archaeologists is that of finding a criterion which will enable them to
distinguish the most primitive products of human skill from similar
objects whose form is due to the forces of nature. It is often
impossible to say precisely whether a rough piece of flint is to be
regarded as a weapon (except so far as it could be used as a missile) or
merely as a fragment of rock. Passing over these doubtful cases, we come
first to indubitable examples of weapons deliberately fashioned in stone
for offensive purposes. The use of stone weapons appears to have been
universally characteristic of the earliest races of mankind, as it is
still distinctive of those savage races which are most nearly allied to
primitive man. These weapons were naturally simple in form and
structure. The earliest examples (Palaeolithic) found in river-drift
gravel in various parts of Europe are merely chipped flints, celts, &c.
Later on we find polished implements (Neolithic) progressively more
elaborate in design and workmanship, such as socketed stones with wooden
handles and knives or daggers of flaked flint with handles. Besides
flint the commonest materials are diorite, greenstone, serpentine and
indurated clay-slate; there are also weapons of horn and bone (daggers
and spear-heads). Spear-heads and arrow-points (leaf-shaped,
lozenge-shaped, tanged and triangular) were chipped in flint with such
skill as to be little inferior to their metal successors. They have
accurately flaked barbs and tangs, and in some cases their edges are
minutely chipped. The heads appear to have been fastened to the shafts
by vegetable fibre and bitumen. Knife-daggers of flint, though
practically of one single type, exhibit much variety of form. They vary
in size also, but seldom exceed 12 in. in length. They are sometimes
obtuse-edged like a scraping-tool, sometimes delicately chipped to a
straight edge, while the flakes are so regularly removed from the convex
part of the blade as to give a wavy surface, and the corners of the
handle are delicately crimped. The daggers attain their highest
perfection in the short, leaf-shaped form,--the precursor of the
leaf-shaped sword which is peculiarly characteristic of the Bronze
Age,--and the curved knives found especially in Great Britain and
Russia, and also in Egypt. The precise object of the sharpening of both
convex and concave edges in the curved variety is not clear. There have
also been found sling-stones, and, in Scotland and Ireland, balls of
stone with their "surfaces divided into a number of more or less
projecting circles with channels between them." These latter, Sir John
Evans suggests, were attached to a thong which passed through the
surface channels, and used like the _bolas_ of South America. The weapon
could thus deal a blow at close quarters, or could be thrown so as to
entangle the limbs of an enemy. Of defensive armour of stone there is
none. The only approximation is to be found in the small rectangular
plates of slate, &c., perforated with holes at the corners, which are
supposed to have been bound on to the arm to protect it from the recoil
of the bow-string. Similar wristlets or bracers are in use among the
Eskimos (of bone) and in India (of ivory). These plates measure
generally about 4 in. by 1-1/2 in.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Leaf-shaped Bronze Sword.]