Archaeological Finds on Lamma Island
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been present before the polishing use, for it disappears in proportion to the finish of a surface: perhaps it is manganese oxide drawn from the stone by the action of some vegetative growth once adhering to it.
This D piece presents too some of the features of the preceding speci- mens: the thickening towards the back, the "edge" apparently produced by use rather than fashioned for cutting: yet this implement seems to have been hacked and has old gaps on the edge and deep scratches on the faces. The edge follows for the most part the line of a semi-circle whose centre lies well in on the face, but the curve is continued beyond in unconformity. The whole is a semi-circular segment extended irregularly beyond the diameter towards the back, i.e. presumably the grip part.
It is hard to
conceive what the use of this implement could be: it is not well enough made to rank as a ceremonial weapon (axe)-its material is too soft for a knife or a scraper--the edge seems to indicate something other than a plate or palette-the form is hard to explain unless in some very regular, mechanical movement that would seem to go beyond the aptitude of the mere hand.
バ
E
5. cms.
E. Rough stone blank of "hache courte" type, possibly here, as sharpener. Mr. Schofield's specimen very similar but nearer still to "hache courte" in size and proportions.
The piece E in preparation shows a roughly shaped edge to which the very thick body has been flaked down. It seems to be of a harder stone than the finer specimen probably an ash, but intended to serve the same use. The shape agrees very closely in the breadth from edge to back with the former one's, yet there is a wider divergence from the circular form the central part seems to have almost the same curvature, but the extremities are strongly contracted and part of the curve to one side is flattened. Had we not the other better specimen, we should have seen some kind of mesolithic form here. Actually, this is a very ungainly piece, for it is thicker towards the edge than towards the hand-grip. Mr. Schofield has found elsewhere a piece very similar to this in all but
July 1935.
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