. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 362 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, with a conchoidal fracture, and this may frequently be seen. Some specimens were made from bowlders, and in cbipi)ing to a cutting edge or point the crust of the peb- ble was often left as a grip. Fig. 2 (Cat. No. 99440, M.) is one of these. It comes from the station of Thennes, in the river Arve, an affluent oftiieSomme, France. It has been finely chipped to a sharp cutting edge around one end. F
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. 362 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, with a conchoidal fracture, and this may frequently be seen. Some specimens were made from bowlders, and in cbipi)ing to a cutting edge or point the crust of the peb- ble was often left as a grip. Fig. 2 (Cat. No. 99440, M.) is one of these. It comes from the station of Thennes, in the river Arve, an affluent oftiieSomme, France. It has been finely chipped to a sharp cutting edge around one end. Fig. 3 (Cat. No. 11083, M.) represents one of the same type from Thetford, England. It shows the chalky crust for a grip, while the other end is chipxied to a point, as though for digging rather than cut- ting. These pebbles both be- long to the chalk formation, as do most of the flints from these countries. Fig. 4 (Cat. No. 35121, ) repre- sents a standard type of these implements from the valley of the Loire, central France. It is oval or almond-shaped, with the cutting edge at the j)oint, but has been made of flint from a ledge, and not from a nodule or j)ebble. The entire surface, both sides and edges, has been worked by chipping, though the butt or grip is thicker and has its edges battered so that it can be better held in the hand. The hand may also have been protected against the sharp edges or cor- ners by a bit of skin, fur, grass, or similar substance. It is doubted whether any of these implements were attached to a handle. It required great care and labor for the Paleolithic workmen to chip them to this sharp edge all around, and when sodoneitproduced an implement the form of which was the most difficult to successfully insert in a handle. To make a firm attaclimentof an implement of this form, the handle must Fig. 2. PALEOLITHIC CHELLEEN IMPLEMENT OF CHIPPED FLINT From the Kiver Arve, at the prehistoric station of Thennes, France. Cat. No. 99440,
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithsonianinstitutio, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840
