With regard to the multiplicity of manufactured objects now requisite for the management of the establishment, a selection of the raw material was made for special purposes, thus proving that the operators had a practical knowledge of the respective qualities of bone, horn, ivory, and flint. For this reason needles were always made from the surface of a long bone, the cannon of a horse's leg being generally preferred for this purpose. Long slender portions were cut out of the bone by sharp flint instruments. The eye was made by scraping a small hollow near one end, and a similar one on the other side just opposite the former, and worked until the two met. The perforation thus effected had the characteristic of being narrow in the middle and opening out into a conical
FIG. 68. Skeleton of the Mammoth found in Siberia in 1799, now in St Petersburg.
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expansion on both sides. Hence, a needle offered for sale having a bored hole would be at once pronounced a forgery. After the eye was made the needle was rubbed smooth and polished. Ivory was equally good, but latterly this was becoming a scarce commodity. Spears and harpoons were made of reindeer-horn because of its solid consistency long bones being unsuitable on account of being hollow in the centre. Some of the smaller lance-heads only were made of bone. Flint for cutting purposes retained its superiority over all other materials till the invention of bronze.
The art of engraving on plaques of bone, ivory, and stone now became so common that there was hardly a manufactured tool or handle but was adorned with figures of the contemporary fauna, especially the animals that were hunted for food horse, reindeer, auroch, goat, mammoth, etc. In this category comes
