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 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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