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
A remarkably fine spear-head of the notched class, 6 3∕4 inches long,
was exhibited some years ago to the British Archæological Association,
and their _Proceedings_,[1573] without giving any information as to the
size, shape, or character of the specimen, record as an interesting
fact that it weighs nearly four ounces. It was found in Burnt Fen,
Prickwillow, Ely, and is now in my own collection. It is engraved as
Fig. 266. It is of black flint, and has in the first instance been
boldly chipped into approximately the requisite form, and then been
carefully finished by neat secondary working at the edges, no part of
which has been rounded by grinding. On either side, at rather less
than half way along the blade from the base, are two deep rounded
indentations not quite half an inch apart, in character much like the
notches between the barbs and stems of one form of flint arrow-heads.
The same peculiarity is to be observed in a somewhat smaller spear-head
found at Carshalton,[1574] in Surrey, and forming part of the Meyrick
Collection. Of this it is observed that it “was let into a slit in
the wooden shaft, and bound over with nerves diagonally from the four
notches which appear on the sides.” There can, I think, be little doubt
of the correctness of this view, nor of the method of attachment to
the shafts or handles having been much the same as that in use among
the American tribes for their arrow-and lance-heads with a notch on
either side. Whether the British blades were mounted with a short
handle or a long shaft, we have no means of judging; but if those with
the edges rounded towards the butt were knives or daggers, there seems
some probability of these also having served the same purpose, though
provided with handles like some North American and Mexican examples,
and of their not having been spear-or lance-heads.
I have another blade of this kind found in Burwell Fen, Cambridge,
about 5 3∕4 inches in length, and 1 7∕8 inch in width. At about 3 1∕2
inches from the point there is on either side a slight notch; beyond
this there is a narrow projection, and then the width of the blade is
suddenly reduced by a full eighth of an inch on either side, so as
to leave a sort of shoulder. Between this and the butt, at intervals
of about an inch, there are on each side two other notches, as if to
assist in fastening the blade into a shaft or handle. There has in this
case been no attempt to remove the edges by grinding.
A flint dagger (6 3∕8 inches) found in the Thames,[1575] near London
Bridge, has a notch on each side 2 7∕8 inches from the base. A smaller
notched example was found at Hurlingham.
In the Christy Collection is another of these blades, 5 3∕8 inches
long, |352| with a notch on either side about 1 3∕4 inches from the
butt. It is uncertain where it was found.
One with a notch at each side about mid-length was found at Hare
Park,[1576] Cambridge.
A blade remarkably like Fig. 266 was found in the Dolmen of
Vinnac[1577] (Aveyron).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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