The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-02-12
The Antiquity of the Spoon.


The use Of our common table utensil, the
spoon, is widespread, and its invention, as
it appears, dates from remote antiquity.
The form which we use at the present day
Ia small oval bowl provided with shank
aud fiattened HANDLES not that which
has been universally adopted. If We ex-
anime into the manners and customs Of
some of the people less civilized than we
the Kabyles, for example-wc 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 facts, to infer that the
primitive form Of this uteusil was round.
aud that the oval shape was a compara-
lively modern invention. But such is not
the ease, for NJ. Chantre, in making some
excavations on the borders Of Lake Pala-
dru, the waters Of which had been partial
" drawn of, found, in good state Of pre-
servatiou, wooden spoons, which, in shape,
we're nearly like those 10 use at the pres
ent day, the only difference being in the
form Of the handle, which was no wider
than the shank. The lacustrine station
where these were found dates back to the
ninth century, aud we, therefore, have
evidence that oval spoons were already in
use during the Carlovingian epoch. The
Neolithie people used oval spoons made Of
baked clay. Several fragments of such
have been found in the Seine, and Nj.
Perrault has also discovered number in
a Neolithic deposit in Burgundy. This
gentleman found, 10 addition, pot ladle.
"The tablespoons, says be, "are elongated
aud exactly resemble the wooden spoons
10 use in our kitchens Their bowls vary
from three 70 fourteen millimetres in
depth The portions Of handles which
he collected were too fragmentary to allow
il TO be determined whether or not they
terminated in iatteued handle, ike the
modern forms. 1t might be pertinent to
inquire to what possible use spoon could
have been put in the reindeer age, when
raw meat was eaten, and when skin bottles
were the only water vessels. Yet, gen.
uine spoon made of RENDERS horn has
been discovered in the Grotto Of Gourdau.
il is oval, very long aud quite shallow. Its
handle is very elegant, being covered with
engraved figures, Unfortunately it is
broken 50 that it is impossible to say
whether the handle was Aattened. The
slight depth of the spoon should not sur
prise US, for the men who made it knew
neither soups nor sauces, and they could
only have used il for the purpose of ex-
tracing 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. NJ Plette
has likewise found other well characterized
spoons in deposits of the reindeer age.
One of these, more delicate, narrower,
deeper aud less elegant than the one just
mentioned, was found in the lowermost
strata. At a still greater depth in the
same deposit, he came across thick, rude
ly-made spoon, which appeared never to
have had any handle. Il was made Of
rough.dressed bone, with polished edges,
and its shape was oval. Before the in
vention of such an implement as spoon,
man of the reindeer age employed the
spatula, and this is found at all depths in
the Gourdan aud Lcrtet deposits. NJ.
Garrigan discovered in the Grotto of Al
liat fragment of reindeer's horn, followed
out in its whole length, and apparently
designed for holding liquids; and similar
utensils were found by NJ. Plette at Gour-
dan. These, however, were probably only
temporarily used as spoons, the only gen
uine spoons which have been discovered
being those described above, and which
served as models for Neolithic man, who
afterwards appeared on the scene.