Bone, which includes teeth, presented to savage man a hard and
durable material for improving his coarse wooden weapons. Teledamus
or Telegonus, son of Circe and founder of Tusculum[74] and Præneste,
according to tradition slew his father, Ulysses, with a lance-head
of fish bone—_aculeum marinæ belluæ_. The teeth of the Squalus and
other _gigantum ossa_ or megatherian remains supplied points for the
earliest projectiles, and added piercing power to the blow of the
club. That a Bone Age may be traced throughout the world,[75] and that
the phrase a ‘bone- and stone-using people’ is correct, was proved
by the Weltausstellung of Vienna (1873), whose splendid collection
found an able describer in Prof. A. Woldrich.[76] The caves of
venerable Moustier (Département Dordogne), of Belgium, and of Lherm
(Département Arriège) contributed many jawbones of the cave bear
(_Ursus spelæus_); the ascending ramus of the inferior maxilla had been
cut away to make a convenient grip, and the strong corner-teeth formed
an implement or an instrument, a tool or a weapon. The caves of Peggau
in Steiermark (Styria), of Palkau in Moravia, and the Pfahlbauten[77]
or Pile-villages of Olmütz, produced a number of bone articles and
remnants of the cave bear. These rude implements remind us of the
weapon used to such good effect by the Biblical Samson, the Hebrew type
of Hercules, the strong man, the slayer of monsters, and the Sun-god
(Shamsún).[78]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.—DEER-HORN ARROW-HEAD. (S. America.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 18—HORN WAR CLUBS WITH METAL POINTS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.—DOUBLE SPEAR AND SHIELD.]
[Illustration: FIG. 20.—SPINE OF DIODON.]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.—1. WALRUS TOOTH USED AS SPEAR POINT; 2.
TOMAHAWK OF WALRUS TOOTH.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account