Flint Knife.
Flaking tools or ‘fabricators,’ as they are called, were used in the making of flint instruments, examples of which may be seen in the National Museum collection. These are narrow pieces of flint 4 or 5 inches long, with blunt ends and a ridge on one or both faces. A deer’s horn or other pointed bone was also used for flaking; the finer work was probably usually done with such tools. The method was by pressure, and the finest flaking can thus be executed. Though this can be imitated with some practice, yet the best work on the faces of arrow- and spear-heads baffles imitation, showing the perfection of workmanship to which primitive man reached. Among other objects are ‘bracers’: these are pieces of stone rubbed down to a smooth surface and pierced with a hole at each end. They are supposed to have been worn on the wrist for protection against the bowstring when let home.
* * * * *
Stone Celts.—There is a general similarity in type among the stone implements known as celts, or chisels and axes. As no well-defined line can be drawn between these, as the same object could be used as an instrument or weapon, Sir John Evans, in his exhaustive work on Ancient Stone Implements, uses the term ‘celt’ to include both, and classifies them under three heads: (1) chipped and not ground or polished; (2) chipped, with ground edge only; (3) those ground and polished completely. The last group is further sub-divided into four classes, according to shape. Some Irish archæologists consider that many of our implements present features which make this classification unsatisfactory; but as they are not yet agreed on any classification sufficiently clear and comprehensive, we shall retain the threefold division in our brief description.
The chipped implements are of flint and very rude, thick, and heavy towards the edge, with a blunt point. They resemble the Palæolithic type, and are found in the raised beaches of Larne, and are known as the ‘Larne Implements.’ Of an equally rude kind are those found in hut-sites round the coast, in the Bann Valley, and elsewhere. Implements of a similar type are found in the shell-mounds of Denmark, in Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe. They are named the ‘kitchen-midden’ type, and are considered to be the earliest worked by Neolithic man.
Of the second class many are of flint: the lower part is polished down, giving a fine cutting edge, and the upper portion is left with a rough flaked surface. Many of the larger implements belong to this class, and were the more readily fastened into the haft. These and the polished celts are made of basalt, porphyry, felstone, greenstone, shale, and other rocks; the felstone was much sought for, on account of the fine cutting edge that could be obtained in sharpening. They vary greatly in size, the average being 6 to 8 inches in length, and in breadth 2 to 3½ inches. The largest yet found is in the National Museum: it is of clay slate and about 22 inches long. They vary greatly, too, in shape, and are ovate—that is, of a somewhat egg-shaped form—or triangular, according to the general cast of the sides and edge.
Polished Celt of Felstone—scale two-thirds.
