In Scandinavia the kitchen-midden period was followed by an “arctic” culture, so called because of its distribution in the far north. Here we find implements of slate or schist polished only along the edges. This seems like a very natural intermediate stage. We do not know just where those attempts were first made. They may have been made at different points in Asia and Europe and at different times, and thus there may have been several independent centres of discovery and of radiation.
The lake-dwellers used a variety of material; indeed, they seem to have been quite expert practical mineralogists. Characteristic is their use of certain rocks which combined great toughness and hardness, and were thus superior to flint; so chloromelanite, saussurite, nephrite, and jadeite. These minerals are rare, and the implements made of them were small chisel-like blades, rarely exceeding an inch in length. They were usually mounted in a socket of horn fastened into a wooden handle. We shall see that the source of these minerals is still anything but clear.
The axe of the kitchen-midden[99] is hardly more than a disk struck off from a flint nucleus, with two sides broken off and the top of the triangular remnant removed. The axe of later Neolithic time was at first nearly of the shape of a flattened almond, but gradually changed and took more of the form of a chisel. The stages in this process of change are of value in determining the chronology of the period, and will be discussed in the next chapter. These axes were rudely shaped by flaking and then ground and polished on large flat stones, which still show the grooves left by the implement as it was rubbed back and forth. The different steps in shaping and finishing such axes are well shown by Hoernes in specimens selected from the rich collections made at Butmir, Bosnia.
AXES FROM LAKE-DWELLINGS SHOWING ATTACHMENT TO HANDLES
The lake-dwellers followed a different and improved method. They selected from the bed of a stream a smooth pebble of somewhat flattened and elongated egg shape. With a flint flake or saw[100] and sand they cut a groove in the edge, and split the stone by a sharp blow, somewhat as a peanut or almond falls apart. The rounded surface of each half was nearly of the desired form, and only the flat surface required much shaping. A skilful workman now can finish an axe of this kind in half a day.[101]
We cannot trace the variety of axes characteristic of different times, places, and uses. One, which from its resemblance to a shoemaker’s last has been called by the Germans the “Schuhleistenbeil,” demands mention.[102] This is a heavy, thick, clumsy implement, with one end edged or pointed. The lower surface is flat or slightly concave, the upper nearly semi-circular in cross-section. It reminds us somewhat of the grub-hoe or mattock, and probably served a similar purpose—to break up the ground. It is very common in the loess regions of southeastern Europe, but in the more stony soils of the uplands was generally replaced by a pick made of a stout tine of deer’s horn. Broader and flatter hoes are found, and stone ploughshares. We must clearly recognize the distinction between the mattock and a somewhat similar but lighter polished concave axe, with sharp transverse cutting edge, used along the Baltic and elsewhere for hollowing out boats. Adze and mattock are similar in general form, but the carpenter’s tool is a much finer instrument than the agricultural implement, and serves a very different purpose.
Bone was still used for pointed tools and weapons. A bundle of sharp pointed ribs found at Robenhausen had probably been used for hackling flax, Horn was used for sockets for the smaller chisels, and for a variety of other purposes. Wooden bowls, scoops, and other articles occur among the remains of the lake-dwellings.
Flint held much the same place in Neolithic industry as iron or steel with us. Its quality varied greatly in different localities. Our Neolithic ancestors had discovered that it worked better when freshly mined than when long exposed and weathered. Hence a mine of flint of the best quality was as valuable as a field of iron ore or a gold mine to-day. The most celebrated source of flint in France was Grand Pressigny, near Tours, Department of Indre-et-Loire.[103] The color and texture of this flint enables us to recognize it wherever found. It was exported as far as Brittany, Normandy, Belgium, and western Switzerland.