Читать книгу British and Foreign Arms & Armour - Charles Henry Ashdown - Страница 7

The prehistoric man of the Stone Age had undoubtedly one of the most difficult materials to deal with that can possibly be conceived, inasmuch as it was intensely hard, very brittle, and, so far as flint is concerned, occurred naturally only in comparatively small masses. Yet with this crude matter, and with implements of the same material, he succeeded in producing implements for husbandry and domestic use, weapons of war and for the chase, which excite our warmest admiration, both for the beauty of their proportions and the exquisite skill required in their manufacture. To the worker in flint the number of objects capable of being produced in that exceedingly refractory medium was limited, but these as the age progressed were eventually of a very high order of excellence, probably deemed unattainable by the earlier man. We will take the different weapons in the order of their importance, premising that in this chapter we shall have no armour to deal with, though doubtless the man of the very earliest age had some protection in the way of skins, plaited osier, or bark with which to ward off hostile blows, in addition to the shield, which is common to every race without exception when in the savage state.

Fig. 1.—Stone celt with cutting edge.

Celts.—The word “celt,” said to be derived from a doubtful Latin word signifying a chisel, is the name by which a particularly large and widely distributed class of weapons or implements is known. The word has no connection with the Celtic people, and should be pronounced “selt” and not “kelt,” as one frequently hears. The form of the celt is well known, inasmuch as many hundreds exist in our museums and private collections. They are found widely distributed in all parts of Europe, and generally throughout the known world, being regarded in many places in mediæval and even in modern times with superstitious reverence as thunderbolts with inherent mystical qualities.

Fig. 2.—Stone celt with cutting edge.

The primitive celts occurring in England are simply flints roughly chipped into form with unsharpened edges, and are chiefly found in those counties where flint abounds. They are not, however, confined to them, but occur in other parts where flint is not abundant, being fabricated in a different material such as agate, quartz, granite, obsidian, clay-slate, greenstone, serpentine, and other rocks. These crude celts, being merely chipped out and very roughly formed, are at times difficult of recognition; they belong to the Palæolithic or earlier period of the Stone Age. The second development of the celt appears in the grinding of one edge so as to produce a cutting portion (Figs. 1, 2), the ruder ones simply having a serrated edge produced by being chipped. This grinding was doubtless executed by means of sand and water, and in scores of examples a remarkably even result has been obtained (Fig. 3). The third form in which the celt is polished all over is the highest development and the most recent (Fig. 4), and is classed in the Neolithic period. Some of these have ornamentation upon them in the form of ribs running longitudinally upon the sides, and some are bored with a circular or oblong hole. For use these celts were fixed transversely at the end of a haft of wood either by binding or by the wood being cleft for their insertion; in peace they performed all the offices which are associated with a hatchet, and in war those of a battle-axe.

Fig. 3.—Celt with ground edge.

Fig. 4.—Stone celt with polished surface.

Spear-heads.—The greater part of these belong to the later period, and are remarkable for the care and attention which has been bestowed upon their construction. They invariably present a lance-like outline of symmetrical proportions with the edge in one plane, and are chipped so as to be very thin (Fig. 5); at times notches occur upon either side to facilitate their fixing into the end of the spear shaft and being bound firmly in it. Others have been found with the cutting edge carefully ground and polished, but with the tang only chipped and the edges serrated to afford a firm grip for the sinews used to affix it to the shaft. They vary in length from three to ten or more inches.

Arrow-heads and Javelin-heads.—The earliest forms of these are simply elongated splinters of flint or other stone, and undoubtedly were simply tied upon or inserted in the end of the arrow shaft by a ligament. They show but little work, simply as much as was necessary to give a satisfactory point, and to provide a tang for fixing. These may be termed lozenge-shaped (Fig. 6), and side by side with them are those of a leaf-shape—these two being the designs presenting the least amount of work and skill in fabrication. Subsequently a barbed and tanged variety was evolved, showing the maximum amount of technical skill in the making, and having the most deadly properties by reason of the difficulty of extraction when once inserted under the skin (Figs. 7, 8). They are as a rule of symmetrical proportions, the barbs carefully chipped to offer the least amount of resistance to the penetrative force of the arrow, and even at times a certain amount of polishing and grinding was added to insure keenness to the point and edge.

Fig. 5.—Flint spear-head.

Fig. 6.—Lozenge-shaped arrow-head.

Fig. 7.—Barbed arrow-head.

Fig. 8.—Barbed arrow-head.

The British Museum is in possession of a number of these arrow-heads, which may be considered almost as works of art, together with some of larger proportions which undoubtedly formed the heads of javelins (Fig. 9). Being fabricated of such imperishable material they have naturally been preserved in very large numbers, and hardly a museum exists without at least a few specimens being contained in it. In the mediæval period many quaint superstitions were associated with them, and their preservation as amulets, charms, and general attributes of curative powers, &c., has led to the handing down to the present generation of scores which would probably have been broken up in the ordinary course of events.

Fig. 9.—Javelin-head.

Fig. 10.—Dagger from British Museum.

Fig. 11.—Dagger from British Museum.

Fig. 12.—Dagger with notched edge.

Daggers.—The dagger is one of the commonest forms of weapon relating to the Stone Age, as might be supposed from its simple form and easy construction when compared with others. In its crudest and earliest condition it merely consisted of a flint rudely chipped to a point at one end; but subsequently it assumed a more definite form, and almost equal attention was paid to the handle and to the blade. The latter was invariably leaf-shaped, and broader towards the point than at the butt, where it is usually rounded or cut off square. The beautiful example, Fig. 10, is of white flint and may be seen in the British Museum, while Fig. 11 from the same collection is of black flint and about eight inches in length. As this is thickened at the butt it may have been used without any handle, but undoubtedly most of these blades were so mounted, and in Fig. 12 we have an example of the notched variety, where two indentations are perceived on either side for the passage of the tendons fixing the blade to the handle. In a few cases a shaped handle having a pommel and a grip, and with the blade formed out of the same piece of flint, has been discovered; the weapons in these instances have been ten or twelve inches in length, and modelled precisely the same as the bronze dagger which succeeded them. The highest type of flint weapons of the dagger class are those which have been discovered in Egypt; they are provided with long thin blades, beautifully ground or chipped on one side to form an edge, and elaborately serrated upon the thicker side forming the back, with cross ripple markings for ornamentation, the whole forming a specimen of clever handicraft and skilful workmanship which can only be adequately appreciated by actual inspection.

Among the weapons of the Stone Age may be mentioned the sling-stones, which are found in considerable numbers in countries where flints abound; they are of a lens-like shape and from two to three inches in diameter, being probably formed in this manner for insertion in a cleft stick which was used for throwing them. Balls of stone are also occasionally found with grooves in them, which suggest the presence at one time of string; these may have been used as weapons for throwing with the string attached, or wielded in the hand as a flail.

Battle-axes.—Although the celt may be regarded as fulfilling the functions of a battle-axe among its other manifold duties, yet a true battle-axe was evolved by the Stone man towards the latter part of his existence. It was invariably perforated by a circular hole, effected by grinding, and as a rule assumed approximately the shape shown in Fig. 13. Examples of these battle-axes have been found with cutting projections upon each side of the shaft; this was probably the prototype of the bipennis subsequently made in bronze and finally in iron. An example is shown in Fig. 14.

Fig. 13.—Stone battle-axe.

Fig. 14.—Battle-axe.