STONE AGE TOOLS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIV, Issue 22723, 26 October 1943, Page 4

STONE AGE TOOLS

Relation To Sculpture EXHIBIT AT PUBLIC LIBRARY An interesting collection of ancient stone tools is on exhibition at the Timaru Public Library. This exhibit has been selected bv Mr H. S. McCully, of Peel Forest, from his collection of stone tools, and he has arranged the display for the purpose of showing the relationship of stone tool manufacture to the art of sculpture. “When the block of rubble to mark the spot where the Canterbury pilgrims landed at Lyttelton was unveiled. it was noticed that a portion of the chipped stone resembled a human face," stated Mr McCully. “Observed in any setting, the desire to improve an outline resembling the human face mav be regarded as an impulse natural to craftsmen of any period,” continued Mr McCully. “Some of the tools on view might be accepted as attempts at sculpture and not merely tools. The variety in facial features and expression ranged in diversity from grave to gay, and it requires but little imagination to detect in them likenesses to living people.” Mr McCully pointed out that the term "transition stage” was used to denote the passage of a tool from a lower to a higher form and was more frequently met with in works on paleolithic than neolithic types of stone tools. The technique of stone tool manufacture was governed by the lines of fracture inherent in the material used. Many tools of the paleolithic type are multiple edged, depending on the type and position of such edges, and edge tvne was the only way in which useful classification could be made. Adze making bv the Maori reached a high stage of development in tool making. The highest form of edge was ground, while others were groundchipped and others chipped.