Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/52

Rh Kesslerloch artist in the exercise of his art made use not only of lines, but of dots. Thus we find, for example, on the upper side of a broken lance-head about 10$1⁄4$ inches long the ornaments just mentioned, and on the right side two lines twisted in a serpentine form, parallel, and formed of a succession of dots close to each other. Under these two sinuous lines there is a horizontal line, also consisting of a series of dots. The regularity of this ornamentation indicates an expert eye and a considerable quickness of hand.

There is another kind of lance-head, thick in the middle and tapering to a point at both ends (Plate VI. fig. 27). This is the only specimen of the kind found in the cave; but in the French caves, and in the neighbouring cave of Freudenthal a considerable number have been found. This implement was probably hafted by the shorter point being fixed into the porous part of an antler.

The harpoons belong to the third group of bone implements; compared with other projectiles, their number is very small. Altogether only eight specimens have been found, and they differ very much from one another, both in their workmanship and also in their state of preservation. They may be divided into two classes: those which have the barbs on one side, and those which have them on both. Of the first class we have three, and of the latter five specimens. The first, with the exception of a few barbs, have been preserved entire. One is nearly 6$1⁄4$ inches long, and in the middle it is nearly a quarter of an inch thick. Both ends terminate in sharp points, one of which is somewhat round, while the other is spread out on the left side so as to form a sharp edge, in which there are several notches or incisions (Plate VII. fig. 35). Both points are about 1$1⁄10$ inch long. The barbs, five in number, two of which are broken off, become larger, and are wider asunder in the hinder part; they have been made with wonderful ingenuity and neatness; their points are as fine as those of our finest steel needles; they are not made to stand at right angles, but run parallel with the shaft. This specimen is the best preserved, and also the best executed of any that have been found. The other two specimens of this class (Plate VIII. fig. 48) are very similar to the one just described, with this difference, that one of them at the hinder end is expanded like a ball, similar to those found in Périgord. The second class of harpoons, which are barbed