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Ille etiam saxo corpus laniavit acuto;

and the Romans sacrificed pigs with flints. Several undated poniards in our collections are remarkable: for instance, the English daggers of black and white flint, rare in Scotland and unknown in Ireland; (a) the Iberian or Spanish blade in the Christy Collection, five and a half inches long, and found at Gibraltar; the Tizcuco blade of chalcedony, eight inches long (ibid.); (b) the Danish dagger in the Copenhagen Museum, thirteen and a half inches long (the rounded handle makes it a ‘marvel of workmanship’); and (c) the flint hatchet-sabre of the same collection, fifteen and a half inches in length. It is a mystery how the minute and delicate ornamentation, the even fluting like ripple marks, on these Danish flint-daggers was produced.

Fig. 58.—Fragments of Stone Knives from Shetland.

Fig. 59.—Flint Daggers.

a. Iberian or Spanish Blade (Christy Collection); b. Danish Flint Dagger; c. Danish Flint Hatchet Sabre.

A better substance than flint was found in the compact sandstone and in granitic serpentine, so called because that rock resembles a snake’s skin. It is easily worked, while it is harder than the common serpentine. A dagger or knife found beside a stone cist in Perthshire is described as a natural formation of mica-schiste.