Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/244

226 they were used in the hand for cutting purposes, and as attempts at ornament are discoverable on several of those of Guernsey, it cannot be doubted that they had some particular and distinct use. The polished edge renders them capable of being admirably adapted for flaying animals, and perhaps used afterwards for cutting the green hide into thongs and cordage.

That they may have been used for a variety of purposes may be well conceived amongst a people apparently deprived of metal implements. The heavy wedge-shaped celt most probably was used for hewing down trees, and the splitting of timber into planks; indeed those splendid stone celts found in Scandinavia seem to have been formed for that end, and adapted with a great degree of art for this purpose.

The term "celt," applied to this instrument, however admissible to a stone or flint-cutting tool, should be restricted to it; the metal ferrule, with a small ring attached to one side, requires another appellation; the use of this last has been also a matter of conjecture among collectors. If these were fixed in a straight or crooked handle, as proposed by some, it would render them unfit for use, and equally inconvenient for making a stroke in the manner of a chisel. "La petite hache en cuivre," is a term designating this instrument in France. No less than eighty of these were found some years since in the parish of La Trinité in Jersey; a few were also discovered on the common lately brought into cultivation in the island of Alderney. After examining the cutting edge of these weapons, I could not observe much wearing away by use, and the manner of fracture of some of them would rather denote their having been broken in combat or by violence. The small ring attached to each may have been for the convenience of transport or attachment. The elegant spear-head of bronze, found also with them in Alderney, could scarcely be used indiscriminately for the same purpose, but if fixed to the end of the lance as a ferrule, they would deal out a deadly blow on a horse, or armed foe.

About one hundred stone celts have been picked up from time to time in Guernsey, where they are, as every where else, called "thunder-bolts," or in the dialect of the country, "coin de foudre." They vary in size from that of 1 to 13 inches, and are most commonly made of fine-grained stones. Out of fifty in my cabinet only six are of flint, the rest are of jade or