Page:Natural History Review (1862).djvu/72

Rh implements, in the form of a very slender and sharp-pointed bodkin, appears to have been made from the horn of the Roebuck, which is far more compact and harder, than the horn of the Stag or the Reindeer. It is in a very good state of preservation, and would still serve to make holes in toe skins of animals for the purpose of joining them together with a coarse kind of suture. This implement was found in the ossiferous layer above the ashes.

Another instrument, also of Roebuck horn, has an equally sharp point, but is not so tapering that it could serve for a needle or awl, and it might be asked whether it could not have been employed for the purpose of tatooing(?).

Other implements of various dimensions and in the form of a thinnish blade, represent, according to M. Steinhauer, the polishers, made of Reindeer-horn, used by the Laplanders to smooth the coarse sutures of their skin garments. In support of this supposition it may be noticed that on one of these instruments, the marks of repeated friction may be observed on both sides.

Another instrument, of pretty nearly the same shape, appeared to me intended for quite a different purpose. On one side, the surface presents all the roughness of the Reindeer's horn, but it has nevertheless been carefully polished, and it is sensibly curved and concave in a longitudinal direction. The opposite side is convex and polished throughout.

Another blade of Reindeer horn which is unfortunately broken at each end, exhibits, on one side which is carefully polished, two series of equidistant transverse lines, separated by an interval in the middle of the fragment. On each edge, also, may be observed a series of shallow notches at pretty regular distances apart. These marks and notches suggest the notion that they might be intended to represent numeral signs expressive of various values, or perhaps belonging to distinct objects.

Another portion, of which I am unable to explain the use, is a portion of Reindeer's horn, in the middle of which, at the point where an antler sprang from the stem, is an oval hole or perforation, whose side is marked with grooves resembling, except that they do not run in a spiral direction, the worm of a screw. This fragment was found in the layer of ashes.

The handle of some implement made of Reindeer's horn was found in the interior of the cave, beneath the space where the bodies had been deposited, and in close juxtaposition with several flint implements, worked with more care than those left in the fireplace; a circumstance leading to the supposition that all these choicer objects had formed a sort of votive offering. The handle in question present, near the base, the mark of the place whence the lowest, or brow antler had been removed, in order to render the grasp more convenient; higher up, is the truncated base of the second antler, which is hollowed out, for some unknown purpose; and at the end of the stem portion, is the principal opening for the fixing of the