Chapter 30

Theannexed cut,kindly furnished by the Society of Antiquaries, shows an arrow-head from a long barrow near Fyfield, Wilts. It is delicately chipped, and weighs only forty-three grains. Another,11⁄2inches in length, from a long barrow on Alton Down, is of surprising thinness, and weighs only thirty grains. Others, it would seem purposely injured at the point, were found in the long chambered barrow at Rodmarton, Gloucestershire.[1706]Others, again, were found by Mr. Bateman in long barrows in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. One of these, from Ringham Low, is21⁄4inches long and 1 inch broad, yet weighs less than forty-eight grains. In Long Low, Wetton,[1707]were three such arrow-heads, and many flakes of flint. Dr. Thurnam, in speaking of the leaf-shaped as the long-barrow type of arrow-head, does not restrict it to that form of tumulus, but merely indicates it as that which is alone found there. The form indeed occurred elsewhere, thus, one was found in a bowl-shaped barrow at Ogbourne,[1708]Wilts.The Calais Wold barrow,[1709]already mentioned as having produced four lozenge-shaped javelin and arrow heads, is circular, while that on Pistle Down, Dorsetshire,[1710]which contained four beautifully-chipped arrow-heads of this type, is oblong.Leaf-shaped arrow-heads are mentioned as having been found with burnt bones in Grub Low, Staffordshire.[1711]The same forms, more or less carefully chipped, and occasionally almost flat on the face, are frequently found on the surface in various parts of Scotland,[1712]especially in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, and Moray. One not of flint, but apparently of quartzite, was found near Glenluce,[1713]Wigtownshire. Numbers have been found on the Culbin Sands,[1714]and at Urquhart.[1715]They are comparatively abundant in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Suffolk, but rarer in the southern counties of England. They{378}have been found at Grovehurst,[1716]near Milton, Kent, and I have picked up a specimen near Kit’s Coty House. I have seen specimens found at Redhill, near Reigate;[1717]near Bournemouth; at Prince Town, Dartmoor; and near Oundle; besides the localities already mentioned.Fig. 296.—Bridlington.Fig. 297.—Newton Ketton.Figs. 298 and 299.—Yorkshire Wolds.Typical lozenge-shaped arrow-heads are, in Britain, and, indeed, in other countries, rarer than the leaf-shaped. That shown in Fig. 296 has been made from a flat flake, and is nicely chipped on both faces, though not quite straight longitudinally. It was found at Northdale Farm, Grindale, Bridlington. A Scottish specimen, from Urquhart,[1718]Elginshire, slightly smaller, has been figured. The original of Fig. 297 forms part of the Greenwell Collection, and has been made from a very thin, transparent flake. It is rather less worked on the face opposite to that here shown. It was found at Newton Ketton, Durham. One like Fig. 297 was found on Bull Hill,[1719]Lancashire. A regularly-chipped arrow-head of lozenge shape is said to have been found at Cutterly Clump, Wilts;[1720]and I have seen a few specimens from Derbyshire. Those from the Calais Wold Barrow have already been mentioned.A diamond-shaped arrow-head was found at Cregneesh,[1721]Isle of Man; and another, as well as one of leaf shape, within a stone circle near Port Erin.[1722]Lozenge-shaped arrow-heads are frequently found in Scotland.A more elongated form is shown in Figs. 298 and 299, taken from specimens found on the Yorkshire Wolds. Both of them are neatly chipped on either face, and have but little left of the original surface of the flakes from which they were formed. One of the shorter sides of Fig. 299 is somewhat hollowed,possiblyto give a slight shoulder, and thus prevent its being driven into the shaft.This is more evidently the case with the arrow-head represented in{379}Fig. 300, which, like so many others, comes from the Wolds of Yorkshire. It is made from a slightly curved flake, and is more convex on one face than the other, especially at the stem or tang.In the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, of Driffield, is another Yorkshire arrow-head, which is leaf-shaped, but provided with a slight tang.Leaf-shaped arrow-heads, with a decided stem like that of the leaf, found in Arabia and Japan, will be mentioned at a subsequent page.Fig. 300.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 301.—Amotherby.Fig. 302.—Iwerne Minster.Another of these stemmed but barbless arrow-heads, from the same district, is shown in Fig. 301. It was found at Amotherby, near Malton, and was given to me by the late Mr. Charles Monkman, of that place. It has been made from a flat flake, and has been worked into shape by a slight amount of chipping along the edges, which does not extend over the face. There are numerous arrow-heads of the same class, though not of the same form, which have been made from flakes of the proper thickness, by a little secondary working to give them a point, and by slightly trimming the butt-end of the flake. They usually approximate to the leaf-shape in form, but, as might be expected, vary considerably in size, proportions, and the amount of symmetry displayed. It seems needless to engrave specimens.The weapon point shown in Fig. 302 is so large that possibly it may be regarded as that of a javelin, and not of an arrow. In was in the collection of Mr. H. Durden, of Blandford, and is now in the British Museum. It was found on Iwerne Minster Down, Dorsetshire. It is boldly and symmetrically chipped, thick in proportion to its breadth, and equally convex on both faces; though distinctly stemmed, it can hardly be said to be barbed. It much resembles an Italian specimen in the Arsenal of Turin.[1723]A somewhat more distinctly-barbed arrow-head from the Yorkshire Wolds is represented in Fig. 303. Its thickness,5⁄16inch, is great in proportion to its size; the two faces are equally convex, and the stem widens out slightly at the base. The same is the case with a smaller and thinner arrow-head in my collection, of somewhat similar form, found near the camp of Maiden Bower, Dunstable. A third, from the Yorkshire Wolds, presents the same peculiarity, which is still more apparent in an arrow-head from a barrow on Seamer Moor, near Scarborough,[1724]if indeed it has been correctly figured.{380}Fig. 303.—Yorkshire Wolds.A magnificent specimen of much the same type as Fig. 303, but nearly twice as long, has been kindly lent me for engraving by Messrs. Mortimer, of Driffield, Yorkshire. It was found in the neighbourhood of Fimber, and is shown in Fig. 304. It is neatly chipped over both faces, which are equally convex, and the stem is carefully shaped and of considerable thickness. The edges, as is not unfrequently the case, are serrated.The fine arrow-head engraved as Fig. 305 shows the barbs or “witters” still more strongly developed. One of them is, however, less pointed than the other. From its size, this and others may have formed the heads of javelins rather than of arrows, though arrow-heads as large are still in use among some savage tribes. It was found at Pick Rudge Farm,[1725]Overton, Wilts, in company with the oblong implement engraved as Fig. 255. It is now in the Blackmore Museum, the Trustees of which kindly allowed me to figure it.I have a very fine specimen with even longer barbs, from Ashwell, Herts, which is shown in Fig.305A.Fig. 304.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 305.—Pick Rudge Farm.Fig. 306 represents another unusually large specimen, found on Sherburn Wold, Yorkshire. It is nicely worked on both faces, and the end of the stem or tang has been carefully chipped to a sharp semicircular edge, well adapted for fixing into the split shaft. One similar to it was found on Bull Hill,[1726]Lancashire. Mr. A. C. Savin, of Cromer,{381}has a rather smaller arrow-head of this type, but with the sides more curved outwards, like Fig. 313, found near Aylsham. Barbed arrow-heads of various forms and sizes are of frequent occurrence in some parts of the Yorkshire Wolds and Moors, and in parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Suffolk and Derbyshire.Fig.305A.—Ashwell.Fig. 306.—Sherburn Wold.Fig. 307.Fig. 308.Fig. 309.Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 310.Fig. 311.Fig. 312.Yorkshire Wolds.It would be tedious to attempt to exhibit all the different varieties, but specimens of the more ordinary forms are given in Figs. 307 to 312, from originals principally in the Greenwell Collection. As a rule, there is but little difference in the convexity of the two faces, though very{382}frequently one face is decidedly flatter than the other; and occasionally the flat face of the original flake has been left almost untouched. Fig. 311 affords an example of this kind, being nearly flat on the face not shown, while the other face still retains part of the crust of the flint nodule from which the flake was struck. The central stem or tang varies much in its proportions to the size of the arrow-head, and occasionally forms but an inconsiderable projection, as in Fig. 309, making the form approximate to the triangular. Sometimes, as in Fig. 312, the ends of the barbs are carefully chipped straight, as is the case with many arrow-heads from the more southern parts of England, some of which will shortly be noticed. An arrow-head like Fig. 312 was found near Ashwell,[1727]Herts.Figs. 313and 314.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig.314A.—Icklingham.Before quitting the arrow-heads of the Yorkshire Wolds, I must insert figures of two other specimens illustrative of another form. Of these, that shown in Fig. 313 was found at Northdale Farm, Grindale, Bridlington. It is thick in proportion to its size, and skilfully chipped on both faces. The tang is thin and slight. The other arrow-head Fig. 314 is not so thick in proportion. In both, if the sweep of the outline were continued past the barbs, it would about meet the extremity of the tang, and give a leaf-shaped form; so that it seems probable that this class was made by first chipping out the simple leaf-shaped form, and then working in a notch on either side to produce the tangs and barbs. The same type occurs in Suffolk. An exaggerated example, rather like Fig. 320 but broader, found near Icklingham, is shown in Fig.314A.The next specimen that I have selected for engraving, Fig. 315, is from another part of the country, having been found by myself in 1866 on the surface of a field, at the foot of the Chalk escarpment between Eddlesborough and Tring, Herts. It can hardly be regarded as unfinished, though one of the surfaces is very rough and the outline far from symmetrical. It rather shows how rude were some of the appliances of our savage predecessors in Britain. Curiously enough, some barbed flint arrow-heads of nearly similar form, and but little more{383}symmetrical (to judge from the engravings), were found in 1763 at Tring Grove, Herts,[1728]with an extended skeleton. They lay between the legs, and at the feet were some of the perforated plates of greenish stone of the character of Fig. 354. An arrow-head of much the same form was found in a barrow near Tenby,[1729]with human bones and a part of a curious ring-shaped ornament, supposed to be of ivory. The long tapering arrow-head shown in Fig. 316 affords a contrast to this broad form. Its barbs are unfortunately not quite perfect, but the form being uncommon I have engraved it. It was found in Reach Fen, Cambridgeshire. A ruder example of the same form as Fig. 316, from Bourn Fen, has been figured in Miller and Skertchly’s “Fen-land.”[1730]A longer specimen, almost as acutely pointed, and with square-ended barbs, found on Lanchester Common,[1731]Durham, is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. I have several others of the same type from Suffolk, some with the sides curved slightly inwards.Fig. 315.—Eddlesborough.Fig. 316.—Reach Fen.Fig. 317.—Isleham.The next Figure (317) is illustrative of the extraordinary amount of care and skill that was sometimes bestowed on the manufacture of objects so liable to be broken or lost in use as arrow-heads. This specimen was found at Isleham, Cambridgeshire, and has unfortunately lost its central stem, the outline of which I have restored from a nearly similar arrow-head found at Icklingham, Suffolk, which has lost both its barbs. It is very thin, so much so that its weight is only thirty-eight grains, but it is neatly chipped over the whole of both faces. Nothing, however, can exceed the beautiful regularity of the minute chipping by which the final outline was given to the edges, extremely small flakes having been removed at regular intervals so close to each other that there are twenty of them in an inch. The inner sides and ends of the barbs are worked perfectly straight, the ends forming right angles to the sides of the arrow-head, and the inner sides being nearly parallel with each other, so that the barbs are somewhat dovetailed in form.The broader, but almost equally beautiful arrow-head shown in Fig.{384}318 was found in front of the face of an unburnt body, in a barrow at Rudstone, near Bridlington, by Canon Greenwell. I have a beautiful specimen of the same type from Dorchester Dykes, Oxon, given to me by the late Mr. Davey, of Wantage. It is shown in Fig318A.A less highly finished example from Chatteris Fen[1732]has been figured.Fig. 318.—Rudstone.Fig.318A.—Dorchester Dykes.Fig. 319.—Lambourn Down.Fig. 320.—Fovant.The ends of the barbs thus chipped straight sometimes, as in Fig. 312, form a straight line. Occasionally, as in the arrow-heads found by Sir R. Colt Hoare[1733]in one of the Everley barrows, the base of the barbs forms an obtuse angle with the sides of the arrow-head, so that there is a sharp point at the inner side of the barbs. In others the end forms an acute angle with the sides of the arrow-head, so that the point of each barb is at the outer side. A beautiful specimen of this kind is shown in Fig. 319. It is one of six, varying in size and somewhat in shape, but all beautifully worked, found in barrows on Lambourn Down, Berks, and now in the British Museum. In some few instances the sides of the arrow-head are rather ogival in form (like the Scotch{385}specimen, Fig. 326), which adds to the acuteness of the point. In one of this character from a barrow on the Ridgeway Hill,[1734]Dorsetshire, and others from one of the Woodyates barrows,[1735]the barbs are also acutely pointed at the outer side. I have a rather smaller specimen than that figured, from Lakenheath, Suffolk, and others from Thetford and Reach Fen, with the sides even more ogival than in Fig. 326. Others of the same character, found in Derbyshire, are in the Bateman Collection. In some of the arrow-heads[1736]from the Wiltshire barrows the barbs are inordinately prolonged beyond the central tang, which is very small. Fig. 320, copied from Hoare,[1737]gives one of those from a barrow near Fovant, found with a contracted interment, in company with a bronze dagger and pin, and some jet ornaments. One of similar character was found in a barrow on Windmill Hill,[1738]Avebury, but its barbs are not so long. An arrow-head with equally long barbs, but with the central tang of the same length as the barbs, was found in a dolmen in the Morbihan, and is in the Musée de St. Germain.Fig. 321.—Yorkshire Moors.Figs. 322 and 323.—Yorkshire Wolds.Before proceeding to notice one or two Scottish specimens, I must devote a short space to an exceptional form of arrow-head shown in Fig. 321. Like so many others, it is from the Yorkshire Moors, and was probably either barbed on both sides or intended to have been so. But one of the barbs having been broken off, possibly in the course of manufacture, the design has been modified, and the stump, so to speak, of the barb, has been rounded off in a neat manner by surface-flaking on both faces. The one-barbed arrow-head thus resulting presents some analogies with several of the triangular form, such as Figs. 336 to 338, about to be described.Arrow-heads either accidentally lost before they were finished, or thrown away as “wasters,” in consequence of having been spoilt in the making, are occasionally found. Examples, apparently of both classes, are shown in Figs. 322 and 323. The originals form part of the Greenwell Collection. Fig. 322, from Sherburn Wold, appears to have been completely finished, with the exception of the notch on one side of the central tang. The face not shown in the figure exhibits on the left side a considerable portion of the surface of the original flake, the edge of which has been neatly trimmed along the right side of the face here shown. The base has been chipped on both faces to a sharp hollow edge, in which one notch has been neatly worked to form the barb and one side of the stem. There is no apparent reason why{386}the other notch should not have been formed, so that the probability is that the arrow-head was lost just before completion. In the other case the arrow-head, after being skilfully chipped on both faces into a triangular form, has had one of the notches worked in its base; but in effecting this the tool has been brought so near the centre of the head as to leave insufficient material for the tang, and the barb has also been broken off. In this condition it appears to have been thrown away as a waster.Whether these views be correct or not, one deduction seems allowable, viz., that the barbed flint arrow-heads were, as a rule, finished at their points, and approximately brought into shape at their base, before the notches were worked to form the central tang and develop the barbs.A curious double-pointed arrow-head from Brompton,[1739]Yorkshire, is, by the kindness of the Society of Antiquaries, shown in Fig.323A.It had probably at first only a single point, and having been broken was trimmed into its present shape. Some of the “exceptional” forms from Brionio, in the Veronese, approximate to this, but with all respect to the Italian archæologists, I agree with Mr. Thomas Wilson,[1740]and cannot accept these forms as genuine.Fig.323A.Brompton.1⁄1I must now give a few examples of the stemmed and barbed flint arrow-heads found in Scotland, which, however, do not essentially differ in character from those of the more southern part of Britain. First among them I would place a remarkably fine specimen found in the Isle of Skye,[1741]which has already been published more than once. It is very acutely pointed, and expands at the base so as to give strength to the barbs, which are slightly curved inwards. From its size it may have served to point a javelin rather than an arrow.The edges of some of the Scottish arrows are sometimes neatly serrated. An example of this kind is given in Fig. 325, from a specimen in the National Museum at Edinburgh. It is formed of chalcedonic flint, and was found with others of ordinary types at Urquhart,[1742]Elgin.The original of Fig. 326 is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and was found in Aberdeenshire. Its sides (like those of some in the National Museum at Edinburgh) are slightly ogival, so as to give sharpness to the point. Another from Urquhart,[1743]Elgin, has been figured, as well as one from Ballachulish,[1744]with straighter sides. One from Montblairy, Banff,[1745]is of the same type, as is one from Kilmarnock.[1746]The sides of Fig. 327 are curved outwards. This arrow-head was found in Glenlivet, Banff, a district where arrow-heads are common, and is in the Greenwell Collection, now the property of Dr. Allen Sturge, at Nice.{387}I have already mentioned the counties of Scotland in which “elf-bolts” are most abundantly found. I may now enumerate a few of the spots, and the characters of the specimens of this form. One much like Fig. 327, but with the barbs more pointed, is figured by Wilson,[1747]as well as another[1748]like Fig. 305, found in a tumulus at Killearn, Stirlingshire. One from the Isle of Skye,[1749]like Fig. 316, and another from Shapinsay, Orkney,[1750]like Fig. 312, have been figured by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Others, found with burnt bones in an urn deposited in a cairn in Banff, have been engraved by Pennant,[1751]and some from Lanarkshire are given in theJournal of the Archæological Association.[1752]Fig. 324.—Isle of Skye.Fig. 325.—Urquhart.Fig. 326.—Aberdeenshire.Fig. 327.—Glenlivet.Stemmed and barbed arrow-heads are recorded to have been found in{388}Aberdeenshire at the following localities:—Slains,[1753]Forgue,[1754]Kintore;[1755]Kildrummy,[1756]Strathdon,[1757]and Cruden;[1758]one 3 inches long and21⁄2inches wide, at Tarland,[1759]and a large number at Cloister-Seat Farm,[1760]Udny.In Banff, at Mains of Auchmedden,[1761]Eden[1762]and Bowiebank, King Edward; Cullen of Buchan,[1763]Glen Avon,[1764]Alvah,[1765]and Longman,[1766]Macduff.In Elgin, at St. Andrew’s, Lhanbryd;[1767]Urquhart, and elsewhere.In Forfarshire, at Carmyllie[1768]and elsewhere. Some Ayrshire[1769]specimens have been figured.They have also been found near Gretna Green[1770]and Linton,[1771]Peebles, and in numbers on the Culbin Sandhills,[1772]Morayshire, and Killearn,[1773]Stirlingshire. In Fifeshire, in a cist at Dairsie;[1774]near Fordoun,[1775]Kincardineshire; Glenluce,[1776]Wigtownshire; and stemmed but not barbed, at Philiphaugh,[1777]Selkirkshire. This last is shown in Fig.327A.Fig.327A.Philiphaugh.Other specimens, of which the form is not mentioned, were exhibited in a temporary Museum of the Archæological Institute at Edinburgh from the following localities:—Caithness,[1778]Cruden, Cromar, Kinellar, Aberdeenshire; Robgill, Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire; Arbuthnot, Bervie and Garvoch, Kincardineshire; Braidwood and Carluke, Lanarkshire; and Burgh-head, Wigtownshire.Other have been found at Elchies, Keith,[1779]and Oldtown of Roseisle,[1780]Morayshire; Abernethy,[1781]Inverness; and at Mortlach[1782]and Lesmurdie,[1783]Banff.In this place, also, it will be well to mention some of the discoveries of stemmed and barbed flint arrow-heads in England which have not already been cited. The following have been engraved:—One much like Fig. 303, found in the Kielder Burn,[1784]North Tyne; one like Fig. 327, found with burnt bones in an urn on Baildon Common,[1785]Yorkshire; another from Lake, Wilts;[1786]others, like Figs. 312 and 319, from the Green Low Barrow,[1787]Derbyshire; one like Fig. 308, from{389}Hastings;[1788]one like Fig. 307, found near urns, scrapers, &c., at Wavertree, near Liverpool;[1789]some like Fig. 307, with ashes, at Carno,[1790]Montgomeryshire; and several others from barrows in Wilts,[1791]Dorsetshire, and Derbyshire. A considerable number of flint arrow-heads are engraved in a plate in theTransactions of the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.[1792]They are, however, for the most part forgeries. Others from East Lancashire[1793]and Rochdale[1794]have been described. Besides the discoveries recorded by Hoare and Bateman, and those made in Yorkshire,[1795]such arrow-heads are mentioned as having been found in the Thames;[1796]in the cemetery at Standlake,[1797]Oxon; in West Surrey,[1798]from which a number of arrow-heads of various forms have been figured by Mr. F. Lasham; St. Leonard’s Forest,[1799]Horsham; Plymouth,[1800]on Dartmoor,[1801]Devonshire; at Horndean,[1802]Hants; and in large numbers in Derbyshire, especially on Middleton Moor.[1803]Both the leaf-shaped and the barbed forms have been found near Leicester.[1804]A number have been found at Carn Brê,[1805]Cornwall.Arrow-heads, of which the form is not specified, have been found at Wangford,[1806]Suffolk; Cliffe,[1807]near Carlebury, on the Yorkshire side of the Tees; Priddy,[1808]Somerset; Sutton Courtney,[1809]Berks; Lingfield Mark Camp,[1810]Surrey; near Ramsgate;[1811]Bigberry Hill,[1812]near Canterbury; Manton,[1813]Lincolnshire; Anstie Camp[1814]and Chart Park, Dorking.Besides specimens already cited, and many from the Yorkshire Wolds and Moors, there are in my collection stemmed and barbed arrow-heads from the following localities:—One much like Fig. 307, from Staunton, near Ixworth, Suffolk; many others from West Stow, Lakenheath, and Icklingham, in the same county; from Hunsdon, near Ware, Brassington, Derbyshire, and Turkdean, Gloucestershire, much like Fig. 308; one from Abingdon, like Fig. 327; and one from St. Agnes, Truro, of the same form as Fig. 317, but not so delicately worked; and others from Wicken and Reach Fens, Cambs. I have also{390}numerous examples of different forms from Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, and from the neighbourhood of Wallingford. The Earl of Ducie has a series found near Sarsden House, Chipping Norton.In the British Museum is a stemmed and barbed arrow-head, rather more curved at the sides than Fig. 307, found at Hoxne, Suffolk. Another of the same class, from Necton, Norfolk, is in the Norwich Museum, together with a smaller specimen like Fig. 308, from Attleborough. In the Cambridge Antiquarian Society’s Museum is one like Fig. 306, but with one of the barbs square-ended. It is25⁄8inches long, and11⁄2inch wide, and very thin, and was found in Burwell Fen. Another, like it, but21⁄4inches long, was found near Aldreth, Cambs., and was in the collection of the Rev. S. Banks. Canon Greenwell obtained one of somewhat similar character, but narrow, from Barton Mills, Suffolk; and the Rev. C. R. Manning found one like Fig. 311 on a tumulus near Grime’s Graves, Norfolk. One of the same class is in the Penzance Museum; and Mr. Spence Bate, F.R.S., has shown me a broken one like Fig. 308, found under six feet of peat at Prince Town, Dartmoor, where also a leaf-shaped arrow-head was found. Prof. Buckman had one much like Fig. 327, found at Barwick, Somersetshire. One like Fig. 309, from Milton, near Pewsey, Wilts, is in the collection of Mr. W. H. Penning, F.G.S. Mr. Durden had one rather smaller than Fig. 308 from the neighbourhood of Blandford. I have seen them both stemmed and barbed and leaf-shaped, found near Bournemouth. Sir John Lubbock has one with square-ended stem, and barbs separated from it by a very narrow notch, found at Shrub Hill, Feltwell, Norfolk; and numerous specimens exist in other collections.Fig. 328.—Icklingham.Fig. 329.—Langdale End.Fig. 330.—Amotherby.Before entering into the circumstances under which flint arrow-heads have been discovered, it will be well to describe the remaining class—the triangular. Some of these differ only from those last described in the absence of the central stem. Although this form is very common in Ireland and in Scandinavia, it occurs but rarely in Britain. The arrow-head shown in Fig. 328 was found near Icklingham, Suffolk, and was formerly in the collection of Mr. H. Trigg, of Bury St. Edmunds. Messrs. Mortimer possess a very similar specimen from the Yorkshire Wolds near Fimber. One has also been figured by Mr. C. Monkman[1815]as from Yorkshire. An arrow-head from Forfarshire, and one or two others of this type, are in the National Museum at Edinburgh. One from Ellon,[1816]Aberdeenshire, has been engraved, as{391}well as one of much more elongated form, with a semicircular notch at the base, from Glenluce,[1817]Wigtownshire. A broader arrow-head of the same type was found by the Rev. James M. Joass at Golspie, Sutherland, and is now in the Dunrobin Museum. An example was also found by Canon Greenwell in the material of a barrow at Childrey,[1818]Berks. Prof. Flinders Petrie has found the type in Egypt.[1819]A beautiful specimen of another double-barbed triangular form is shown in Fig. 329. It was found at Langdale End, on the Moors of the North Riding of Yorkshire, and is in the Greenwell Collection. It has been surface-chipped over part of one face, but on the other it still shows the central ridge of the flake from which it was made. The sides are neatly serrated.Fig. 330 represents a broader and less distinctly barbed form. The original was found at Amotherby, near Malton, and is chipped over both faces. I have another longer specimen from Sherburn, the base of which is less indented. Allied to this longer form, but having the sides more curved, is that shown in Fig. 331. The original was found by Canon Greenwell in one of the barrows examined by him at Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire. Varieties of this form, with the sides more or less straight, are of not unfrequent occurrence in Yorkshire. The same type has been found near Mantua.[1820]Fig. 331.—Weaverthorpe.Fig. 332.—Lakenheath.Fig. 333.—Yorkshire Wolds.The more perfectly triangular form shown in Fig. 332 is of rather rare occurrence. This arrow-head was found near Lakenheath, Suffolk, and is now in the Greenwell Collection. It is neatly chipped over both faces, which are equally convex. I possess other specimens from Suffolk. Some arrow-heads of the same shape from Gelderland are in the Christy Collection.In many instances rude triangular arrow-heads have been formed from flakes and splinters of flint, which were evidently selected as being nearly of the desired form, and were brought into shape by the least possible amount of subsequent chipping. The secondary working on Fig. 333 nowhere extends back so much as an eighth of an inch from the edges, and the bulb of percussion of the splinter of flint from which it was made is at the right-hand angle of the base, but not on the face here figured.{392}In Fig. 334 the bulb is at the back of the left-hand angle, but this specimen is much thicker, and shows a considerable amount of skilful chipping on both faces. The angle at the bulb is rounded, while on the opposite side of the base it is somewhat curved downwards, so as to form a kind of barb. This obliquity of the face is more apparent in Fig. 335, though the barb is less pronounced. The flat face of the original flake is in this instance left nearly untouched, but the ridge side has been neatly wrought by removing a series of minute parallel flakes. This form occurs in Ireland,[1821]and has been regarded as rather a knife than an arrow-head. I have seen an arrow-head of much the same form found at Bournemouth.Fig. 334.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 335.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 336.—Bridlington.Fig. 337.—Bridlington.The character of surface-flaking, observable in Figs. 335, 336 and 337, is almost peculiar to Yorkshire; and one of the most beautiful examples that I have seen of it is on the arrow-head engraved as Fig. 336, which was found on Northdale Farm, Grindale, Bridlington. The ripple-like flaking extends over nearly two-thirds of one face, the remainder of which is a flat portion of the original surface of the flake from which the arrow-head was made. On the other face a rather larger portion of the original surface is left, but the{393}surface-chipping, though, neat, is not of this regular character. The base is chipped on both faces, so as to leave a sharp edge with a delicate projecting barb at one angle only. The other angle is perfect, and has never been continued so as to form a barb. I have fragments of other arrow-heads of the same kind, from the same neighbourhood, and on some the fluting along the base is as regular as that on the side, and the two series of narrow shallow grooves “mitre” together with great accuracy. I have arrow-heads of the same general form and character from the neighbourhood of Icklingham, Suffolk; and in the Greenwell Collection is a small and elegant example from Lakenheath; but these are devoid of the parallel flaking, as are also some of the Yorkshire specimens. The late Mr. J. F. Lucas, however, had an arrow-head of this form, with the fluted chipping, from Middleton Moor, Derbyshire. Such regular fluting can, I think, only have been produced by pressure, probably with a pointed instrument of stag’s-horn, as before described. It comes nearer in character to the wonderful “ripple-mark flaking” on some of the Danish daggers or lance-heads, and of the Egyptian knives, than the workmanship of any other British specimens.The same style of work is observable on another arrow-head, Fig. 337, found on the same farm, though it is not of equal delicacy. In this case, however, the flaking extends along both sides, and the two series meet in the middle of the face, where but a very small portion of the original surface of the flake is visible. The face not shown is chipped in the same manner, but less neatly. One of the angles at the base has unfortunately been broken off, but there is no appearance of there having been more than one barb.Fig. 338.—FimberIn some Egyptian arrow-heads from Abydos the surface seems to have been made smooth by grinding before the final flaking, just as was the case with the large blades mentioned on p.359.Less finely executed arrow-heads, with a long projecting wing or barb at one of the angles of the base, are of common occurrence in Yorkshire and Suffolk. They usually retain a considerable portion of the surface of the flakes from which they have been manufactured. They are also found in Gloucestershire[1822]and Worcestershire.[1823]An unusually well-finished specimen of this class is engraved as Fig. 338. It was found in the neighbourhood of Fimber, Yorkshire, and is in the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, who have kindly allowed me to figure it. It has been made from an external flake, as there is a portion of the crust of the flint visible on one of the faces, both of which are neatly chipped. It is barbed at both angles of the base, though the projection is far longer and more curved on the one side than on the other. In most instances, however, there can hardly be said to be any barb at all at one of the angles.The form with the long single barb appears to be common on the{394}Derbyshire Moors. In one instance a rectangular notch has been worked in the curved side, with what object it is hard to say. This specimen, shown in Fig. 339, was found in a barrow at Hungry Bentley, Derbyshire, by the late Mr. J. F. Lucas. It had been buried together with a jet ornament and beads, subsequently described, in an urn containing burnt bones.The single-winged form is of rare occurrence in Scotland, but what appears to be an arrow-head of this kind, from Caithness,[1824]has been engraved by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the cut is here, by their kindness, reproduced. Another from Urquhart and several from the Culbin Sands, Elginshire, and Glenluce Sands, Wigtownshire, are in the Edinburgh Museum. By some[1825]they are regarded as knives, with the tang for insertion in a handle. The same form is found in greater abundance in the North of Ireland. A somewhat analogous shape from Italy has been figured by Dr. C. Rosa.[1826]The type also occurs in Egypt.Fig. 339.—Hungry Bentley.Fig. 340.—Caithness.The varieties here engraved of single-barbed triangular arrow-headeds of flint are, I think, enough to establish them as a distinct class, though they have received but little attention among the antiquities of any other country than the United Kingdom, nor have they been observed in use among modern savages. Many of the early bone harpoons, as well as those of the Eskimos, are barbed along one side only; and some of the Persian iron arrow-heads, as well as those of the Mandingoes,[1827]and of some South American tribes, are also single-barbed. The same is the case with some arrow-heads of iron belonging to the Merovingian period.[1828]Another form of triangular arrow-head is round instead of hollow at the base, and bears an affinity with the leaf-shaped rather than the barbed variety. One of these from the neighbourhood of{395}Lakenheath, in the Greenwell Collection, is shown in Fig. 341. It is surface-chipped on both faces.The chisel-ended type in use among the ancient Egyptians has already been mentioned, and a specimen engraved in Fig. 272.Another and much longer[1829]Egyptian form has now become known. It approaches a triangle in form, but the base is indented like the tail of many homocercal fishes. The specimens vary in length from 3 or 4 inches to as much as 7 or 8 inches, so that some appear to have been javelin-heads. The flaking is wonderfully delicate, and the edges, for the most part, minutely serrated. Mr. Spurrell has described and figured a triangular blade,41⁄2inches long, which much resembles the Egyptian form so far as general character is concerned. It was found in Cumberland,[1830]and is now in the British Museum. I have specimens from Abydos of a small, narrow, pointed and tanged arrow-head beautifully serrated at the sides. Other forms are figured by De Morgan.Fig. 341.—Lakenheath.Fig. 342.—Urguhart.In Fig. 342 is shown what appears to be a large example of the chisel-ended type, which was found at Urquhart,[1831]Elgin, and is in the National Museum at Edinburgh. The edge is formed by the sharp side of a flake, and the sharp angles at the two sides of the arrow-head have been removed by chipping, probably to prevent their cutting the ligaments that attached it to the shaft. Another was found at the same place. A small specimen from Suffolk is in the Christy Collection, and I have a few from the same county. Canon Greenwell has obtained others from Yorkshire. It is questionable whether the specimens like Fig. 231 ought not also to have been classed as arrow-heads.A similar form to Fig. 342 occurs in France. In one of the dolmens on the plateau of Thorus, near Poitiers, I found a small chisel-ended wrought flint, closely resembling the Egyptian arrow-heads; and I have observed in the collection of the late Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., others of the same form from chambered tumuli in Brittany. They have been discovered with ancient interments in other parts of France,[1832]{396}and I have specimens found on the surface of the soil near Pontlevoy, and given to me by the Abbé Bourgeois.Baron Joseph de Baye has found them in considerable numbers in sepulchres of the Stone Age in the department of La Marne.[1833]One was found embedded in a human vertebra. They also occur in the Camp de Catenoy, Oise.One from St. Clement’s, Jersey, is in the British Museum.Some are recorded from Namur and other parts of Belgium.[1834]Two arrow-heads of this class, found in Denmark, have been engraved by Madsen;[1835]one of them, to which I shall again refer, was still attached to a portion of its shaft.Nilsson[1836]has also engraved some specimens of this form found in Scandinavia. A considerable number of them were found at Lindormabacken in Scania,[1837]some of which, by the kindness of Dr. Hans Hildebrand, are in my collection. I have also specimens from Denmark. There are others from the same countries in the Christy Collection, where is also an example of the same kind from Southern Italy. Several are engraved by Bellucci.[1838]They occur also in Germany,[1839]Spain,[1840]and Portugal.[1841]Some crescent-shaped flints with sharp edges and a central tang, found on an island in the Lake of Varese,[1842]may possibly be arrow-heads. Forms of nearly the same kind have been found near Perugia.[1843]In General Pitt Rivers’s collection are some Persian arrows with chisel-edged tips of iron. Crescent-like[1844]arrow-heads or bolt-heads, with a broad hollowed edge, were used in hunting in the Middle Ages, and some are preserved in museums. The Emperor Commodus[1845]is related to have shown his skill in archery by beheading the ostrich when at full speed with crescent-headed arrows.There still remains to be noticed another form of triangular arrow-head, of which, however, I have never had the opportunity of seeing a British specimen. It has a notch on either side near the base, which is slightly hollowed, and in general form closely resembles a common type of North American arrow-heads. A specimen of this form, said to have been found at Hamden Hill,[1846]near Ilchester, has been engraved. Another, described as of much the same shape, was found in a barrow in Rookdale, Yorkshire.[1847]A broken specimen, with the base flat instead of hollowed, and found in Lanarkshire,[1848]has also been figured.I am not, however, satisfied that this triangular form, with notches in the sides, is a really British type, though lance-heads notched in this manner have been found in France.Both in Yorkshire and on the Wiltshire Downs arrow-heads have from time to time been found with their surface much abraded. There{397}seems little doubt that this wearing away has been effected during their sojourn in the gizzards of bustards.

The Calais Wold barrow,[1709]already mentioned as having produced four lozenge-shaped javelin and arrow heads, is circular, while that on Pistle Down, Dorsetshire,[1710]which contained four beautifully-chipped arrow-heads of this type, is oblong.

Leaf-shaped arrow-heads are mentioned as having been found with burnt bones in Grub Low, Staffordshire.[1711]The same forms, more or less carefully chipped, and occasionally almost flat on the face, are frequently found on the surface in various parts of Scotland,[1712]especially in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Elgin, and Moray. One not of flint, but apparently of quartzite, was found near Glenluce,[1713]Wigtownshire. Numbers have been found on the Culbin Sands,[1714]and at Urquhart.[1715]They are comparatively abundant in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Suffolk, but rarer in the southern counties of England. They{378}have been found at Grovehurst,[1716]near Milton, Kent, and I have picked up a specimen near Kit’s Coty House. I have seen specimens found at Redhill, near Reigate;[1717]near Bournemouth; at Prince Town, Dartmoor; and near Oundle; besides the localities already mentioned.

Fig. 296.—Bridlington.Fig. 297.—Newton Ketton.Figs. 298 and 299.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 296.—Bridlington.

Fig. 297.—Newton Ketton.

Figs. 298 and 299.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Typical lozenge-shaped arrow-heads are, in Britain, and, indeed, in other countries, rarer than the leaf-shaped. That shown in Fig. 296 has been made from a flat flake, and is nicely chipped on both faces, though not quite straight longitudinally. It was found at Northdale Farm, Grindale, Bridlington. A Scottish specimen, from Urquhart,[1718]Elginshire, slightly smaller, has been figured. The original of Fig. 297 forms part of the Greenwell Collection, and has been made from a very thin, transparent flake. It is rather less worked on the face opposite to that here shown. It was found at Newton Ketton, Durham. One like Fig. 297 was found on Bull Hill,[1719]Lancashire. A regularly-chipped arrow-head of lozenge shape is said to have been found at Cutterly Clump, Wilts;[1720]and I have seen a few specimens from Derbyshire. Those from the Calais Wold Barrow have already been mentioned.

A diamond-shaped arrow-head was found at Cregneesh,[1721]Isle of Man; and another, as well as one of leaf shape, within a stone circle near Port Erin.[1722]Lozenge-shaped arrow-heads are frequently found in Scotland.

A more elongated form is shown in Figs. 298 and 299, taken from specimens found on the Yorkshire Wolds. Both of them are neatly chipped on either face, and have but little left of the original surface of the flakes from which they were formed. One of the shorter sides of Fig. 299 is somewhat hollowed,possiblyto give a slight shoulder, and thus prevent its being driven into the shaft.

This is more evidently the case with the arrow-head represented in{379}Fig. 300, which, like so many others, comes from the Wolds of Yorkshire. It is made from a slightly curved flake, and is more convex on one face than the other, especially at the stem or tang.

In the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, of Driffield, is another Yorkshire arrow-head, which is leaf-shaped, but provided with a slight tang.

Leaf-shaped arrow-heads, with a decided stem like that of the leaf, found in Arabia and Japan, will be mentioned at a subsequent page.

Fig. 300.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 301.—Amotherby.Fig. 302.—Iwerne Minster.

Fig. 300.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 301.—Amotherby.

Fig. 302.—Iwerne Minster.

Another of these stemmed but barbless arrow-heads, from the same district, is shown in Fig. 301. It was found at Amotherby, near Malton, and was given to me by the late Mr. Charles Monkman, of that place. It has been made from a flat flake, and has been worked into shape by a slight amount of chipping along the edges, which does not extend over the face. There are numerous arrow-heads of the same class, though not of the same form, which have been made from flakes of the proper thickness, by a little secondary working to give them a point, and by slightly trimming the butt-end of the flake. They usually approximate to the leaf-shape in form, but, as might be expected, vary considerably in size, proportions, and the amount of symmetry displayed. It seems needless to engrave specimens.

The weapon point shown in Fig. 302 is so large that possibly it may be regarded as that of a javelin, and not of an arrow. In was in the collection of Mr. H. Durden, of Blandford, and is now in the British Museum. It was found on Iwerne Minster Down, Dorsetshire. It is boldly and symmetrically chipped, thick in proportion to its breadth, and equally convex on both faces; though distinctly stemmed, it can hardly be said to be barbed. It much resembles an Italian specimen in the Arsenal of Turin.[1723]

A somewhat more distinctly-barbed arrow-head from the Yorkshire Wolds is represented in Fig. 303. Its thickness,5⁄16inch, is great in proportion to its size; the two faces are equally convex, and the stem widens out slightly at the base. The same is the case with a smaller and thinner arrow-head in my collection, of somewhat similar form, found near the camp of Maiden Bower, Dunstable. A third, from the Yorkshire Wolds, presents the same peculiarity, which is still more apparent in an arrow-head from a barrow on Seamer Moor, near Scarborough,[1724]if indeed it has been correctly figured.{380}

Fig. 303.—Yorkshire Wolds.

A magnificent specimen of much the same type as Fig. 303, but nearly twice as long, has been kindly lent me for engraving by Messrs. Mortimer, of Driffield, Yorkshire. It was found in the neighbourhood of Fimber, and is shown in Fig. 304. It is neatly chipped over both faces, which are equally convex, and the stem is carefully shaped and of considerable thickness. The edges, as is not unfrequently the case, are serrated.

The fine arrow-head engraved as Fig. 305 shows the barbs or “witters” still more strongly developed. One of them is, however, less pointed than the other. From its size, this and others may have formed the heads of javelins rather than of arrows, though arrow-heads as large are still in use among some savage tribes. It was found at Pick Rudge Farm,[1725]Overton, Wilts, in company with the oblong implement engraved as Fig. 255. It is now in the Blackmore Museum, the Trustees of which kindly allowed me to figure it.

I have a very fine specimen with even longer barbs, from Ashwell, Herts, which is shown in Fig.305A.

Fig. 304.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 305.—Pick Rudge Farm.

Fig. 304.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 305.—Pick Rudge Farm.

Fig. 306 represents another unusually large specimen, found on Sherburn Wold, Yorkshire. It is nicely worked on both faces, and the end of the stem or tang has been carefully chipped to a sharp semicircular edge, well adapted for fixing into the split shaft. One similar to it was found on Bull Hill,[1726]Lancashire. Mr. A. C. Savin, of Cromer,{381}has a rather smaller arrow-head of this type, but with the sides more curved outwards, like Fig. 313, found near Aylsham. Barbed arrow-heads of various forms and sizes are of frequent occurrence in some parts of the Yorkshire Wolds and Moors, and in parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Suffolk and Derbyshire.

Fig.305A.—Ashwell.Fig. 306.—Sherburn Wold.

Fig.305A.—Ashwell.

Fig. 306.—Sherburn Wold.

Fig. 307.Fig. 308.Fig. 309.Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 307.Fig. 308.Fig. 309.

Fig. 307.

Fig. 308.

Fig. 309.

Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 310.Fig. 311.Fig. 312.Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 310.Fig. 311.Fig. 312.

Fig. 310.

Fig. 311.

Fig. 312.

Yorkshire Wolds.

It would be tedious to attempt to exhibit all the different varieties, but specimens of the more ordinary forms are given in Figs. 307 to 312, from originals principally in the Greenwell Collection. As a rule, there is but little difference in the convexity of the two faces, though very{382}frequently one face is decidedly flatter than the other; and occasionally the flat face of the original flake has been left almost untouched. Fig. 311 affords an example of this kind, being nearly flat on the face not shown, while the other face still retains part of the crust of the flint nodule from which the flake was struck. The central stem or tang varies much in its proportions to the size of the arrow-head, and occasionally forms but an inconsiderable projection, as in Fig. 309, making the form approximate to the triangular. Sometimes, as in Fig. 312, the ends of the barbs are carefully chipped straight, as is the case with many arrow-heads from the more southern parts of England, some of which will shortly be noticed. An arrow-head like Fig. 312 was found near Ashwell,[1727]Herts.

Figs. 313and 314.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig.314A.—Icklingham.

Figs. 313and 314.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig.314A.—Icklingham.

Before quitting the arrow-heads of the Yorkshire Wolds, I must insert figures of two other specimens illustrative of another form. Of these, that shown in Fig. 313 was found at Northdale Farm, Grindale, Bridlington. It is thick in proportion to its size, and skilfully chipped on both faces. The tang is thin and slight. The other arrow-head Fig. 314 is not so thick in proportion. In both, if the sweep of the outline were continued past the barbs, it would about meet the extremity of the tang, and give a leaf-shaped form; so that it seems probable that this class was made by first chipping out the simple leaf-shaped form, and then working in a notch on either side to produce the tangs and barbs. The same type occurs in Suffolk. An exaggerated example, rather like Fig. 320 but broader, found near Icklingham, is shown in Fig.314A.

The next specimen that I have selected for engraving, Fig. 315, is from another part of the country, having been found by myself in 1866 on the surface of a field, at the foot of the Chalk escarpment between Eddlesborough and Tring, Herts. It can hardly be regarded as unfinished, though one of the surfaces is very rough and the outline far from symmetrical. It rather shows how rude were some of the appliances of our savage predecessors in Britain. Curiously enough, some barbed flint arrow-heads of nearly similar form, and but little more{383}symmetrical (to judge from the engravings), were found in 1763 at Tring Grove, Herts,[1728]with an extended skeleton. They lay between the legs, and at the feet were some of the perforated plates of greenish stone of the character of Fig. 354. An arrow-head of much the same form was found in a barrow near Tenby,[1729]with human bones and a part of a curious ring-shaped ornament, supposed to be of ivory. The long tapering arrow-head shown in Fig. 316 affords a contrast to this broad form. Its barbs are unfortunately not quite perfect, but the form being uncommon I have engraved it. It was found in Reach Fen, Cambridgeshire. A ruder example of the same form as Fig. 316, from Bourn Fen, has been figured in Miller and Skertchly’s “Fen-land.”[1730]A longer specimen, almost as acutely pointed, and with square-ended barbs, found on Lanchester Common,[1731]Durham, is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. I have several others of the same type from Suffolk, some with the sides curved slightly inwards.

Fig. 315.—Eddlesborough.Fig. 316.—Reach Fen.Fig. 317.—Isleham.

Fig. 315.—Eddlesborough.

Fig. 316.—Reach Fen.

Fig. 317.—Isleham.

The next Figure (317) is illustrative of the extraordinary amount of care and skill that was sometimes bestowed on the manufacture of objects so liable to be broken or lost in use as arrow-heads. This specimen was found at Isleham, Cambridgeshire, and has unfortunately lost its central stem, the outline of which I have restored from a nearly similar arrow-head found at Icklingham, Suffolk, which has lost both its barbs. It is very thin, so much so that its weight is only thirty-eight grains, but it is neatly chipped over the whole of both faces. Nothing, however, can exceed the beautiful regularity of the minute chipping by which the final outline was given to the edges, extremely small flakes having been removed at regular intervals so close to each other that there are twenty of them in an inch. The inner sides and ends of the barbs are worked perfectly straight, the ends forming right angles to the sides of the arrow-head, and the inner sides being nearly parallel with each other, so that the barbs are somewhat dovetailed in form.

The broader, but almost equally beautiful arrow-head shown in Fig.{384}318 was found in front of the face of an unburnt body, in a barrow at Rudstone, near Bridlington, by Canon Greenwell. I have a beautiful specimen of the same type from Dorchester Dykes, Oxon, given to me by the late Mr. Davey, of Wantage. It is shown in Fig318A.A less highly finished example from Chatteris Fen[1732]has been figured.

Fig. 318.—Rudstone.Fig.318A.—Dorchester Dykes.

Fig. 318.—Rudstone.

Fig.318A.—Dorchester Dykes.

Fig. 319.—Lambourn Down.Fig. 320.—Fovant.

Fig. 319.—Lambourn Down.

Fig. 320.—Fovant.

The ends of the barbs thus chipped straight sometimes, as in Fig. 312, form a straight line. Occasionally, as in the arrow-heads found by Sir R. Colt Hoare[1733]in one of the Everley barrows, the base of the barbs forms an obtuse angle with the sides of the arrow-head, so that there is a sharp point at the inner side of the barbs. In others the end forms an acute angle with the sides of the arrow-head, so that the point of each barb is at the outer side. A beautiful specimen of this kind is shown in Fig. 319. It is one of six, varying in size and somewhat in shape, but all beautifully worked, found in barrows on Lambourn Down, Berks, and now in the British Museum. In some few instances the sides of the arrow-head are rather ogival in form (like the Scotch{385}specimen, Fig. 326), which adds to the acuteness of the point. In one of this character from a barrow on the Ridgeway Hill,[1734]Dorsetshire, and others from one of the Woodyates barrows,[1735]the barbs are also acutely pointed at the outer side. I have a rather smaller specimen than that figured, from Lakenheath, Suffolk, and others from Thetford and Reach Fen, with the sides even more ogival than in Fig. 326. Others of the same character, found in Derbyshire, are in the Bateman Collection. In some of the arrow-heads[1736]from the Wiltshire barrows the barbs are inordinately prolonged beyond the central tang, which is very small. Fig. 320, copied from Hoare,[1737]gives one of those from a barrow near Fovant, found with a contracted interment, in company with a bronze dagger and pin, and some jet ornaments. One of similar character was found in a barrow on Windmill Hill,[1738]Avebury, but its barbs are not so long. An arrow-head with equally long barbs, but with the central tang of the same length as the barbs, was found in a dolmen in the Morbihan, and is in the Musée de St. Germain.

Fig. 321.—Yorkshire Moors.Figs. 322 and 323.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 321.—Yorkshire Moors.

Figs. 322 and 323.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Before proceeding to notice one or two Scottish specimens, I must devote a short space to an exceptional form of arrow-head shown in Fig. 321. Like so many others, it is from the Yorkshire Moors, and was probably either barbed on both sides or intended to have been so. But one of the barbs having been broken off, possibly in the course of manufacture, the design has been modified, and the stump, so to speak, of the barb, has been rounded off in a neat manner by surface-flaking on both faces. The one-barbed arrow-head thus resulting presents some analogies with several of the triangular form, such as Figs. 336 to 338, about to be described.

Arrow-heads either accidentally lost before they were finished, or thrown away as “wasters,” in consequence of having been spoilt in the making, are occasionally found. Examples, apparently of both classes, are shown in Figs. 322 and 323. The originals form part of the Greenwell Collection. Fig. 322, from Sherburn Wold, appears to have been completely finished, with the exception of the notch on one side of the central tang. The face not shown in the figure exhibits on the left side a considerable portion of the surface of the original flake, the edge of which has been neatly trimmed along the right side of the face here shown. The base has been chipped on both faces to a sharp hollow edge, in which one notch has been neatly worked to form the barb and one side of the stem. There is no apparent reason why{386}the other notch should not have been formed, so that the probability is that the arrow-head was lost just before completion. In the other case the arrow-head, after being skilfully chipped on both faces into a triangular form, has had one of the notches worked in its base; but in effecting this the tool has been brought so near the centre of the head as to leave insufficient material for the tang, and the barb has also been broken off. In this condition it appears to have been thrown away as a waster.

Whether these views be correct or not, one deduction seems allowable, viz., that the barbed flint arrow-heads were, as a rule, finished at their points, and approximately brought into shape at their base, before the notches were worked to form the central tang and develop the barbs.

A curious double-pointed arrow-head from Brompton,[1739]Yorkshire, is, by the kindness of the Society of Antiquaries, shown in Fig.323A.It had probably at first only a single point, and having been broken was trimmed into its present shape. Some of the “exceptional” forms from Brionio, in the Veronese, approximate to this, but with all respect to the Italian archæologists, I agree with Mr. Thomas Wilson,[1740]and cannot accept these forms as genuine.

Fig.323A.Brompton.1⁄1

I must now give a few examples of the stemmed and barbed flint arrow-heads found in Scotland, which, however, do not essentially differ in character from those of the more southern part of Britain. First among them I would place a remarkably fine specimen found in the Isle of Skye,[1741]which has already been published more than once. It is very acutely pointed, and expands at the base so as to give strength to the barbs, which are slightly curved inwards. From its size it may have served to point a javelin rather than an arrow.

The edges of some of the Scottish arrows are sometimes neatly serrated. An example of this kind is given in Fig. 325, from a specimen in the National Museum at Edinburgh. It is formed of chalcedonic flint, and was found with others of ordinary types at Urquhart,[1742]Elgin.

The original of Fig. 326 is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and was found in Aberdeenshire. Its sides (like those of some in the National Museum at Edinburgh) are slightly ogival, so as to give sharpness to the point. Another from Urquhart,[1743]Elgin, has been figured, as well as one from Ballachulish,[1744]with straighter sides. One from Montblairy, Banff,[1745]is of the same type, as is one from Kilmarnock.[1746]The sides of Fig. 327 are curved outwards. This arrow-head was found in Glenlivet, Banff, a district where arrow-heads are common, and is in the Greenwell Collection, now the property of Dr. Allen Sturge, at Nice.{387}

I have already mentioned the counties of Scotland in which “elf-bolts” are most abundantly found. I may now enumerate a few of the spots, and the characters of the specimens of this form. One much like Fig. 327, but with the barbs more pointed, is figured by Wilson,[1747]as well as another[1748]like Fig. 305, found in a tumulus at Killearn, Stirlingshire. One from the Isle of Skye,[1749]like Fig. 316, and another from Shapinsay, Orkney,[1750]like Fig. 312, have been figured by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Others, found with burnt bones in an urn deposited in a cairn in Banff, have been engraved by Pennant,[1751]and some from Lanarkshire are given in theJournal of the Archæological Association.[1752]

Fig. 324.—Isle of Skye.Fig. 325.—Urquhart.Fig. 326.—Aberdeenshire.

Fig. 324.—Isle of Skye.Fig. 325.—Urquhart.

Fig. 324.—Isle of Skye.

Fig. 325.—Urquhart.

Fig. 326.—Aberdeenshire.

Fig. 327.—Glenlivet.

Stemmed and barbed arrow-heads are recorded to have been found in{388}Aberdeenshire at the following localities:—Slains,[1753]Forgue,[1754]Kintore;[1755]Kildrummy,[1756]Strathdon,[1757]and Cruden;[1758]one 3 inches long and21⁄2inches wide, at Tarland,[1759]and a large number at Cloister-Seat Farm,[1760]Udny.

In Banff, at Mains of Auchmedden,[1761]Eden[1762]and Bowiebank, King Edward; Cullen of Buchan,[1763]Glen Avon,[1764]Alvah,[1765]and Longman,[1766]Macduff.

In Elgin, at St. Andrew’s, Lhanbryd;[1767]Urquhart, and elsewhere.

In Forfarshire, at Carmyllie[1768]and elsewhere. Some Ayrshire[1769]specimens have been figured.

They have also been found near Gretna Green[1770]and Linton,[1771]Peebles, and in numbers on the Culbin Sandhills,[1772]Morayshire, and Killearn,[1773]Stirlingshire. In Fifeshire, in a cist at Dairsie;[1774]near Fordoun,[1775]Kincardineshire; Glenluce,[1776]Wigtownshire; and stemmed but not barbed, at Philiphaugh,[1777]Selkirkshire. This last is shown in Fig.327A.

Fig.327A.Philiphaugh.

Other specimens, of which the form is not mentioned, were exhibited in a temporary Museum of the Archæological Institute at Edinburgh from the following localities:—Caithness,[1778]Cruden, Cromar, Kinellar, Aberdeenshire; Robgill, Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire; Arbuthnot, Bervie and Garvoch, Kincardineshire; Braidwood and Carluke, Lanarkshire; and Burgh-head, Wigtownshire.

Other have been found at Elchies, Keith,[1779]and Oldtown of Roseisle,[1780]Morayshire; Abernethy,[1781]Inverness; and at Mortlach[1782]and Lesmurdie,[1783]Banff.

In this place, also, it will be well to mention some of the discoveries of stemmed and barbed flint arrow-heads in England which have not already been cited. The following have been engraved:—One much like Fig. 303, found in the Kielder Burn,[1784]North Tyne; one like Fig. 327, found with burnt bones in an urn on Baildon Common,[1785]Yorkshire; another from Lake, Wilts;[1786]others, like Figs. 312 and 319, from the Green Low Barrow,[1787]Derbyshire; one like Fig. 308, from{389}Hastings;[1788]one like Fig. 307, found near urns, scrapers, &c., at Wavertree, near Liverpool;[1789]some like Fig. 307, with ashes, at Carno,[1790]Montgomeryshire; and several others from barrows in Wilts,[1791]Dorsetshire, and Derbyshire. A considerable number of flint arrow-heads are engraved in a plate in theTransactions of the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.[1792]They are, however, for the most part forgeries. Others from East Lancashire[1793]and Rochdale[1794]have been described. Besides the discoveries recorded by Hoare and Bateman, and those made in Yorkshire,[1795]such arrow-heads are mentioned as having been found in the Thames;[1796]in the cemetery at Standlake,[1797]Oxon; in West Surrey,[1798]from which a number of arrow-heads of various forms have been figured by Mr. F. Lasham; St. Leonard’s Forest,[1799]Horsham; Plymouth,[1800]on Dartmoor,[1801]Devonshire; at Horndean,[1802]Hants; and in large numbers in Derbyshire, especially on Middleton Moor.[1803]Both the leaf-shaped and the barbed forms have been found near Leicester.[1804]A number have been found at Carn Brê,[1805]Cornwall.

Arrow-heads, of which the form is not specified, have been found at Wangford,[1806]Suffolk; Cliffe,[1807]near Carlebury, on the Yorkshire side of the Tees; Priddy,[1808]Somerset; Sutton Courtney,[1809]Berks; Lingfield Mark Camp,[1810]Surrey; near Ramsgate;[1811]Bigberry Hill,[1812]near Canterbury; Manton,[1813]Lincolnshire; Anstie Camp[1814]and Chart Park, Dorking.

Besides specimens already cited, and many from the Yorkshire Wolds and Moors, there are in my collection stemmed and barbed arrow-heads from the following localities:—One much like Fig. 307, from Staunton, near Ixworth, Suffolk; many others from West Stow, Lakenheath, and Icklingham, in the same county; from Hunsdon, near Ware, Brassington, Derbyshire, and Turkdean, Gloucestershire, much like Fig. 308; one from Abingdon, like Fig. 327; and one from St. Agnes, Truro, of the same form as Fig. 317, but not so delicately worked; and others from Wicken and Reach Fens, Cambs. I have also{390}numerous examples of different forms from Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, and from the neighbourhood of Wallingford. The Earl of Ducie has a series found near Sarsden House, Chipping Norton.

In the British Museum is a stemmed and barbed arrow-head, rather more curved at the sides than Fig. 307, found at Hoxne, Suffolk. Another of the same class, from Necton, Norfolk, is in the Norwich Museum, together with a smaller specimen like Fig. 308, from Attleborough. In the Cambridge Antiquarian Society’s Museum is one like Fig. 306, but with one of the barbs square-ended. It is25⁄8inches long, and11⁄2inch wide, and very thin, and was found in Burwell Fen. Another, like it, but21⁄4inches long, was found near Aldreth, Cambs., and was in the collection of the Rev. S. Banks. Canon Greenwell obtained one of somewhat similar character, but narrow, from Barton Mills, Suffolk; and the Rev. C. R. Manning found one like Fig. 311 on a tumulus near Grime’s Graves, Norfolk. One of the same class is in the Penzance Museum; and Mr. Spence Bate, F.R.S., has shown me a broken one like Fig. 308, found under six feet of peat at Prince Town, Dartmoor, where also a leaf-shaped arrow-head was found. Prof. Buckman had one much like Fig. 327, found at Barwick, Somersetshire. One like Fig. 309, from Milton, near Pewsey, Wilts, is in the collection of Mr. W. H. Penning, F.G.S. Mr. Durden had one rather smaller than Fig. 308 from the neighbourhood of Blandford. I have seen them both stemmed and barbed and leaf-shaped, found near Bournemouth. Sir John Lubbock has one with square-ended stem, and barbs separated from it by a very narrow notch, found at Shrub Hill, Feltwell, Norfolk; and numerous specimens exist in other collections.

Fig. 328.—Icklingham.Fig. 329.—Langdale End.Fig. 330.—Amotherby.

Fig. 328.—Icklingham.

Fig. 329.—Langdale End.

Fig. 330.—Amotherby.

Before entering into the circumstances under which flint arrow-heads have been discovered, it will be well to describe the remaining class—the triangular. Some of these differ only from those last described in the absence of the central stem. Although this form is very common in Ireland and in Scandinavia, it occurs but rarely in Britain. The arrow-head shown in Fig. 328 was found near Icklingham, Suffolk, and was formerly in the collection of Mr. H. Trigg, of Bury St. Edmunds. Messrs. Mortimer possess a very similar specimen from the Yorkshire Wolds near Fimber. One has also been figured by Mr. C. Monkman[1815]as from Yorkshire. An arrow-head from Forfarshire, and one or two others of this type, are in the National Museum at Edinburgh. One from Ellon,[1816]Aberdeenshire, has been engraved, as{391}well as one of much more elongated form, with a semicircular notch at the base, from Glenluce,[1817]Wigtownshire. A broader arrow-head of the same type was found by the Rev. James M. Joass at Golspie, Sutherland, and is now in the Dunrobin Museum. An example was also found by Canon Greenwell in the material of a barrow at Childrey,[1818]Berks. Prof. Flinders Petrie has found the type in Egypt.[1819]

A beautiful specimen of another double-barbed triangular form is shown in Fig. 329. It was found at Langdale End, on the Moors of the North Riding of Yorkshire, and is in the Greenwell Collection. It has been surface-chipped over part of one face, but on the other it still shows the central ridge of the flake from which it was made. The sides are neatly serrated.

Fig. 330 represents a broader and less distinctly barbed form. The original was found at Amotherby, near Malton, and is chipped over both faces. I have another longer specimen from Sherburn, the base of which is less indented. Allied to this longer form, but having the sides more curved, is that shown in Fig. 331. The original was found by Canon Greenwell in one of the barrows examined by him at Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire. Varieties of this form, with the sides more or less straight, are of not unfrequent occurrence in Yorkshire. The same type has been found near Mantua.[1820]

Fig. 331.—Weaverthorpe.Fig. 332.—Lakenheath.Fig. 333.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 331.—Weaverthorpe.

Fig. 332.—Lakenheath.

Fig. 333.—Yorkshire Wolds.

The more perfectly triangular form shown in Fig. 332 is of rather rare occurrence. This arrow-head was found near Lakenheath, Suffolk, and is now in the Greenwell Collection. It is neatly chipped over both faces, which are equally convex. I possess other specimens from Suffolk. Some arrow-heads of the same shape from Gelderland are in the Christy Collection.

In many instances rude triangular arrow-heads have been formed from flakes and splinters of flint, which were evidently selected as being nearly of the desired form, and were brought into shape by the least possible amount of subsequent chipping. The secondary working on Fig. 333 nowhere extends back so much as an eighth of an inch from the edges, and the bulb of percussion of the splinter of flint from which it was made is at the right-hand angle of the base, but not on the face here figured.{392}

In Fig. 334 the bulb is at the back of the left-hand angle, but this specimen is much thicker, and shows a considerable amount of skilful chipping on both faces. The angle at the bulb is rounded, while on the opposite side of the base it is somewhat curved downwards, so as to form a kind of barb. This obliquity of the face is more apparent in Fig. 335, though the barb is less pronounced. The flat face of the original flake is in this instance left nearly untouched, but the ridge side has been neatly wrought by removing a series of minute parallel flakes. This form occurs in Ireland,[1821]and has been regarded as rather a knife than an arrow-head. I have seen an arrow-head of much the same form found at Bournemouth.

Fig. 334.—Yorkshire Wolds.Fig. 335.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 334.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 335.—Yorkshire Wolds.

Fig. 336.—Bridlington.Fig. 337.—Bridlington.

Fig. 336.—Bridlington.

Fig. 337.—Bridlington.

The character of surface-flaking, observable in Figs. 335, 336 and 337, is almost peculiar to Yorkshire; and one of the most beautiful examples that I have seen of it is on the arrow-head engraved as Fig. 336, which was found on Northdale Farm, Grindale, Bridlington. The ripple-like flaking extends over nearly two-thirds of one face, the remainder of which is a flat portion of the original surface of the flake from which the arrow-head was made. On the other face a rather larger portion of the original surface is left, but the{393}surface-chipping, though, neat, is not of this regular character. The base is chipped on both faces, so as to leave a sharp edge with a delicate projecting barb at one angle only. The other angle is perfect, and has never been continued so as to form a barb. I have fragments of other arrow-heads of the same kind, from the same neighbourhood, and on some the fluting along the base is as regular as that on the side, and the two series of narrow shallow grooves “mitre” together with great accuracy. I have arrow-heads of the same general form and character from the neighbourhood of Icklingham, Suffolk; and in the Greenwell Collection is a small and elegant example from Lakenheath; but these are devoid of the parallel flaking, as are also some of the Yorkshire specimens. The late Mr. J. F. Lucas, however, had an arrow-head of this form, with the fluted chipping, from Middleton Moor, Derbyshire. Such regular fluting can, I think, only have been produced by pressure, probably with a pointed instrument of stag’s-horn, as before described. It comes nearer in character to the wonderful “ripple-mark flaking” on some of the Danish daggers or lance-heads, and of the Egyptian knives, than the workmanship of any other British specimens.

The same style of work is observable on another arrow-head, Fig. 337, found on the same farm, though it is not of equal delicacy. In this case, however, the flaking extends along both sides, and the two series meet in the middle of the face, where but a very small portion of the original surface of the flake is visible. The face not shown is chipped in the same manner, but less neatly. One of the angles at the base has unfortunately been broken off, but there is no appearance of there having been more than one barb.

Fig. 338.—Fimber

In some Egyptian arrow-heads from Abydos the surface seems to have been made smooth by grinding before the final flaking, just as was the case with the large blades mentioned on p.359.

Less finely executed arrow-heads, with a long projecting wing or barb at one of the angles of the base, are of common occurrence in Yorkshire and Suffolk. They usually retain a considerable portion of the surface of the flakes from which they have been manufactured. They are also found in Gloucestershire[1822]and Worcestershire.[1823]

An unusually well-finished specimen of this class is engraved as Fig. 338. It was found in the neighbourhood of Fimber, Yorkshire, and is in the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, who have kindly allowed me to figure it. It has been made from an external flake, as there is a portion of the crust of the flint visible on one of the faces, both of which are neatly chipped. It is barbed at both angles of the base, though the projection is far longer and more curved on the one side than on the other. In most instances, however, there can hardly be said to be any barb at all at one of the angles.

The form with the long single barb appears to be common on the{394}Derbyshire Moors. In one instance a rectangular notch has been worked in the curved side, with what object it is hard to say. This specimen, shown in Fig. 339, was found in a barrow at Hungry Bentley, Derbyshire, by the late Mr. J. F. Lucas. It had been buried together with a jet ornament and beads, subsequently described, in an urn containing burnt bones.

The single-winged form is of rare occurrence in Scotland, but what appears to be an arrow-head of this kind, from Caithness,[1824]has been engraved by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the cut is here, by their kindness, reproduced. Another from Urquhart and several from the Culbin Sands, Elginshire, and Glenluce Sands, Wigtownshire, are in the Edinburgh Museum. By some[1825]they are regarded as knives, with the tang for insertion in a handle. The same form is found in greater abundance in the North of Ireland. A somewhat analogous shape from Italy has been figured by Dr. C. Rosa.[1826]The type also occurs in Egypt.

Fig. 339.—Hungry Bentley.Fig. 340.—Caithness.

Fig. 339.—Hungry Bentley.

Fig. 340.—Caithness.

The varieties here engraved of single-barbed triangular arrow-headeds of flint are, I think, enough to establish them as a distinct class, though they have received but little attention among the antiquities of any other country than the United Kingdom, nor have they been observed in use among modern savages. Many of the early bone harpoons, as well as those of the Eskimos, are barbed along one side only; and some of the Persian iron arrow-heads, as well as those of the Mandingoes,[1827]and of some South American tribes, are also single-barbed. The same is the case with some arrow-heads of iron belonging to the Merovingian period.[1828]

Another form of triangular arrow-head is round instead of hollow at the base, and bears an affinity with the leaf-shaped rather than the barbed variety. One of these from the neighbourhood of{395}Lakenheath, in the Greenwell Collection, is shown in Fig. 341. It is surface-chipped on both faces.

The chisel-ended type in use among the ancient Egyptians has already been mentioned, and a specimen engraved in Fig. 272.

Another and much longer[1829]Egyptian form has now become known. It approaches a triangle in form, but the base is indented like the tail of many homocercal fishes. The specimens vary in length from 3 or 4 inches to as much as 7 or 8 inches, so that some appear to have been javelin-heads. The flaking is wonderfully delicate, and the edges, for the most part, minutely serrated. Mr. Spurrell has described and figured a triangular blade,41⁄2inches long, which much resembles the Egyptian form so far as general character is concerned. It was found in Cumberland,[1830]and is now in the British Museum. I have specimens from Abydos of a small, narrow, pointed and tanged arrow-head beautifully serrated at the sides. Other forms are figured by De Morgan.

Fig. 341.—Lakenheath.Fig. 342.—Urguhart.

Fig. 341.—Lakenheath.

Fig. 342.—Urguhart.

In Fig. 342 is shown what appears to be a large example of the chisel-ended type, which was found at Urquhart,[1831]Elgin, and is in the National Museum at Edinburgh. The edge is formed by the sharp side of a flake, and the sharp angles at the two sides of the arrow-head have been removed by chipping, probably to prevent their cutting the ligaments that attached it to the shaft. Another was found at the same place. A small specimen from Suffolk is in the Christy Collection, and I have a few from the same county. Canon Greenwell has obtained others from Yorkshire. It is questionable whether the specimens like Fig. 231 ought not also to have been classed as arrow-heads.

A similar form to Fig. 342 occurs in France. In one of the dolmens on the plateau of Thorus, near Poitiers, I found a small chisel-ended wrought flint, closely resembling the Egyptian arrow-heads; and I have observed in the collection of the late Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., others of the same form from chambered tumuli in Brittany. They have been discovered with ancient interments in other parts of France,[1832]{396}and I have specimens found on the surface of the soil near Pontlevoy, and given to me by the Abbé Bourgeois.

Baron Joseph de Baye has found them in considerable numbers in sepulchres of the Stone Age in the department of La Marne.[1833]One was found embedded in a human vertebra. They also occur in the Camp de Catenoy, Oise.

One from St. Clement’s, Jersey, is in the British Museum.

Some are recorded from Namur and other parts of Belgium.[1834]

Two arrow-heads of this class, found in Denmark, have been engraved by Madsen;[1835]one of them, to which I shall again refer, was still attached to a portion of its shaft.

Nilsson[1836]has also engraved some specimens of this form found in Scandinavia. A considerable number of them were found at Lindormabacken in Scania,[1837]some of which, by the kindness of Dr. Hans Hildebrand, are in my collection. I have also specimens from Denmark. There are others from the same countries in the Christy Collection, where is also an example of the same kind from Southern Italy. Several are engraved by Bellucci.[1838]

They occur also in Germany,[1839]Spain,[1840]and Portugal.[1841]Some crescent-shaped flints with sharp edges and a central tang, found on an island in the Lake of Varese,[1842]may possibly be arrow-heads. Forms of nearly the same kind have been found near Perugia.[1843]

In General Pitt Rivers’s collection are some Persian arrows with chisel-edged tips of iron. Crescent-like[1844]arrow-heads or bolt-heads, with a broad hollowed edge, were used in hunting in the Middle Ages, and some are preserved in museums. The Emperor Commodus[1845]is related to have shown his skill in archery by beheading the ostrich when at full speed with crescent-headed arrows.

There still remains to be noticed another form of triangular arrow-head, of which, however, I have never had the opportunity of seeing a British specimen. It has a notch on either side near the base, which is slightly hollowed, and in general form closely resembles a common type of North American arrow-heads. A specimen of this form, said to have been found at Hamden Hill,[1846]near Ilchester, has been engraved. Another, described as of much the same shape, was found in a barrow in Rookdale, Yorkshire.[1847]A broken specimen, with the base flat instead of hollowed, and found in Lanarkshire,[1848]has also been figured.

I am not, however, satisfied that this triangular form, with notches in the sides, is a really British type, though lance-heads notched in this manner have been found in France.

Both in Yorkshire and on the Wiltshire Downs arrow-heads have from time to time been found with their surface much abraded. There{397}seems little doubt that this wearing away has been effected during their sojourn in the gizzards of bustards.

Having now described the principal types of arrow-heads found in Britain, it will be well to notice some of the circumstances of their discovery in barrows and with interments, which throw light on the manners and the stage of civilization of those who used them.

I am not aware of any well-established discovery of flint arrow-heads in this country in association with iron weapons, and certainly such a mixture of materials would require careful sifting of evidence to establish it. And yet we can readily conceive conditions under which flint arrow-heads might be present in Saxon graves, either from their having been dug in barrows of an earlier period, in which case a flint arrow-head might already exist in the soil with which the grave was filled; or from the occupant of the tomb having carried an “elf-bolt” as a charm, or even as the flint for hisbriquet à feu. In the Frankish cemetery of Samson,[1849]near Namur, a broken flint arrow-head, almost of a lozenge form, accompanied a human skeleton with an iron sword and a lance; and another stemmed arrow-head (now in the Namur Museum) was found in the soil. At Sablonnières[1850](Aisne) flint arrow-heads were associated with Merovingian remains, and numerous instances of such associations have been adduced by the Baron de Baye.[1851]Even in modern times flint arrow-heads have served for this fire-producing purpose. The late Earl of Enniskillen informed me that with flint-guns and muskets in Ireland[1852]the gun-flint was frequently neither more nor less than an “elf-bolt” often but slightly modified in form.

The occurrence in Northern Italy of a flint arrow-head, in company with ten of the degenerate imitations of the gold coin of Philip II. of Macedon, known by the Germans as Regenbogen-schüsseln, recorded by Promis,[1853]may also have been accidental. I have in my own collection a stone celt which is said to have been found with a hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins of the tenth century in Ireland,[1854]but which can hardly be regarded as contemporaneous with them. There are, however, as I have already observed, many well-attested instances in which flint arrow-heads have been discovered in this and other countries in true association with weapons of bronze. Sir R. Colt Hoare records several such in his{398}examination of the barrows of South Wilts. In one near Woodyates[1855]a skeleton in a contracted position was buried with a bronze dagger and pin or awl, a jet button and pulley-like ornament, four arrow-heads (one of them engraved as Fig. 320), and “some pieces of flint, chipped and prepared for similar weapons; in another bowl-shaped barrow at Wilsford an interment of burnt bones was accompanied by a small bronze dagger, some whetstones, and instruments formed of stag’s horn, an arrow-head of flint, and another in an unfinished condition.”

It is stated in theArchæologia[1856]that with the well-known interment in the hollowed oak-trunk found in the Gristhorpe tumulus, near Scarborough, were “a brass and a flint spear-head and flint arrow-heads,” &c. The flints[1857]were, however, in this instance, merely flakes and the “brass spear-head” a bronze dagger.

In Borther Low,[1858]near Middleton, Derbyshire, Mr. Bateman found by the side of a skeleton a flint arrow-head, a pair of canine teeth of fox or dog, and a diminutive bronze celt; and in a barrow on Roundway Hill,[1859]North Wilts, a barbed flint arrow-head, like Fig. 327, was found close to the skull of a skeleton in a contracted posture, with a tanged bronze dagger at its left hand. Another bronze fragment, and a small plate of chlorite slate engraved as Fig. 355, were found at the same time. Similar plates, as well as flint arrow-heads, accompanied the skeleton at Tring Grove,[1860]Herts, and an interment at Cruden, Aberdeen.[1861]

A stemmed and barbed arrow-head of calcined flint was found in one of the urns containing burnt bones in the cemetery at Standlake,[1862]Oxfordshire. In another urn was a spiral finger-ring of bronze, the only fragment of metal brought to light during the excavations.

Flint arrow-heads have been so frequently found in barrows containing both burnt and unburnt interments, and in company with other implements of stone and with pottery, that it seems needless to adduce all the recorded instances of such discoveries. I give a few references below.[1863]{399}

The stemmed and barbed variety is of the most common occurrence in tumuli; but, as has already been shown, one leaf-shaped form appears to be, to some extent, peculiar to a class of long barrows, though the stemmed and barbed,[1864]lozenge and leaf-shaped forms have been found in the soil of the same grave mound.

In several instances, stemmed and barbed arrow-heads have been discovered with skeletons, accompanied also by the finely-chipped leaf-shaped knife-daggers of flint. In Green Low,[1865]Alsop Moor, Derbyshire, the dagger-blade lay behind the shoulders, and three arrow-heads behind the back; in one, as already mentioned, on Seamer Moor, near Scarborough,[1866]“two beautifully formed knives and spear-heads of flint,” and four flint celts, accompanied “beautifully formed arrow-heads of flint;” and the dagger (Fig. 264) appears to have been found in the same barrow as the arrow-heads, on Lambourn Down.

Occasionally arrow-heads are found in the “drinking-cups” accompanying the skeleton, as in Mouse Low,[1867]Staffordshire.

It remains for me to say a few words as to the points of difference and resemblance between the arrow-heads of Britain and those of other countries;[1868]and also as to the method of shafting in use in ancient times.

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