connexion with the elephant and other extinct animals.
Figure 11 is from a mound of sun-dried bricks at Abou Sharein, in
Southern Babylonia, obtained by Mr. J. E. Taylor, British Consul at
Basrah; it is a chipped flint; in form it is of the drift type, and
its outline is precisely that of some of the Carib celts found in the
West India Islands; it also closely resembles in form others from the
Pacific[140]; its edge was evidently at the broad end. Another of
the same type was found at Mugeyer in Babylonia, and a third closely
resembling the two former was found in a cave in Bethlehem.
The celt type has not as yet been found in the French caves of the
reindeer period, but it is common in the ‘pile dwellings’ of the Swiss
lakes. Some of the French cave specimens, however, closely approach
the drift form, and in place of the celt, we have a peculiar kind of
tool trimmed to a cutting edge on one side and having the other round
for holding in the hand. As, however, these do not fall into the
direct line of development, but may be regarded as a branch variety, I
have not figured them in my diagram, but pass at once, though almost
imperceptibly as regards form, from the drift to the surface type.
Figure 12 formed part of a large find of flint implements, discovered
by myself in the ancient British camp of Cissbury, near Worthing--an
account of this discovery was communicated by me to the Society of
Antiquaries at the commencement of the present year.[141] The period of
these Cissbury implements must be fixed at a very much more modern date
than those of the drift, with which they are associated in my diagram,
having been found in conjunction with the earliest traces of domestic
animals, such as the Bos longifrons, Capra hircus, and Sus; they may,
however, be classed with the stone age, no trace of metal having been
discovered with them, although from 500 to 600 flint implements were
found in the camp. The peculiarity of the Cissbury find, however,
consists in the discovery (in the same pits in which celts of the
type represented in figure 12 were found) of a few flints closely
approaching the drift type, being thick at the broad end, and also of
a large number resembling those found in the French caves, trimmed
to an edge on one side, and adapted to be held in the hand. So that
the Cissbury find, although belonging to what is usually called the
surface period, contains specimens affording every link of connexion
between the drift and the almond-shaped celt type. This discovery must,
I think, be regarded as a step in knowledge of prehistoric antiquity,
and a decided accession to the science of continuity, for Sir John
Lubbock has told us in his preface to the work of Professor Nilsson,
lately published[142], that the Palaeolithic, i. e. the drift types,
‘have never yet been met with in association with the characteristics
of a later epoch.’ I shall therefore be interested to know whether,
after an examination of the Cissbury specimens, which I have presented
to the Christy Collection, Sir John Lubbock may be induced to alter
his opinion on that point; for I think it is entirely consistent with
all that is known of early races of mankind, that early types should
be retained in use long after the introduction of others that have
been developed from them. However this may be, I think that in casting
the eye from left to right along the upper row of diagram No. 1 (Plate
XII), it will puzzle the acutest observer to determine where the drift
type ends, and that of the celt begins. If it is contended, as I am
aware it will be contended by some, that the typical characteristic
of the celt consists in its being sharp at the broad end, while those
of the drift are blunt at the broad end, I reply that many of the
drift specimens are also sharpened at the broad end, more especially
those represented in figures 9 and 10 from the drift of St. Acheul.
Many specimens from Thetford which I have seen, as, for example, Fig.
17 _b_, from a cast in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries,
presented by Mr. Flower, approach equally closely to the celt type,
as do some of those from the laterite beds of Madras, and though they
are of rare occurrence in all these localities, and are certainly a
variation from the normal type of drift implements, still they are
found in sufficient numbers to serve as links in connecting the forms
of the earliest, with those of the later period.
I have dealt somewhat at length upon this part of my subject, owing
to the circumstance of its presenting some features of novelty in
the study of flint implements, and being therefore open to criticism
on the part of those who are more favourable to the principles of
classification than of continuity, with all the important concomitants,
of division _versus_ unity, which those principles involve.
I may now pass briefly over the remaining figures in the diagram.
Figure 13 is a specimen found by Mr. Evans at Spienne, near Mons; its
very close resemblance to figure 12 from Cissbury will be noticed; in
fact the whole of the Spienne specimens resemble very closely those
discovered in Cissbury, except that the Spienne implements of this
class are associated with others of polished flint, which gives them
a more advanced character than those derived from Cissbury, in which
place only one fragment of a polished implement was discovered, and
that in a part of the intrenchment which renders it very doubtful
whether it ought to be associated with the Cissbury find. Figures
15, 16, and 17 are from Denmark, Ireland, and Yorkshire;--this type,
however, is rare in Denmark, most of the flint implements from that
country being of a more advanced character, and having usually a
rectangular cross-section.
The lower row of the diagram consists of specimens derived, either from
what has been termed the neolithic or polished stone age of Europe, or
from savages who are still in a corresponding stage of progression in
various parts of the world at the present time.
To the former or neolithic stone age of Europe belong figure 21 from
France, figure 25 from the bed of the Clyde in Scotland, figure 27 from
the Swiss lake-dwellings, figure 29 from the caves in Gibraltar, figure
30 from Sweden, figure 36 from Portugal, figure 37 from the bed of the
Thames, figure 38 from Ireland, figure 39 from Jelabonga, in Russia.
Precisely identical forms are also found in Germany, Italy, and the
Channel Isles. Amongst the specimens derived from the ancient stone age
of other parts of the world, and belonging to an age of civilization
that is now extinct, may be enumerated figure 22 from Peru, figure 40
from Mexico, figure 24 from Central India, figure 41 from Japan, figure
42 from Mugeyer, in Babylonia. Nearly similar ones, but flattened at
the side, like those common in Denmark, have been obtained from China
and Pegu. Figure 43 is from Algeria, from the collection of Mr. Flower.
The following are examples of the same class of implements, used by
savages of our own, or of comparatively modern times:--Figures 18 and
19 from Australia; these are generally used in a handle, formed by a
withe twisted round them in the manner still used by blacksmiths in
this country. Sometimes, however, I am informed by an eye-witness, the
Australians use these celts in the hand without any handle at all.
Although polished on the surface, these Australian celts have been
compared by Sir Charles Lyell (l. c., p. 79) to the oval forms of the
drift represented in figure 7. The art of polishing appears to have
preceded the development of form in this country. Figure 20, from New
Zealand, is a specimen in Mr. Evans’s collection, of which he has been
so kind as to allow me to take an outline; this form, however, is
extremely rare in New Zealand, the usual shape of the stone celts from
that country being flat-sided, like the specimens from Denmark, already
noticed. Figure 23 is from the Pacific; figure 26, from Pennsylvania;
these were used by the American Indians, previously, and for some time
after the immigration of Europeans. Figures 31 and 32 are Carib celts
from my collection, beautifully polished. Figure 33, from St. Domingo,
is in the Cork Museum. Figure 34, from the Antilles, is in the Christy
Collection; both of these have a human face engraved upon them. Figure
35 is of jade, from New Caledonia, in my own collection.
_Hafting._
The method of hafting these implements, employed by savages, shows that
they were used for a variety of purposes; in some, the edge is fastened
at right angles to the handle, to be used as an adze, whilst in others
the same tool is fastened with the blade in a line with the handle,
to be used as a chopper or battle-axe. In some it is fastened with a
withe, passed round the stone, as in the specimen from Australia (fig.
44, from this Institution) and some parts of North America; figure 45
is a stone axe from the Ojibbeway Indians, from my collection. At
other times it is inserted in the side of a stick or club. A specimen
in my collection from Ireland (fig. 46), one of the few that have ever
been found with handles, shows that this was the method employed in
that country.[143] Others are inserted in the end of a bent stick (fig.
47), a mode of hafting common in the Polynesian Islands, in Africa,
Ancient Egypt, Mexico, North America, and New Caledonia; it is employed
by the Kalmucks and others, and was used during the bronze age. Some
of the Australian axes were fastened to their handles by a peculiar
preparation of gum manufactured for that purpose.
Dr. Klemm, in his ‘Werkzeuge und Waffen’, supposes the first lessons
in hafting to have been derived from nature, by observing the manner
in which stones are often firmly grasped by the roots of trees growing
round them, and he gives several woodcuts of specimens of Nature’s
hafting, which he has collected from various sources; one of these,
extracted from his work (l. c., p. 14), is represented in figure 48.
I have placed upon the table, in illustration of this idea, an iron
mediaeval axe-head (fig. 49), which has furnished itself with a handle
in this manner, whilst buried beneath the surface; it is said to have
been found in Glemham Park, Suffolk, eleven feet from the surface. Even
to this day, when a peasant in Brittany discovers one of these stone
celts upon the ground, he is in the habit of splitting the branch of a
young tree and inserting the celt into the cleft; in the course of a
year or two it becomes firmly fixed, and he then cuts off the branch,
and uses the implement thus hafted by nature as a hammer for driving
nails. In the ‘Antiquités Celtiques et Antédiluviennes,’ vol. i (Paris,
1847), p. 327, M. Boucher de Perthes mentions the discovery of two
ancient stone hammer-heads, which appeared to have been furnished with
handles by passing the hole over the bough of a tree and allowing it to
fill up the aperture by its natural growth, until it became fixed as a
handle.[144]
It might be interesting, if space permitted, to follow up the
development of the stone axe-head through its various phases until,
in the latest stages, when bronze had already come into general use
for weapons, we find it furnished with a hole through the middle
for the insertion of the handle. It may, I think, be safely said
that--although nature furnishes numerous examples, in many classes of
rocks, and especially in flints, of stones perforated with holes, and
although they appear to have attracted the notice of the aborigines of
many countries by the peculiar superstitious reverence which is often
found to be attached to such stones when found in the soil--this mode
of fastening stone implements in their handles did not come into use
until late in the stone age, and that even in the bronze age it was but
little employed.
_Transition from Oval to Rectangular Forms._
Whether the stone celts having a square or rectangular section (such
as are found principally in Denmark, New Zealand, Mexico, and Pegu),
were coeval, or of subsequent development, to those of the almond-shape
type, may be a matter for conjecture; the small flint hatchets found
in the Kitchenmiddens of Denmark appear to approach closely to the
rectangular type. It is certain, that in the Swiss Lakes both forms
are found fully developed, and it may be mentioned, as an instance of
the constant tendency to variation that is everywhere observable in
the weapons of the early races of mankind, that of the whole of the
celts found at Nussdorf, in the Lake of Constance, though all might be
traced to the same normal type as regards their general outline, no two
were alike; and Dr. Keller gives sections, showing every conceivable
gradation from the square and rectangular to the oval and circular
section[145]. It may, however, be affirmed, that convex forms, as a
general rule, preceded those having a rectangular or concave surface;
it is so in the forms of nature; the habitations of animals are
almost invariably convex. Dr. Livingstone mentions[146] that he found
it impossible even to teach the natives of South Africa to build a
square hut; when left to themselves for a few minutes, they invariably
reverted to the circle. All the earliest habitations of prehistoric
times are found to be circular or oval; even the sophisticated infant
of modern civilization, when he plays with his bricks, will invariably
build them in a circular form, until otherwise instructed.
_Development of Spear and Arrow-head Forms._
We must now turn to the development of the second great class of
weapons--the spear and arrow. These may be classed together, the
arrow being merely the diminutive of the spear; and it may be taken
as a general rule, applicable to all the arts of prehistoric times,
that when a given form has once been introduced, it will speedily be
repeated in every possible size that can be applied to any of the
various purposes for which such a form is capable of being used. Size,
in the arts of the earliest ages, is no indication of progress. In the
same way it may be said of the development of the animal or vegetable
kingdom, size is no indication of improved organism.
In the same beds in which the drift-type implements are found, flakes,
either struck off in the formation of such tools, or especially
flaked off from a core in a particular manner, indicating that they
were themselves intended for use as tools, are found in considerable
numbers. No more useful tool could have been used during the stone age
than the plain, untouched flint flake, which, from the sharpness of
the edge, is capable of being used for a variety of purposes. Those,
for example, formed of obsidian are so sharp that it is recorded,
by the Spanish historians, that the Mexicans were in the habit of
shaving themselves with such flakes. As my present subject has to
deal exclusively with war weapons, I will not enter into a detailed
description of these flakes, further than to observe that they are
found, together with the cores from which they were struck off, in
every quarter of the globe in which flint, obsidian, or any other
suitable material has been found, and that everywhere the process of
flaking appears to have been the same.
Now, the fracture of flint is very uncertain; by constant habit,
the ancient flint-workers appear to have been able to command the
fracture of the flint in a manner that cannot be imitated, even by
the most skilful forgers of those implements in modern times; but,
notwithstanding this, the varieties of the forms of the flakes thus
struck off must have been very considerable, and these varieties must,
from the very first, have suggested some of the different forms of
tools that were made out of them.
I cannot, perhaps, explain this point better than by exhibiting a
number of flakes, found by myself in the bed of the Bann at Toom, in
Ireland, at the spot where that river flows out of Lough Neagh. This
was a place originally discovered by Mr. Evans, where probably, in
a habitation built upon the river, they formerly manufactured flint
implements; and the bed of the river for the space of a hundred yards
or more is covered with the flakes. It will be seen on examining
these flakes, that some of them came off in a broad leaf-shaped form,
and these, with a very little additional chipping, have been formed
into spear-heads. Others longer and thicker have been chipped into
something like picks, and others thinner and narrower than the two
former, have been used probably as knives; others for scraping skins.
We see from this that certain forms would naturally suggest themselves
through the natural fracture of the flint, and this may to a certain
extent account, though it does not, I think, entirely account, for the
remarkable resemblance of form and unity of development observable in
the spear and arrow heads, derived from localities so remote from each
other as almost to preclude the possibility of their having ever been
derived from a common source.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII.
_Diagram 2._
DEVELOPMENT OF SPEAR & ARROW-HEAD FORMS.]
I have arranged in tabular form, on diagram No. 2 (= Plate XIII),
representations of spear and arrow heads from all the different
localities from which I have been able to obtain them in sufficient
number to show fairly the numerous varieties which each country
produces. On the top of the diagram, from left to right, the several
forms are arranged in the order that appears most truly to indicate
progression; but it must not be supposed that this arrangement is
absolutely correct, for the several forms, such for example as the
tang and the triangular form, were most probably derived from a common
centre. The specimens from each locality ought therefore, in order
to display their progression properly, to be arranged in the form of
a tree, branching from a common stem. On the left of the diagram are
written the different periods and localities, from which the specimens
are derived. Commencing with the drift--the oldest of which we have
any knowledge--which is coeval with the elephant and rhinoceros in
Europe, we have the peculiar thick form already described. The examples
of the drift period here shown, from their small size, must evidently
have been used with a shaft, as they are scarcely large enough to have
served as hand tools. None of the lozenge, tang, or triangular forms,
have ever been found in the drift.
The next line represents specimens from the French caves of the
reindeer period, which are taken from the _Reliquiae Aquitanicae_,
chiefly from Dordogne.[147] It will be seen that in these caves the
first rude indications of the lozenge and tang form are represented,
but no perfect specimens of either class. No example of the triangular
form has been discovered. The leaf-shape form, however, is well
represented.
In the ancient habitations of the Swiss Lakes, which belong to a later
period, all varieties, except those of the drift type, are represented,
but none of them in their most fully developed form; the tangs, it will
be seen, are long, and the barbs comparatively short; the triangular
form, which I consider to be the latest in the order of development, is
mentioned by Dr. Keller, from whose work these specimens are taken, as
being extremely rare. The comparative rarity of flint implements in the
Lakes may, however, in some measure be accounted for, by the absence of
flint in the district, necessitating the importation of this material
from a distance.
The specimens from Yorkshire, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and
Germany, may be considered to carry the development of these forms up
to the latest period, viz. the late stone, and early bronze age; for
there can be no doubt from the number of arrow-heads found in these
countries, in connexion with implements of bronze, that they were
used for missile purposes long after the _armes blanches_ had been
constructed of metal.
In all these localities it will be seen that the various gradations of
form are identical; but as I have been able to collect a much larger
number of arrow-heads from Ireland than elsewhere, the development of
form is more apparent in the specimens selected from that country.
From the leaf-shape, it will be observed, there is every link of
transition into the perfect lozenge type, and the latter is as a
general rule, both in Ireland and in Yorkshire, much rarer, and more
carefully constructed, than the leaf-shaped type, showing that there is
every probability of the lozenge having been an improved form.