The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments, of Great Britain: Second Edition, RevisedEvans, John
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The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments, of Great Britain: Second Edition, Revised
Evans, John
Great Britain -- Antiquities; Stone age -- Great Britain
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,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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