edge became destroyed, and the owner, as may be seen in fig. 111, has commenced the formation of a new one.
Fig. 109.—Stone celt with wooden handle, one-third actual size. Found at Concise. From Desor.
That they were also weapons of war is probable, not only on a priori grounds, but also because they have frequently been found in the graves of chiefs, associated with bronze daggers. About the year 1809, a large cairn in Kirkcudbrightshire, popularly supposed to be the tomb of a King Aldus M'Galdus, was removed by a farmer. "When the cairn had been removed, the workmen came to a stone coffin of very rude workmanship, and on removing the lid, they found the skeleton of a man of uncommon size. The bones were in such a state of decomposition that the ribs and vertebras crumbled into dust on attempting to lift them. The remaining bones, being less decayed, were taken out, when it was discovered that one of the arms had been almost separated from the shoulder by the stroke of a stone axe, and that a fragment of the axe still remained in the bone. The axe was of greenstone, a material which does not occur in that part of Scotland. There were also found with this skeleton a ball of flint, about three inches in diameter, which was perfectly round and highly polished, and the head of an arrow, also flint, but not a particle of any metallic substance."[1]
We know also the North American stone axe or tomahawk served not merely as an implement, but also as a
- ↑ New Statist. Acc., Kirkcudbrightshire, vol. iv. p. 332. Quoted by Wilson, Prehist. Ann. of Scotland, 2nd edit., vol. i. p. 187.
