Page:The Ancient Stone Implements (1897).djvu/521

Rh Another form of implement which is shown in Fig. 392 (No. 117) was found in 1865, in the second foot in depth, in the cave-earth of the great chamber. It appears best adapted for being held in the hand and used as a scraping tool, possibly in the preparation of skins for clothing; and has been formed from a triangular flake, the ridge of which is slightly curved, and runs obliquely along the instrument. It has been trimmed by blows administered on the flat face, into a pointed oval form with a bevelled edge all round, and this edge towards the middle of one side of the blade is rounded and worn away by use. It is well adapted for being held in the hand as a side-scraper, and it is precisely that part of the edge which would be most exposed to wear, if thus held, that is actually worn. This instrument is not unlike some of the boat-shaped implements of the Surface Period, but is broader and thinner in its proportions. Almost identical forms have occurred in the Brixham Cave, and in that of Aurignac, explored by M. Lartet. Some of the trimmed flakes from the cave of Le Moustier are of much the same character, but the edges are perhaps sharper, and the butt-end of the flake is left of a more rounded form. I have an instrument of much the same general character, from the gravel of the valley of the Lark, at Icklingham., [sic] Suffolk, but it is not so neatly or symmetrically finished, and the inner face of the flake is somewhat convex, instead of being concave.

Another instrument, of nearly the same nature, is shown in Fig. 393 (No. 3,918); one of its sides is, however, much straighter than the other. The edge of this also is somewhat abraded by use. It is formed of flint, which has become white, porcellanous, and light. It was found in the south-west chamber, as was also that shown in Fig, 394 (No. ). This is a broad flat flake, the side edges of which appear to have been trimmed by secondary chipping, and subsequently to have been somewhat worn away by use, whether as a saw or a