Page:The Ancient Stone Implements (1897).djvu/91

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THE KJÖKKEN-MÖDDING TYPE.
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flint, shown in Fig. 14, and found near Thetford by the late Mr. J. W. Flower, F.G.S., with one face nearly flat, and the edge formed by a single transverse facet.
Fig. 14.—Near Thetford. 1/2
The implements, however, of this type, with the chisel edge, are rarely met with in this country; and, generally speaking, axes similar to those which occur in such numbers in the Danish Kjökken-möddings and Coast-finds are of very rare occurrence elsewhere. I have, however, a small nearly-triangular hatchet of the Danish type, and with the sides bruised in the same manner (probably with a view of preventing their cutting the ligaments by which the instruments were attached to their handles, or, possibly, to prevent their cutting the hand when held), which I found in the circular encampment known as Maiden Bower, near Dunstable.

Hatchets of this type have also been found in some numbers in the valley of the Somme, at Montiers, near Amiens, as well as in the neighbourhood of Pontlevoy (Loir et Cher), in the Camp de Catenoy (Oise), and in Champagne.[1] I have also specimens from the neighbourhood of Pressigny-le-Grand and of Châtellerault. It would therefore appear that this form of implement is not confined to maritime districts, and that it can hardly be regarded as merely a weight for a fishing-line,[2] as has been suggested by Professor Steenstrup.[3]

A few of the large Polynesian adzes of basalt have their edges produced by a similar method of chipping and are left unground.

Capt. G. V. Smith[4] has experimented in Jutland with the Kjökken-mödding axes, and has cut down fir-trees of seven inches diameter with them. The trees for Mr. Sehested's[5] wooden hut were cut down and trimmed with stone hatchets ground at the edge.

In the British Museum are several roughly-chipped flints that seem to present a peculiar type. They are from about 4 to 6 inches long, nearly flat on one face, coarsely worked to an almost semicircular bevel edge at one end, and with a broad rounded notch on each side, as if to enable them to be secured to a handle, possibly as agricultural implements. They formed part of the Durden collection, and were found in the neighbourhood of Blandford.

Another and more common form of roughly-chipped celt is that of which an example is given in Fig. 15, from my own collection. It was found at Oving, near Chichester, and was given me by Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. The edge, in this instance, is formed in the same manner, by the intersection of two facets, but the section is nearly
  1. De Baye, "l'Arch. préhist.," p. 55.
  2. Lubbock, Preh. Times, 4tb ed., p. 100.
  3. Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selskabs Forh., 1861, p. 342.
  4. Aarb. for. Nord. Oldk., 1891, p. 383. See also S. Müller, Mém. des Ant. du Nord, 1884-89, p. 371; Aarb., 1888, p. 238.
  5. "Archæol. Undersögelser," 1884, p. 3.