This book is included in the Self Reliance Firearms & Weaponry section.
Notice In this memoir Mr. Skertchly seems to have clearly established the circumstance that the manufacture of flint implements has been continuously carried on from what geologists have called Neolithic times down to the present day, for gun-flints are still manufactured at Erandon for the African market, and among some uncivilised tribes stone weapons are still in use, while by the Digger Indians of California stone arrow heads are made, though some years ago they preferred to make them from the thick bottoms of old porter bottles, a fact for which I am indebted to the personal observation of Mr. John Arthur Phillips. Mr. Skertchly mentions that at Brandon the implements were the work of the inhabitants of our country before the Aryan race migrated hither, and this is likely to have generally been the case, for it is known that the Aryan races were acquainted with metals and used armour. It is, however, on record that in the Shetland islands stone knives were made and used down to quite a late period. If it be difficult or impossible to guess with any approach to accuracy at the time when Neolithic man began to work in our area, it is still more difficult to estimate the years that have elapsed between the Paleolithic and Neolithic epochs. That man lived in this region in interglacial times I have no doubt, and I also believe it to be most probable that he even inhabited our region in pre-glacial times, and perhaps never fairly left it, but only retired south during the general increase of cold, and the gradual advance of the glaciers, and still survived in what is now the south of England. On this subject, however, Mr. Skertchly has had no occasion to enter in the present memoir. Andrew C. Hamsay. Director General. Notice The following Memoir, by Mr. Skertchly, gives an exhaustive and trustworthy account of an industry which seems to have been carried on at Brandon, and in its immediate neighbourhood, from a very remote period. Though formerly of considerable importance, the art has now become nearly obsolete in consequence of the improvements that have taken place in the construction of fire-arms, in the earlier history of which the present work may be considered to form an interesting chapter. It is, also, intended to serve as an explanation of a collection of manufactured flints which has been brought together, through the aid of Mr. Skertchly, for the Museum of Practical Geology, each specimen being described and figured in the following pages. In his treatment of the more obscure ethnological and archaeological (questions, the opinions of the Author are entitled to every consideration. The practical acquaintance which he has acquired of flint-knapping and working, his close study of the different ways in which flint can be broken, coupled with his intimate knowledge of the geological structure of the country around Brandon, as well as of the deposits in which Paleolithic implements have been found, necessarily impart additional weight and value to his arguments with regard to the geological age of Paleolithic man; and also to his endeavours to trace a connexion between Neolithic art and the modern flint manufacture as practised by the Brandon knappers of the present day. The specimens of flints, and the tools and appliances used in their manufacture, have been drawn, on the wood, by Mr. Redaway, from the objects themselves, and have been engraved by Mr. Shepherd. H. W. Bristow, Senior Director. Geological Survey Office, 28, Jermyu Street, London, S.W., 23rd August 1878. Preface In this work the manufacture of gun and other flints as carried on at Brandon, is described in greater detail than has before been attempted; and the value of the study of this branch of industry to geologists is pointed out. The volume is especially descriptive of a very complete series of specimens made under my supervision for the Museum of Practical Geology by Mr. W. J. Southwell, to whom my best thanks are due, not merely for the care he bestowed upon the specimens, but for the unflagging patience with which he imparted to me day by day most of the information herein contained concerning his craft. So far as the Brandon manufacture is concerned, I may claim to have produced a work as free as possible from errors of description ; for most of it was written in the workshop, and all has been revised by my unwearied flint-knapper. Similar assistance has been rendered by stone-diggers in that branch of the work which relates to their craft. So far I have been merely the mouth-piece of the flint-workers, but have verified every part of the description by learning the business practically. That the Brandon gun-flint manufacture is a direct descendant of the Neolithic age seems to me certain from a comparison, 1, of old " scrapers " with old strike-a-lights, 2, of old strike-a-lights with modern ones, 3, of strike-a- lights with old English or modern French gun-flints. It is further shown that in one nearly obsolete tool we probably have an iron replica of a Neolithic flaking-hammer, and that some of the curious, small, bored Celts answer in every point to flaking hammers and to nothing else. The observations upon the kind of hammer used, the character of the blows given, and the resulting nature of the fracture produced are original, and founded upon a close study of the different modes in which flint can be broken. The illustrations are nearly all very faithful copies of particular specimens. Owing to my not being able to superintend the drawing, some of the gun-flints are slightly faulty, the trimmed heels being omitted. If it be remembered that all but double-edged flints have a trimmed heel, no error can arise in naming the flints. The English hammer has suffered perfection. It is (as needs must be) a very battered specimen, but the kindly artist has feelingly restored its lost beauties, and unwittingly robbed it of its more important peculiarities. It is well also to remark that the Doubles in this collection are all rather too large, and hence too much like the Singles. This will be remedied if this work attains to a second edition. To Mr. H. W. Bristow, E.U.S., Director of the Geological Survey of England, my best thanks are due for the verification of many of the references, and much kind assistance in many ways. Sydney B. J. Skertchly. Brandon, Eebruary 28th, 1876. Table of Contents Introductory. Literature of the subject.—Use of pyrites.—Development of Fire-arms.—Efficiency of gun-flints Geological Position of the Flints. Lingheath.—Santon Downham.—Broomhill.—Shaker's Lodge.—Elm's Plantation.—Norwich.—Ickhngham. — Elvedon. — Elvedon Lodge. — Thetford.—Beer Head Tools. Stone-digger's picks, etc.—Quartering, Flaking, and Knapping Hammers.—Block and Stake.—Flaking candlestick Method of Digging Flint. Localities chosen.— Sinking the shafts.—Stages.—Burrows.—Miner's Laws.— Plans of Mines.—Raising the stone.—Prices of Flint.—Produce Manufacture of Gun-Flints. Drying.— Quartering.—Flaking.— Knapping.— Counting. —Building Flints.—Marked Flints.—Pitted Flints. —Strike-a-Lights.—French gun-flints Antiquity and Development of the Flint Trade at Brandon. Brandon celebrated for its flint from Paleolithic times.—The Neolithic and Modern mines very similar.— The flaking hammer a relic of the Stone Age.—Comparative skill of ancient and modern knappers.— Strike-a- Lights.—Neolithic Flakes Description of Specimens. Flint.—Tools.—Gun-flints.—Flint Locks, etc.— Waste.—Miscellaneous Age of Paleolithic Man. Sketch of the surface geology of Brandon.—Position of the implement beds below the Chalky Boulder Clay.—Descriptions of implements. Subsequent notes On the Connexion between Neolithic Art and the Gunflint Trade. Grime's Graves and Lingheath pits, their similarities and differences.— Similar tools used by the Neolithic and modern knappers.— Similar implements made by the two people.—Comparison between the Neolithic, modern English, and modern French knappers.—The Brandon industry a relic of the Stone Age End of Preview
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