dering tools. I have observed this rounding of the end in some Irish and French specimens, not made of flint, as well as in one from India.
Occasionally, but very seldom, a circular concave recess is worked on each face of the celt, apparently for the purpose of preventing it from slipping when held in the hand and used either as a chopping or cutting instrument. That engraved as Fig. 87 was kindly lent me by Mr. J. R. Mortimer, who found it on Acklam Wold, Yorkshire. It is of greenstone, and has been polished over almost the entire surface. The butt-end is nearly flat transversely, and ground in the other direction to a sweep, so as to fit beneath the forefinger, when held by the thumb and middle-finger placed in the recesses on the faces. Such recesses are by no means uncommon on the stones intended for use as hammers, and farther on (p. 242) I have engraved a hammer-stone of this class which would seem to have been originally a celt such as this, but which has entirely lost any approach to an edge by continual battering. In Mr. Mortimer's specimen the edge is fairly sharp, though it has lost some splinters from it in ancient times.
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| Fig. 87.—Acklam Wold. 12 | Fig. 88.—Fimber. 12 |
In the same collection is another specimen, found near Fimber, formed of a green metamorphic rock. The butt-end is ground flat. and the sides nearly so. There is a slight depression worked on each face. The edge is slightly rounded, and shows longitudinal striæ. By the owner's kindness I am able to engrave it as Fig. 88.
In General Pitt Rivers's Collection is a celt from Hindostan, with a cup-shaped depression on one of its faces. A celt of basalt from Portugal[1] has such a depression on each face.
In the fine and extensive Greenwell Collection, so often referred to, is another remarkable celt, Fig. 89, which, though entirely different in character from those last described, may also have been intended for holding in the hand. It is of greenstone, the surface of which is considerably decomposed, and was found at Duggleby, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. On each side is an elongated concavity, well adapted for receiving the end of the forefinger when the instrument is held in the hand with the thumb on one face and the middle finger on the other. At first sight it might appear that the depressions had been made- ↑ Mat. vol. xvi. p. 464.
