The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments, of Great Britain: Second Edition, RevisedEvans, John
History
The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments, of Great Britain: Second Edition, Revised
Evans, John
Great Britain -- Antiquities; Stone age -- Great Britain
The specimen engraved as Fig. 72 was found in the neighbourhood of
Wareham, Dorsetshire, and is in my own collection. It is formed of
syenite, and, unlike the instruments previously described, is narrower
at the edge than in the middle of the blade; the section shows that
the faces are nearly flat. I have another celt, in which these
peculiarities are exaggerated, the |128| faces being flatter, the
blade thinner, and also wider in the middle in proportion to the edge,
it being 5 1∕2 inches long, 2 1∕4 inches wide in the middle, and 1 1∕2
inches at the edge, and rather less than an inch in thickness. The
material is a _Serpula_ limestone, and the celt was no doubt formed
from a travelled block, as it was found in a Boulder-clay district at
Troston, near Bury St. Edmunds. I have a much heavier implement from
the same locality, and formed of the same kind of stone. It is 10
inches long, and rather wider in proportion than Fig. 72. It does not
narrow towards the edge, but in section and general form may be classed
with the specimen there figured.
A large celt, 10 inches long, of the same section, but thinner
proportionally, and with straighter and more parallel sides, in
outline more like Fig. 79, was found at Pilmoor, in the North Riding
of Yorkshire, and forms part of the Greenwell Collection. It is of
clay-slate. Another in the same collection, and from North Holme,
in the same Riding (10 inches), is broader and flatter, with the
sides somewhat more square, and the edge more curved. One face is
somewhat hollowed towards one side, possibly to grind out the trace
of a too deep chip. A third is from Barmston, in the East Riding
(10 1∕2 inches), and a beautiful celt of hornblendic serpentine
(10 5∕8 inches), oval in section and pointed at the butt, was found at
Cunningsburgh,[412] Shetland, and another of diorite (10 1∕8 inches),
rather broader in its proportions than Fig. 72, on Ambrisbeg Hill,[413]
Island of Bute. An analogous form from Japan is in the museum at Leyden.
[Illustration: Fig. 73.—Forfarshire. 1∕2]
A long narrow chisel-like celt, with an oval section, is given in Fig.
73. The original is of dark greenstone, and was found in Forfarshire.
It is in the National Museum at Edinburgh. I have a larger celt of the
same form (5 1∕2 inches), formed of a close-grained grit, and found at
Sherburn, Yorkshire. Messrs. Mortimer have another of schist (4 1∕2
inches), from Thixendale, Yorkshire. This form occurs, though rarely,
in Ireland.
A much larger celt, of metamorphic rock, 8 1∕2 inches long, 3 inches
broad at the edge, and 1 3∕4 inches at the butt, 1 3∕8 inches thick,
was found on Throckley Fell, Northumberland, and is in the Museum at
Newcastle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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