Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-05
The AntlqnIty Of the Spoon.

The use of our common table utensil,
the spoon, is widespread, and its inven-
ton, as it appears, dates from remote
antiquity. The form which we use at
the present day-a small oval bowl pro-
vided with a shank and fiattened handle
is not that which has been universally
adopted. If we examine into the man
ners and customs of some of the people
less civilized than we-the Kabyles, for
example-we shall find that they use
round wooden spoon. The Romans
also used round spoon, which was
made of copper. We might be led, from
the latter fact, to infer that the primi-
tive form of this utensil was round, and
that the oval shape was a cOmpara-
lively modern invention. But such is
not the case; for NJ. Chantre, in making
some excavations on the borders Of
Lake Paladru, the waters of which had
been partially drawn of, found, in good
state of preservation, wooden spoons
which in shape were nearly like those
in use at the present day, the only diff
ference being in - form of the handle,
which was no wider than the shank.
The lacustrine station where these were
found dates back to the ninth century,
and we therefore have evidence that
oval spoons were already in use during
the Carlovingian epoch. The Neolithic
peoples used oval spoons made of baked
clay; several fragments of such have
been found in the Seine, and NJ. Per-
rault has also discovered number in a
Neolithic deposit in Burgundy. This
gentleman found, in addition, pot
ladle. "The table spoons" Says he,
"are elongated and exactly resemble
the wooden spoons in use in our
kitchens. Their bowls vary from three
to fourteen millimeters in depth" The
portions of handles which he collected
were too fragmentary to allow it to be
determined whether or not they termi-
mated in flattened handle like the
modern forms.
1t might be pertinent to inquire to
what possible use a spoon could have
been put in the Reindeer Age, when
raw meat was eaten, and when skin
bottles were the only water vessels.
Yet genuine spoon made of reindeer's 5
horn has been discovered in the Grotto
of GOurdan. II is oval, very long, and
quite shallow. It's handle is very ele-
giant, being covered with engraved
figures. Unfortunately II is broken so
that it is impossible to say whether the
handle was flattened. The slight depth
Of the spoon should not surprise us, for
the men who made it knew neither
soups nor sauces, and they could only
have used it for the purpose of extract
ing the marrow from the long bones OF
large animals, or for eating the brains
of the latter, and for such uses depth OF
bowl was of small consequence. M.
Petite has likewise found other well
characterized spoons in deposits OF the
Reindeer Age. One Of these, more del
icate, narrower, deeper and less ele'
giant than the one just mentioned, was
found in one of the lowermOst strata,
At a still greater depth in the same de-
post ne came across a thick rudely
made spoon, which appeared never tC
have had any handle. 1t was made oi
rough dressed bone, with polished
edges, and its shape was oval. Before
the invention of such an implement as g
spoon, man of the Reindeer Age EN-.
ployed the spatula; and this is found al
all depths in the Gourdan and Lortet
deposits. Mr. Garrigan discovered in
the Grotto of Alliat a fragment of rein.
deer's horn followed out in its whole
length, and apparently designed fol
holding liquids; and similar utensils