Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/196

 162 PRE-HISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY OF EAST DEVON. ill the first dressings of these cores. Of these implements some show so httle trace of design that, hail they not been fuund intermixed with tlic bones of animals that mark the remains of feasts, they wuiiM certainly have been thrown aside as lacking sufficient proof of having been manufactm-ed by man ; others are more carefully chipped into shape, have a keen edge, considering the nature of the material, and might well have been used in scraping hides or in cutting flesh, or even fresh bone. Of the bone implements many are of the rudest form, consisting of mere chips or frag- ments of bone, worked roughly to a point at one end. One, however, shows more careful construction ; it is an incisor- tooth ingeniously shaped into the form of a pin or awl, and marks the progress which had been made from the first rude imjilements. We searched carefully among the debris and ashes for any grain or vegetable substance, but could find nothing, with the e."ce])tion of small pieces of wood-charcoal, Avhich occurred in abundance. The presence of several pieces of red haimatite covered with scratches indicate the mode in which these pi'imitive hunters scrajted olf a red powder — the favourite aboriginal colour — which, mixed with grease, would furnish as good means of personal ornament as are employetl by many savages of the present day. Numerous fragments of pottery occurred also in the dchris ; some of it is of a pale buff or burnt umber colour, while occasionally it is of a darker tint, varying from a dull red to a yellowish brown. Tiie whole of it is coarse, uiiglazed, and of the simplest description ; some of it is hand-made, whilst other p(»rtions bear marks of having been turned on the wheel. The jt.'iste of which it was compacted consists of clay tem- pered with sharp sand or small l'ra<;mcnts of stone ; owing to this circumstance the outer surface is generally rouL;h. The decoration pi'esents considc.'iablc diversity : some of the fragments are plain, oth<'rs arc ornamented by incised lines ma<lo with a toothed iiisliumcnt, others i»y circular iiidenti'd lines and bands impressed ujM»n the sod clay ; and lUhers by raised Inxip-like marks or ii(I;;es formed cither bv the hand or the w)i(m;1. Krom the diversity of jiatteiais presented by these fra;;ments it may l)<' presumed that they represent a considenible iiuiiilxr of (iciile produclloiis. I'he p;reat abundance of charcoal that characterises this KjoUkcn-