Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1886-01-19
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THE ANTIQUITY OF THE SPOON.

The use of our common table utensil, tho
spoon, is widespread, and its invention, as 10
appears, dates from remote antiquity. Tho
form which we use at the present day
small oval bowl, provided with shank and
iattened handle-is not that which has been
universally adopted. If we examine into
the manners 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 primitive form of this
utensil was round and that the oval shape
was comparatively modern invention. But
such is not the case; for NJ Chantre, ON
MAILING some excavations ON the borders of
Lake Paladru, the waters Of which had been
partially drawn off, found, in q good state Of
preservation, wooden spoons, which in shape
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 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 Carlo
vingian epoch.
| The Neolithic people used oval spoons
made of baked clay several fragments Of
such have been found in the Seine, and M.
Perrault has also discovered q number in Q
Neolithic deposit in Burgundy. This gentle-
man found, in addition, Pot ladle. The
Tablespoons" he says, "are elongated, and
exactly resemble the wooden spoons in use
in our kitchens. The bowls vary from three
to fourteen nm. in depth" The portions
Il of handles which he collected were too frag-
mentary to allow it to be determined whether
or not they terminated in fattened handle
like 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 a genuine spoon made of rein
deer's horn has been discovered in the Grotto
. of Gourdan. 1t is oval, very long and quite
shallow. Its handle is very elegant being
covered with engraved figures. Unfortu-
nately, it is broken so that it is impossible
to say whether the handle was fattened.
? 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
g have used it for the purpose of extracting
|, the marrow from the long bones of large
q animals, or for eating the brains of the lat
tier, and for such uses the depth of bowl was
: of small consequence. NJ Petite has like
nj wise found other we'll characterized spoons
D lin deposits of the reindeer age. One of
, these, more delicate, narrower, deeper and
|, less elegant than the one just mentioned,
Ie was found in one of the lowermost strata.
At a still greater depth in the same deposit
y he came across a thick, rudely-made spoon,
y which appeared never TO have had any
n handle. 1t was made of rough-dressed bone,
u with polished edges, and its shape was oval
= Before the invention of such an implement
: as a spoon, man of the reindeer age en-
= ployed the spatula; and this is found at all
, | uePtIs LII tne pouiu'Nn dhu hoA.et dePositS.
d NJ. Garrigan discovered in the Grotto of
: Alliat a fragment of reindeer's horn followed
= out in its whole length and apparently de-
o signed for holding liquids and similar
8 utensils were found by NJ Piette at Gour-
u dan. These, however, were probably only
, temporarily used as spoons, the only genuine
IS spoons which have been discovered being
n those described above, and which served as
If models for Neolithic man, who afterward
III appeared on the scene.