end of an ancient Swiss hatchet of hard steatite by this means. I found, however, that the bottom of the kerf thus formed was convex longitudinally, whereas in the ancient examples it was slightly concave. It is therefore evident that whatever was used as the saw must have been of a comparatively unyielding nature, and probably shorter than the pebble or block of stone it was used to saw, for even the iron blades used in conjunction with sand and water by modern masons become concave by wear, and, therefore, the bottom of the kerf they produce is convex longitudinally. I accordingly made some further experiments, and this time upon a fragment of a greenstone celt of such hardness that it would readily scratch window-glass. I found, however, that with a flint flake I was able to work a groove along it, and that whether I used sand or no, my progress was equally certain, though it must be confessed, very slow. I am indeed doubtful whether the flint did not produce most effect without the sand, as the latter to become effective requires a softer body in which it may become embedded; while by working with the points and projections in the slightly notched edge of the flake, its scratching action soon discoloured the water in the notch. What was most remarkable, and served in a great measure to discredit the negative evidence to which I before referred, was that the edges of the flake when not used with sand showed but slight traces of wear or polish.
On the whole, I am inclined to think that both the Swiss antiquaries are in the right, and that the blocks of stone were sawn both with and without sand, by means of flint flakes, but principally of strips of wood and bone used in conjunction with sand.[1] The reader may consult Munro's Lake-Dwellings, 1890, p. 505.
Professor Flinders Petrie, in addition to the flint implements of the "New Race," which he discovered near Abydos, found a number of stone implements at Kahun, and Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell has contributed to his[2] book an interesting chapter on their character and the method of their manufacture.
Most of the jade implements from New Zealand and N.W. America have been partially shaped by sawing, and in the British Museum is a large block of jade from the former country deeply grooved by sawing, and almost ready to be split, so as to be of the
- ↑ An article by Dr. Rudolf Much on the preparation of Stone Implements is in the Mitth. d. Anth. Ges. in Wien, 2d. S., vol. ii. (1883), p. 82; and one by Mr. J. D. McGuire, in the Amer. Anthrop., vol. v., 1892, p. 165. He has also written on the Evolution of the Art of Working in Stone, in a manner that has called forth a reply from Mr. C. H. Read, F.S.A., Amer. Anthrop., 1893, p. 307; 1894, p. 997.
- ↑ "lllahun, Kahun, and Gurob," 1891, p. 51.
