82
NOTES ON A BONE OBJECT FOUND AT
BRAINTREE, ESSEX, AND ON SOME SIMILAR
OBJECTS FOUND ELSEWHERE.
By FRANCIS W. READER.
[Read 6th March 1909.]
THE implement which forms the subject of this note was
dug up at Braintree in 1904, and was presented by the
Rev. J. W. Kenworthy to the Club's Museum.
At that time, I exhibited it at a meeting of the Club,1 and
explained that no similar object was then known to me, and that
enquiries at the British Museum had failed to procure any light
on the matter. Although it aroused a good deal of interest and
speculation, nothing was forthcoming that could be held to satis-
factorily explain its origin and use. Its further consideration
was, therefore, postponed, and I was asked to pursue the enquiry
further. During the time that has elapsed, I have kept up a
diligent search; and, although so far I have been unable to find
that anything concerning such objects has been published, my
observations have resulted in discovering one other Essex
specimen in the Museum at Colchester, three London examples
in the Guildhall, two from Mortlake in the collection of Dr.
Frank Corner, and five in the Museum of the Philosophical
Society at York.
These, together with the one from Braintree, make in all
twelve examples of objects which, judging by certain characteris-
tics, were apparently intended to serve the same purpose, what-
ever this may have been.
The best way of dealing with obscure objects of this nature
is to get together a good series of specimens, and also to compare
them with objects which offer some analogy and may be better
capable of explanation.
In this instance, the series I have as yet been able to
acquire is small, owing, possibly, to the object being somewhat
uncommon; but, nevertheless, the examples show a wide
distribution of its use, while several important variations of
detail are exhibited in the types coming from the different
localities.
1 Essex Naturalist, vol. xiii, p. 258.