The Omaha guide., 1938-05-21
FORK Is NEWCOMER
IN EATING TOOLS
Spoon, Knife Were First
Among Food Utensils.

Washington, D. c. - Spoons that
scooped up walrus strew from a
common pot, and knives tett sliced
off mouthfuls of raw blubber for
hungry Eskimos 1000 years a 6 0
were found in Alaska this summer
by a joint expedition of the National
Geographic society and the Smith
sonian institution.
These ancient utensils give a
vivid picture Of the life Of ten CEN
turtles ago, but they alse are re-
minders that although table man.
ners have changed, eating nipple
ments Of today are essentially the
same as in prehistoric times" says
the National Geographic society.
THE spoon is as old as man
himself, or at least, as a wit re.
marked, as old as soup, while the
knife dates back equally far. Even
the fork, though only a few hundred
years ola in its present form, de-
veloped from skewers or broiling
sticks, which we're stuck in the
ashes with fish 'spitted' on them
for cooking. The first forks had
only a single prong.
First Spoons We're Shells.
1.-THE prehistoric Eskimo spoons
found in Alaska are of wood. ivory
or the horns or bones of caribou.
The knives have wooden, ivory or
bone handles with slate blades
ground to a sharpness comparable
to the table knife of today.
1.-The earliest spoons, however.
probably clam or oyster shells.
or small gourds. Later someone
thought of inserting the shell or
Eourd in the split enc Of a stick.
thus making a handle.
THE spoon, knife and many other
utensils also had q common origin
in the wooden throwing board used
by some primitive peoples for gain
ing greater leverage in throwing a
spear. Flat and slightly followed,
the throwing board was used also
for a fre-making tool, for catching
blood from a slain animal, and had
a sharpened edge for use as u
skinning knife or a weapon. 1t
could be used as a combined knife.
spoon and platter.
THE spoon served from earliest
times not only for eating soups,
stews, berries and other foods not
easily picked up with the fingers,
but also as a record Of family and
tribal %genealogy. All over the world
primitive man carved tribal orna-
ments and totems of his ancestors
many of them mythieal-on the
handles of his spoons. often with
amazing artistry and extremely del.
ieate detail.
spoons of later date, too. had
deliberately carved handles, for ex-
ample the Apostle spoons in sets
Of 10, each bearing the figure of a
different one Of the II Apostles, and
the thirteenth the figure of Christ.
They were popular as gifts to new
bern babies. Some ancient spoon
handles had sharp points for pune
turing eggs.
spoons have been made of many
materials, wood, ivory, stone, porce-
lain, even the horns Of mountain
sheep, steamed until they could be
bent into an open spoon shape. Some.
American Indians had spoons OF
cells of basketry sewn into spoon
shape. but used of course only for
Try foods.
Carried Own Tools.
I'm the Thirteenth century a guest
used the same spoon throughout his
meal. and was expected to bring
his own knife. Even as much as
400 years later people of the more
prosperous classes, when travelling.
carried their own knives, forks. and
spoons with them, for inns of those
days seldom provided eating uten-
sis. Fashionable people had elab-
crate folding sets of Knives. forks
and spoons for travelling.
Next to the spoon the knife was
the oldest eating utensil, and eat
ing with ones knife was far from
bad manners until very recent
times. The Eskimo of 1000 years
ago, and today. stuffs the end of a
strip of meat into his mouth until
il will hold no more, then cuts off
the remainder with a swift knife
stroke that barely misses, but never
touches, his nose.
"Old knives were pointed, for
spearing fragments Of meat. and
had round ends, for table knives
came into use only after forks be-
"A - ~ MIL