Primitive Man Part 15

These stone weights, large quant.i.ties of which are to be seen in museums, and especially in that of Saint-Germain, are, in almost every case, nothing but pebbles bored through the centre. Sometimes, however, they were round pieces of soft stone, having a hole made in the middle.

Through this hole the cord was pa.s.sed and fastened by a knot on the other side. By means of the floats and weights the nets were made to a.s.sume any position in the water which was wished.

The large size of the meshes in the nets belonging to the polished-stone epoch proves, that in the lakes and rivers of this period the fish that were used for food were of considerable dimensions. Added to this, however, the monstrous hooks belonging to this epoch which have been found in the Seine tend to corroborate this hypothesis.

Thus, then, the art of fishing had arrived in the polished-stone epoch to a very advanced stage of improvement.

In plate 80 we give a representation of fishing as carried on during the polished-stone epoch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 80.--Fishing during the Polished-stone Epoch.]

Returning to the subject of the ancient Danes, we must add, that these men, who lived on the sea-coasts, clad themselves in skins of beasts, rendered supple by the fat of the seal and marrow extracted from the bones of some of the large mammals. For dwelling-places they used tents likewise made of skins prepared in the same way.

_Arts and Manufactures._--What degree of skill in this respect was attained by the men who lived during the polished-stone epoch? To give an answer to this question, we must again ransack those same kitchen-middens which have been the means of furnishing us with such accurate information as to the system of food of the man of that period.

We shall also have to turn our attention to the remains found in the princ.i.p.al caves of this epoch.

An examination of the instruments found in the kitchen-middens shows us that the flints are in general of a very imperfect type, with the exception, however, of the long splinters or knives, the workmanship of which indicates a considerable amount of skill.

Fig. 81 represents a flint knife from one of the Danish deposits, delineated in the Museum of Saint-Germain; and fig. 82 a _nucleus_, that is, a piece of flint from which splinters have been taken off, which were intended to be used as knives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 81.--Flint Knife, from one of the Danish Beds.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 82.--Nucleus off which Knives are flaked.]

We also give a representation of a hatchet (fig. 83) and a sc.r.a.per (fig.

84), which came from the same source.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 83.--Flint Hatchet, from one of the Danish Beds.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 84.--Flint Sc.r.a.per, from one of the Danish Beds.]

Besides these instruments, bodkins, spear-heads, and stones for slings have also been found in the kitchen-middens, without taking into account a quant.i.ty of fragments of flint which do not appear to have been wrought with any special purpose in view, and were probably nothing but rough attempts, or the mere refuse of the manufacture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 85.--Refuse from the Manufacture of wrought Flints.]

In the same deposits there are also found a good many pebbles, which, according to the general opinion, must have been used as weights to sink the fishing-nets to the bottom of the water. Some are hollowed out with a groove all round them, like that depicted in fig. 86, which is designed from a specimen in the Museum of Saint-Germain. Others have a hole bored through the middle. This groove or hole was, doubtless, intended to hold the cord which fastened the stone weight to the net.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 86.--Weight to sink Fishing-nets.]

_Weapons and Tools._--We shall now pa.s.s on to the weapons and tools which were in use among the people in the north of Europe during the period we are considering.

During the latter period of the polished-stone epoch working in stone attained to a really surprising degree of perfection among the people of the North. It is, in fact, difficult to understand how, without making use of any metallic tools, men could possibly impart to flint, when fashioned into weapons and implements of all kinds, those regular and elegant shapes which the numerous excavations that have been set on foot are constantly bringing to light. The Danish flint may, it is true, be wrought with great facility; but nevertheless, an extraordinary amount of skill would be none the less necessary in order to produce that rect.i.tude of outline and richness of contour which are presented by the Danish specimens of this epoch--specimens which will not be surpa.s.sed even in the Bronze Age.

The hatchets found in the north of Europe, belonging to the polished-stone epoch, differ very considerably from the hatchets of France and Belgium. The latter are rounded and bulging at the edges; but the hatchets made use of by the people of the North (fig. 87) were flatter and cut squarely at the edge. They were nearly in the shape of a rectangle or elongated trapezium, with the four angles cut off. Their dimensions are sometimes considerable; some have been found which measured nearly 16 inches in length.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 87.--Danish Axe of the Polished-stone Epoch.]

Independently of this type, which is the most plentiful, the northern tribes used also to manufacture the drilled hatchet, which is combined in various ways with the hammer. In these instruments, the best workmanship and the most pleasing shapes are to be noticed. The figs.

88, 89 and 90, designed in the Museum of Saint-Germain, from authentic specimens sent by the Museum of Copenhagen, represent double-edged axes and axe-hammers. They are all pierced with a round hole in which the handle was fixed. The cutting edge describes an arc of a circle, and the other end is wrought into sharp angular edges.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 88.--Double-edged Axe]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 89.--Danish Axe-hammer, drilled for handle.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 90.--Danish Axe-hammer, drilled for handle.]

These hatchets are distinguished from those of the reindeer epoch by a characteristic which enables us to refer them without hesitation to their real date, even in cases in which they have not yet been subject to the operation of polishing. The hatchets of the reindeer epoch have their cutting edge at the narrowest end, whilst those of the polished-stone epoch are sharp at their widest end. This observation does not apply specially to the Danish hatchets; it refers equally to those of other European countries.

The spear-heads are masterpieces of good taste, patience, and skill.

There are two sorts of them. The most beautiful (figs. 91, 92) a.s.sume the shape of a laurel-leaf; they are quite flat, and chipped all over with an infinite amount of art. Their length is as much as 15 inches.

Others are shorter and thicker in shape, and terminate at the base in an almost cylindrical handle. Sometimes they are toothed at the edge (fig.

93). These spear-heads were evidently fixed at the end of a staff, like the halberds of the middle ages and the modern lance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 91.--Spear-head from Denmark.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 92.--Spear-head from Denmark.]

The poniards (fig. 94) are no less admirable in their workmanship than the spear-heads, from which they do not perceptibly differ, except in having a handle, which is flat, wide, solid, and made a little thicker at the end. This handle is always more or less ornamented, and is sometimes covered with delicate carving. To chip a flint in this way must have required a skilful and well-practised hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 93.--Toothed Spear-head of Flint.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 94.--Flint Poniard, from Denmark.]

After these somewhat extraordinary instruments, we must mention the arrow-heads, the shapes of which are rather varied in their character.

The arrow-heads most frequently found are formed in the shape of a triangular prism, terminating at the lower end in a stem intended to be inserted into a stick (fig. 95); others are deeply indented at the base and quite flat. Many are finely serrated on the edges, and occasionally even on the inside edge of the indentation.

Figs. 95, 96, 97, and 98 represent the various types of Danish arrow-heads, all of which are in the Museum of Saint-Germain, and from which these designs were made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 95.--Type of the Danish Arrow-head.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 96.--Another Type of Arrow-head.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 97.--Arrow-head.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 98.--Arrow-head from Denmark.]

The chisels and gouges equally merit a special mention.

The chisel (fig. 99) is a kind of quadrangular prism, chipped in a bevel down to the base.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 99.--Flint Chisel from Denmark.]

The gouges are hollowed out on one of their faces, so as to act as the tool the name of which has been applied to them.

We next come to some curious instruments, of which we have given designs taken from the specimens in the Museum of Saint-Germain; the purpose they were applied to is still problematical. They are small flakes, or blades, in the shape of a crescent (figs. 100, 101). The inner edge, which was either straight or concave, is usually serrated like a saw; the convex side must have been fixed into a handle; for the traces of the handle may still be detected upon many of them. These instruments were probably made use of as sc.r.a.pers in the preparation of skins for garments; perhaps, also, they were used as knives or as saws.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 100.--Small Stone Saw from the Danish Deposits.]