Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/238

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210
EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN.
[CHAP. VII.

accompagne constamment, au contraire les ossements d'animaux domestiques, elle est l'œuvre des populations de l'âge de la pierre polie et sa présence dans un gisement quaternaire (palæolithic) est pour nous une signe de remaniement."[1]

Means of obtaining Fire.

In all probability the Cave-man obtained fire by the friction of one piece of hard wood upon another, as is now the custom among many savage tribes. Sometimes, however, as in the Trou de Chaleux, quoted by M. Dupont,[2] he may have obtained a light by the friction of a bit of flint against a piece of iron pyrites, as is usual with the Eskimos of the present day.

Implement-Making.—Sewing.

The occupations which centred then, as now, round the hearth, were for the men the manufacture of articles for the chase, and for the women the preparation of food and clothing. Flint and chert pebbles were collected and fashioned into various articles (see preceding figures in this chapter), near the fires;—into spear-heads, such as (Figs. 47, 48), arrow-heads, flakes, borers, and saws for cutting antlers and bones;—into needles, spear-heads, and harpoons. The skins of the wild animals were prepared for clothing and other purposes, and sewn together with a thread of reindeer sinew.[3] This was most probably the duty of the women. Some of

  1. Matériaux, 1871, p. 225.
  2. Les Temps Préhistorique en Belgique, 2d edit. p. 153.
  3. This is proved by the marks of cutting on the bones of the feet, pointed out by Prof. Ed. Lartet.