The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-03-04
The Antiquity Of the Spoon.

The use of our common table uten-
Gil, the spoon, is widespread, and its
invention, as it appears. dates from
remote Antiquity. The form which !
we use at the present day-a small,
oval bowl, provided with shank and |
fattened handle-is not that which
has been universally adopted. II we
examine into the manners ard GUS
toms OF some ofthe people less civilized
than we-the Kabyles for example
we shall find that they use a round
wooden spoon. The Romans also
used d round spoon, which was made
OF copper. We might be led, from
the latter fact. to infer That the prim-
tive lorm OF this utensil was round,
and that the oval shape was a COM
paIative!y modern invention. But
such is not the case, fer NJ. Chantfe,
in making some excavations on the
border OF Lake Paladru, the waters
of which had been partially drawn
of, found, in good state of preserva-
ton, WOODEN spoons. which in sh ape
were nearly like those in use at the
present day, the only difference being
In the form of the handle, which was
no wider than the shank. The Lacu~
strine 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
| GarloVinpian eDoch.
The Neolithic people used oval
spoons made of baked clay; several
fragments OF such have been found
in the Seine, andM PerrauIt has also
discovered q number in a Neolithlo
deposit in Burgundy. This gentle
man found, in addition, pot ladle.
''The tablespoons" be lays. care
elongated, and exactly resemble the
wooden spoons in use ia our Kitchens.
Their bowls vary from 8 to "A nm.
in depth.'' Phe portions of handles
which he collected were too fragmer :
tary to allow it to be determined
whether or not they terminated in a
hattened handle like the modern
forms.
II might be pertinent to inquire to
what possible use q spoon could have
been put in the Reindeer Age, when
raw meat was eaten, and when skin
bottles were the only water vessels.
Yet a genuine spoon, made Of rein
deer's horn, has been discovered ia
the Grotto OF Gourdsn. 1t is oval,
very long, and quite shallow. It's
handle is very elegant, being covered
with engraved figures. Unfortu-
nately it is broken so that it is Ina.
possible to say whether the handle
was aattened. Toe slight depth OIL
spoon should not surprise u.s.. tUr the
men who made it knew neither soups
nor sauce, and they could only have
used it for the purpose of extracting
the marrow from the long bones o.
large animals, or for eating the
brains of the latter, and for such uses
the depth of the bowl was of small
cons5 quence. III. Petite has likewise
found other we'll characterized spoons
ia deposits of the Reindeer Age
One OF these more delicate, narrower
deeper, and less elegant than the ont
just mentioned, was found in one o
the lowermost strata. at a still
greater depth in the same deposit ht
came across q thick rudely.msdt
/ spoon which appeared never to have
had any handle, 1t was made o
; rough-dressed bone, with polished
edges, and its shape was oval. Be-
! ! fore the invention OF such an nipple
ment as spoan, man of tbs Rein
deer Age employed the spiiula; anC
this "a found at all deptos 10 thi
Gourdan and Lorltt deposits. IL
Garrigan discovered IN the GrOt;o O
Alliat q fragment OF reindeer's horl
followed out in its whole length. ant
apparently designed for hoidini
liquids: and similar utensils Wer,
I. found by N. Petite at Gourdan
These, however, were probably only
temporarily ussd in spoons whicl
have been discovered icing those dc
scrihed above. and which served u
/ models for Neolitbic man who after
wQr1 anneared OD fac aosrp