GRAVEL AROUND WALDEBSLADE. 209
no doubt much of the work of Eolithic man is indistinguishable
from that of natural agencies, much on the other hand is very
different and often bears a striking resemblance to that on the
more makeshift of the tools of later periods. And one must
remember that the similarity of many of these implements to
the products of nature is only what one might expect since they
are man's first attempts, especially when one takes into consider-
ation the fact that most of these tools at least were of a temporary
nature, being made when occasion demanded, and thrown away
immediately after use.
One of the greatest obstacles to the general acceptance of
these chipped flints as the work of man has been the difficulty of
assigning any definite use to them, but in this connection one
must remember that the purposes for which many of the indisput-
able implements of later periods were intended are also quite
inexplicable.
Probably one of the first uses to which a flint was put, was
the scraping of the adherent flesh from the inside of a newly
removed skin. For this purpose the piece of flint employed
must have a regular edge, but as this condition is rarely met
with in nature, it was usually necessary to remove the irregular
portions by chipping. It is to this class that the majority of the
Eolithic implements belong. The "scraper," indeed, is one of
the commonest of prehistoric implements and is still to be
counted among the domestic appliances of certain savage
races.
A good example of a scraper is shewn in fig. 1. It is a
tabular piece of flint with the edge trimmed or bevelled by
chipping. The dotted parts of the drawing represent the
original crust of the flint, and the lined portions, the fractured
surfaces : of the latter only the small chippings shewn in the
side views are artificial. The chipping is of the same deep red-
brown and opaque colour as the rest of the outside of the
flint.
Another type of scraper is represented by fig. 2. The
working in this case is translucent and, although much stained,
is therefore fresh in appearance when compared with the body of
the flint. The knob at the end was probably used as a handle.
The fashioning of a scraper from a knobbed piece of flint is
peculiar to Eolithic man,