Early Man in the District of Huddersfield
By James A. Petch

APPENDIX

THE NATURE AND MAKING OF GRAVING TOOLS FOUND IN THE HUDDERSFIELD DISTRICT
BY FRANCIS BUCKLEY

The exact type of graving tool found on a site goes far to determine the character of that site. However, until 1920 these tools had not been recognized as occurring in this district. Though numerous specimens had been picked up before that date, they were left lying among the debris in the general collections of waste flint and chippings in the various local museums.

Figure 43. Broad Blade Pygmies, Badger Slacks, Site 2.
No. 21 Combined Angle and Single-blow Graver

Invented by later Cave Man, the graver was used by him to make his carvings on bone and ivory. Other uses to which this tool was probably put, e.g., removing splinters of bone to make bone pins, were such as required a chisel – or gouge-shaped implement. In Cave times various types of graver were made and the reader is referred to Burkitt’s Prehistory for further history thereof.

The graver is fashioned from a medium or thick blade (See Figure 44 below). In order to be included in the graver classes it must have received at least one "graver-blow." This means that the blade was propped up on end and the graver-blow was then delivered downwards on to the top or on to the point of the blade. The result was to displace in the form of a small slice the whole or part of one of the original sides of the blade, leaving a slightly concave surface called the "graver-scar." This graver-scar had always a small hollow or depression (the "bulbar cavity" or "negative cone of percussion") just where the graver-blow had fallen. The cutting edge of the graver was the sharp edge formed on one side by the graver-scar, on the other side by the top or opposite side of the blade; the latter is known as the "backing-edge" of the graver.

Figure 44. Diagram illustrating the making of Angle-gravers

If the blade was especially stout, more than one grave-blow might be necessary to prepare a straight graver-edge such as would be required in a chisel (the "screw-driver" type). If a "gouge" type graver was to be made, more than one blow was always necessary in order to produce a convex working edge. In this latter case, the blows were not delivered in a parallel direction but on slightly divergent planes.

The chief practical distinction between gravers is based on whether they were fashioned so as to serve as chisels with a straight working edge, or whether they were given a curved working edge so as to serve as gouges. Other distinctions may however be noted, depending on the method employed to obtain a sharp cutting edge of either type. Thus the "backing-edge" might be unprepared by artificial processes, in this case being the opposite side of a naturally pointed blade or the flat top of a broken blade. These are known as "single-blow" gravers. In other cases the backing-edge may have been artificially made, sometimes by means of removing with a second graver-blow the opposite natural side of the blade. The result is that one graver-scar is backed against another graver-scar, this type being the "true" graver. Very often the backing-edge was artificially produced by chipping or trimming the natural top or opposite side of the blade, this method producing the "angle" graver. In detail, the method of manufacturing this last type is as follows. First the blade is trimmed by chipping along the top, after which it resembles an ordinary end scraper on blade, save that the end is always straight or concave, never rounded or convex. Next the graver-blow is delivered generally at the left-hand end of the trimmed edge. The blow removes a small piece of the trimmed backing-edge and a slice off the left-hand side of the blade. The graver is then ready for use and when use has blunted the edge, another graver-blow will give a new edge to the tool. This resharpening can go on until the backing-edge is exhausted.

Locally, the true graver is very scarce. The angle graver is fairly common but by no means generally or evenly distributed. The single-blow graver is more widely distributed but never very plentiful. Screw-driver types employed as chisels are more common locally than gouge types, though the latter do occur.

In Tardenois times a very specialized form of small graver was made. In the present state of our knowledge it seems to be a tool typical of the true Tardenois industry, having been first made in Mas d’Azil times, abundantly in Tardenois times and at no other period. It has therefore special value as evidence of the period of flint sites on which it is found. In L’Anthropologie, Vol. XXXI (1921), p. 350, the Abbé H. Breuil describes this tool, styling it as the “micro-graver” and in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia, Vol. III. (1922), p. 542, it described and called a "beaked (graver-like) tool," as follows:-

"In normal cases a small blade is notched by pressure at the top right-hand shoulder, and the distinctive beak is thus formed at the apex. The blade is then turned over and a flake is removed obliquely by pressure from behind the beak, shearing away part of the edge opposite the beak, and producing in its place a finer and straighter cutting-edge. The marks of usage invariably appear along this new attenuated edge, immediately opposite the notch, and it is though that the notch served as a finger-grip (surface d’accommodation) to enable strong pressure to be brought to bear behind the cutting-edge. The implement could be used for graving or any other fine chisel work. And it is suggested tentatively that it may have been derived from the screw-driver type of graver and may have superseded it for graving purposes in this particular district. Like nearly all the other microlithic implements, some very minute examples of beaked tools occur."

It remains to point out that graving tools of one sort or another have been found on all the principal local workshop sites. Whilst however single-blow gravers and gouge-gravers of the older type probably occur throughout the series, the angle-graver and the micro-graver rarely occur abundantly on the same workshop floor. This fact becomes important for tracing the gradual development of the pygmy industry locally, for the small angle-graver is typical of Mas d’Azil times and the micro-graver of the true Tardenois industry. So far as is at present known, there is an abundance of angle-gravers on March Hill, a few near Windy Hill; elsewhere it has only been found occasionally and sometimes away from any workshop site. The micro-graver is generally found in fair numbers on all the rest of our workshop sites.

It is only fair to say that some Continental authorities regard the micro-graver not as a graving tool at all but rather as a boring tool with a point sharpened graver-wise. The local evidence however still points to the view stated above.

THE MAKING OF A COMBINED ANGLE-AND-SINGLE-BLOW GRAVER
The specimen on which the following description is based was excavated at Badger Slacks, site 2, and is shown in Figure 43, No.21. The complete tool, a combined angle-and-single-blow graver is shown in Figure 44, No. 4 (See Figure 44 above). This series of Figures is intended to show the steps taken in the making of the tool. No. 1 shows the original blade of chert with no secondary chipping done. No. 2 the same blade after the “backing edge” B-B has been made by chipping the top. No. 3. In this the "graver blow" has now been delivered in the direction of the arrow, cutting from No. 2 the “slice” No. 3a, and leaving the tool for the moment in the form of No.3. No. 3 is now a completely formed angle-graver, the cutting edge of which is seen in No. 5 along the line marked B-M.; one side of this chisel is the “backing-edge” B-B., the other side is the "graver-scar" B-M-C-C. seen in No.5. The "graver-slice" No. 3a was excavated as well as the complete tool; both are in the Museum. But the workman was not content with one graver edge; he had a good opportunity of turning the base of his tool (as seen in No. 3) into a single-blow graver as well (No. 4). So by another graver-blow, delivered in the direction of the arrow in No. 4, he removed another "graver-slice" No. 4a, and left the tool as it was found in 1923. there is now also a single-blow graver edge at C, the cutting edge is seen in Nos. 5 and 6 and is marked C-C. One side of this chisel is the base (toward C-C) of the "graver-scar" B-M-C-C. of the angle-graver, the other side is the second "graver-scar" D-C-C. seen in No. 6. For the purpose of this illustration, the detail of the tool have been simplified, e.g., the slice No. 4a was in fact removed by a series of blows and not by one blow; and the unworked parts of the original blade No. 1 are shown throughout in black. This is the only instance of an angle-graver being found with its own "graver-slice."

Figure 45. Diagram illustrating the making of Micro-gravers

THE MAKING OF A MICRO GRAVER
This specimen of a micro-graver was found in 1922 by Dr. G. B. Buckley, M.C., at Cupwith Hill, and presented to the Museum. The object and the making of the micro-graver are still the subject of controversy. The following suggestions are offered after experimental work and after examination of hundreds of local specimens. A narrow pointed blade was selected with a stout dorsal ridge, Figure 45, No. 1 (See Figure 45 above). A notch was then made at N, leaving the blade as seen in No. 2. It is thought that this blade was then hammered into a block of wood until the point of the blade was firmly fixed (No. 3). A blow was then directed on to the notch more of less in the direction of the arrow shown in No. 3 with the result (No. 4) that a fragment of the original point of the blade remained embedded in the wood, whilst the completed tool (No. 4 front and No. 5 back) was detached from the point of the blade. It is thought that the cutting edge of the tool was along the line A-A. No. 6 is an enlargement of part of this tool, showing the scaling (S) on the cutting edge A-A due to usage. The points which were embedded in the wood were probably smashed by the graver blow. At any rate not a single specimen has yet been found locally.

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