Page:Prehistoric Times.djvu/113

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DAGGERS, SLING-STONES, TOOL-STONES
99

localities in which they have been found do not, however, offer any support to this hypothesis.

Prehistoric Times - Fig 125.png

Fig. 125.—Flint dagger in the State Museum, Stockholm.

Prehistoric Times - Fig 126.png

Fig. 126.—Flint dagger in the State Museum, Stockholm.

Another form of flint weapon (fig. 129), which is common in Denmark, has a handle like that of the last form, but instead of a blade, it ends in a point, and suggests the idea that if the tip of the dagger had been accidentally broken off, or the blade rendered narrow by wear and tear, the rest of the weapon might have been worked up into a poniard, and thus utilized. In both these classes the crimping along the edges of the handle is very curious.

The sling-stones are of two kinds. The first are merely rough pieces of flint reduced by a few blows of a hammer to a convenient size and form. But for the situations in which they are found, these might almost be regarded as natural fragments. Professor Steenstrup is now disposed to think that many of them were used as sink-stones for nets, but that some have really served as sling-stones seems to be indicated by their presence in the Peat-mosses, which it is difficult to account for in any other way. The other kind of sling-stones are round, flattish flint disks, some of which are beautifully made.

The oval tool-stones (fig. 130), or "Tilhuggersteens" of the northern antiquaries, are oval or egg-shaped stones,