Page 120 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

GREAT LANGDALE AXES. THE TWO UPPER SPECIMENS ARE THE FIN­
ISHED ARTICLES, FOUND AT A SETTLEMENT CLOSE BY; THE LOWER AX
WAS FOUND AT THE “FACTORY” SITE ITSELF. IT IS UNPOLISHED AND
IS PROBABLY A REJECT.

the right size and quality, the youngsters sit around the chipping­

floors, watching fascinated as their fathers turn the chosen rocks
against the anvil stones, shrewdly striking off flake after flake to
this side and to that. With wide eyes they see the axes take

shape, first as roughly rectangular blanks, and then fined down
at the edges and narrowed at the butt, until finally the cutting

edge is shaped with meticulous taps and much examination of
the natural grain of the rock. Then the finished ax, slim and a
foot or more in length, will be tested, a flake or two struck off

from the sides to improve the balance, and it will be laid with
the others in the growing pile, to be carried down in the eve­
ning to the tents in the valley. It is work which holds the young­

sters absorbed, and the older ones will imitate the grownups,
striking a rejected core with a pebble until a misplaced blow
causes them to howl and suck their thumbs, while the men look

up and grin at their discomfiture.