Part 17 (2/2)

Among these ancient relics we must mention one very interesting cla.s.s; it is that formed by the a.s.sociation of two distinct component parts, such as stone and stag's horn, or stone and bone.

The hatchets of this type are particularly remarkable; they consist of a piece of polished flint half buried in a kind of sheath of stag's horn, either polished or rough as the case may be (fig. 111).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 111.--Polished Flint Hatchet, with a Sheath of Stag's Horn fitted for a Handle.]

The middle of this sheath is generally perforated with a round or oval hole intended to receive a handle of oak, birch, or some other kind of wood adapted for such a use.

Fig. 112, taken from the ill.u.s.tration in Boucher de Perthes' work ('Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennes'), represents this hatchet fitted into a handle made of oak.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 112.--Flint Hatchet fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath, having an Oak Handle, from Boucher de Perthes' ill.u.s.tration.]

It is difficult to understand how it was that a hatchet of this kind did not fall out of its sheath in consequence of any moderately violent blow; for it seems as if there was nothing to hold it in its place. This observation especially applies to hatchets, the whole length of which--even the portion covered by the sheath--was polished; for the latter would certainly slide out of their casing with ease. The fact is, that complete specimens are seldom found, and, generally speaking, the flints are separated from their sheaths.

With regard to the handles, the nature of the material they were made from was unfavourable to their preservation through a long course of centuries; it is, therefore, only exceptionally that we meet with them, and even then they are always defaced.

Fig. 113 is given by Boucher de Perthes, in his 'Antiquites Celtiques,'

as the representation of an oaken handle found by him.

A number of these sheaths have been found, which were provided at the end opposite to the stone hatchet with strong and pointed teeth. These are boar's tusks, firmly buried in the stag's horn. These instruments therefore fulfilled a double purpose; they cut or crushed with one end and pierced with the other.

Sheaths are also found which are not only provided with the boar's tusks, but are hollowed out at each end so as to hold two flint hatchets at once. This is represented in fig. 114 from one of Boucher de Perthes'

ill.u.s.trations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 113.--Hatchet-handle made of Oak.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 114.--Stag's-horn Sheath, open at each end so as to receive two Hatchets.]

The hatchet fitted into a sheath of stag's horn which we here delineate (fig. 115), was picked up in the environs of Aerschot, and is an object well worthy of note; it is now in the Museum of Antiquities at Brussels.

Its workmans.h.i.+p is perfect, and superior to that of similar instruments found in the peat-bogs of the valley of the Somme.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115.--Polished Flint Hatchet from Belgium, fitted into a Stag's-horn Sheath.]

Stag's horn was often used alone as a material for the manufacture of tools which were not intended to endure any very hard work; among these were instruments of husbandry and gardening.

We here give representations (figs. 116, 117, 118) from Boucher de Perthes' ill.u.s.trations, of certain implements made of stag's horn which appear to have had this purpose in view. It is remarked that they are not all perforated for holding a handle; in some cases, a portion of the stag's antler formed the handle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 116.--Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 117.--Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 118.--Gardening Tool made of Stag's Horn (after Boucher de Perthes).]

In the course of his explorations in the peat-bogs of Abbeville, M.

Boucher de Perthes found numerous flakes of flint of irregular shapes, the use of which he was unable to explain. But there have also been discovered in the same deposits some long bones belonging to mammals--tibia, femur, radius, ulna--all cut in a uniform way, either in the middle or at the ends; he was led to imagine that these bones might have been the handles intended to hold the flints. In order to a.s.sure himself that this idea was well founded, he took one of the bones and a stone which came out of the peat, and, having put them together, he found he had made a kind of chisel, well-adapted for cutting, scooping-out, scratching and polis.h.i.+ng horn or wood. He tried this experiment again several times, and always with full success. If the stone did not fit firmly into the bone, one or two wooden wedges were sufficient to steady it.

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