Page:The Ancient Stone Implements (1897).djvu/527

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
BONE HARPOON-HEADS FROM KENT'S CAVERN.
505

floor 18 inches in thickness. It is as usual imperfect, but the 21/4 inches which remain, show the tapering point and four barbs on either side, which are opposite to each other and not alternate. It is precisely of the same character as some of the harpoon-heads from the cave of La Madelaine, which are usually formed of reindeer horn. The material in this instance is I believe the same. The striated

Fig. 403—Kent's Cavern. (2,282) 1/1

marks of the tool by which it was scraped into form are still distinctly visible in places. Such harpoon-heads have been regarded as characteristic of the latest division in the sequence of this class of caverns, and have been found in numerous localities on the Continent. A doubly-barbed harpoon-head of bone, belonging to a much more recent period, was found in the Victoria Cave,[1] at Settle.

Of the other kind, which have the barbs along one side only of the blade, two examples have been found. One of these (No. 2,206),

Fig. 404—Kent's Cavern. (2,206) 1/1

though in two pieces, is otherwise nearly perfect, and is shown in Fig. 404. It also has its analogues among the harpoon-heads found in the cave of La Madelaine and elsewhere, especially at Bruniquel. Its stem shows the projection for retaining the loop of cord by which it was connected with the shaft, though it was probably still susceptible of being detached from immediate contact with it. In this respect, as indeed in general character, these early weapons seem closely to resemble those of the Eskimos of the present day. A good series of

Fig. 405.—Kent's Cavern. (1,970) 1/1

modern and ancient instruments of this class is engraved in the "Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ."[2] An article on the distribution of harpoons in the caverns of the Pyrenees, from the pen of M. Ed. Piette,[3] may be consulted with advantage. The other instrument of this kind (No. 1,970), shown in Fig. 405, is the terminal portion of a similar point, but with the barbs all broken off at the base. It is about 33/4 inches long, and was found in the black band.

  1. Dawkins, "Cave-hunting," p. 112
  2. P. 50.
  3. L'Anthropologie, vol. vi. 1895, p. 276, and Cartailhac, op. cit., vii. p. 309