Shetland Folk-Lore
wonderful to think of the patience and skill required by the man who fashioned such a weapon with the imperfect mechanical contrivances at his disposal.
In concluding this brief sketch of the implements belonging to the Stone Age, mention should be made of the stone knives, which are of special interest. Of this class Dr. Anderson remarks: “A series of large, flat, irregularly oval blades of porphyritic stone or madreporite found only in Shetland, have sharper edges, sometimes continued round the whole circumference, sometimes with slightly thickened and blunted backs. They are ground to a smooth, even surface on their flat faces. Another form of knife of which only one complete example exists in the Museum appears also to be peculiar to Shetland—at least, it has not yet been found in any other British locality, though the type is known in the northern parts of Norway. It is a long blade of fissile shale or slaty sandstone, with a more or less
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