EARLY MAN
EARLY MAN by the method of grinding, stone other than flint could be utilized. We therefore find basalt, quartzite, and other rocks now used in the manufacture of implements, and the instrument is usually polished all The cutting edge is sharp at one end and the other end is over. obtusely pointed or left somewhat rough for insertion into a handle. Examples of the celt or axe of this period have been found in the beds of the Thames and Kennet. Two large specimens, one of polished quartzite or grit and the other of chipped flint, found with charred wood and bones on an island in the Thames at Reading, are preserved in the Reading Museum. Examples have also been found at Abingdon, Bray, Pusey (Cherbury Camp), Pamber Forest, Stratfield Saye, Thatcham, and other places in or near the county. A perforated stone axe was found in a barrow at Stancombe, and a perforated hammer-head of basalt was obtained from the Thames near Reading. Other examples of holed hammers have been found, but they are not properly referable to the Stone Age. Very characteristic of this period are the ' scrapers.' They are smaller than the palaeolithic scrapers, and have been found in considerable numbers on the surface of fields in certain localities at Wallingford, Caversham, Cockmarsh, Great Sheffbrd, Lambourn and other places. They resemble the instrument used by the Eskimo for cleaning skins, but may have been used for other purposes also. Associated with these are often found arrow-heads of flint, some rudely made, some leaf- shaped, and others exquisitely finished with a 'tang' and a barb on each side. With regard to these and many other objects of flint or other stone, it is right to say that the manufacture of them, if it existed already in this county, doubtless did not cease upon the introduction of bronze. Arrow-heads have been found in the neighbourhood of Wallingford * and at some other places, and a very perfect tanged and barbed specimen was found at Reading ; but they are by no means abundant in this county. The flint knife of this period, thin and beauti- fully made, is very different from its prototype of the Palaeolithic Age. A good example has lately been dredged from the Thames at Stonehouse, Cookham Dean. Its form is lanceolate, and its length is slightly over 3! inches, but it has obvi- ously lost a portion of its base or stem, possibly as much as 1 1 inches. It is of dark flint, and has been shaped by chipping with great skill. Mr. R. E. Goolden, F.S.A., has called attention to this ' find.' Another example was found in the Thames at Long Wittenham. A dagger of oval shape was found in a barrow at Lambourn. A gouge or hollow chisel of chipped flint, ochreous in colour, 1 See Davies collection, Reading Museum. I 177 23 FLINT DAGGER FROM A BARROW AT LAMBOURN.
