File:The ancient stone implements, weapons, and ornaments, of Great Britain (1872) (14768235115).jpg

Identifier: ancientstoneimpl00evan (find matches)
Title: The ancient stone implements, weapons, and ornaments, of Great Britain
Year: 1872 (1870s)
Authors: Evans, John, Sir, 1823-1908
Subjects: Stone age
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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Text Appearing Before Image:
inches long, with a singlerivet to fasten it to its handle, and close to the axe-hammer lay a pointedflint flake re-chipped on both faces. An axe-head, 6 j inches long, with convex sides, rounded at the butt,and with an oval shaft-hole, was found in the Thames at London, \ andis now in the British Museum. * Vest. Ant. Derb., p. 63. Cat., p. 6, No. 49.t Skeltuns Meyricks Armour, pi. xlvi. 3. I Horas Ferales, pi. iii. 4. USED AS BATTLE-AXES. 175 The careful manner in which the edges of these instruments areblunted shows that they cannot have been intended for cutting tools,but that they must have been weapons of war. A blow from a battle-axe with a blunted edge would be just as fatal as if the edge had beensharp and trenchant, while the risk of accidental injury to the scantily -clothed warrior who carried the axe was next to none when the edge ofthe weapon Was thus blunted. The practice of removing the edge bygrinding was, no doubt, introduced in consequence of some painfulexperience.
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 128.—Borrowash. £ Fig. 128 is of a still more ornamental character, having a beaded mould-ing towards each edge of the sides, and following the curvature of thefaces. The drawing is taken from a cast in the Museum of the Societyof Antiquaries, presented by Sir W. Tite, M.P.* The original is saidto have been found near Whitby. A fine axe-head of red granite,ornamented with raised mouldings, was, however, found with human * Proc. Soc. Ant.y 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 295. 176 PERFORATED AXES. (CHAP. VIII. bones near Borrowash, Derbyshire, in 1841,* and is in the BateinanCollection. To judge from the woodcut in the Catalogue, the cast musthave been taken from this specimen. A very elegant axe-head, 5 inches long, of reddish basalt, beauti-fully wrought, with a slight moulding round the angles, and a perfora-tion for the shaft, is described by Mr. Batemanf as having been foundon a barrow eleven miles east of Pickering, Yorkshire. It seems almost indisputable that these elegantly formed a

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