CHAPTER XXIII.

IMPLEMENTS OF THE RIVER-DRIFT PERIOD.

In treating of the implements belonging to the Palæolithic Period,

and found in the ancient freshwater or river drifts in Britain, I

propose first to give a slight sketch of the nature of the discoveries

which have been made in this particular field of archæology; then to

furnish some details concerning the localities where implements have

been found, and the character of the containing beds; next, to offer

a few remarks on the shape and possible uses of the various forms of

implements; and, finally, to consider the evidence of their antiquity.

So much has already been written in England,[2459] as well as on the

Continent, as to the history of these most curious discoveries, that

a very succinct account of them will here suffice. It was in the year

1847, that M. Boucher de Perthes, of Abbeville, called attention to

the finding of flint instruments fashioned by the hand of man, in the

pits worked for sand and gravel, in the neighbourhood of that town.

They occurred in such positions, and at such a depth below the surface,

as to force upon him the conclusion that they were of the same date

as the containing beds, which he regarded as of diluvial origin, or

as monuments of a universal Deluge. In 1855, Dr. Rigollot,[2460] of

Amiens, also published an account of the discovery of flint implements

at St. Acheul, near Amiens, in a drift enclosing the remains of

extinct animals, and at a depth of 10 feet or more from the surface.

From causes into |527| which it is not necessary to enter, these

discoveries were regarded with distrust in France, and were very far

from being generally accepted by the geologists and antiquaries of that

country.

In the autumn of 1858, however, that distinguished palæontologist,

the late Dr. Hugh Falconer, F.R.S., visited Abbeville,[2461] in order

to see M. Boucher de Perthes’s collection, and became “satisfied that

there was a great deal of fair presumptive evidence in favour of many

of his speculations regarding the remote antiquity of these industrial

objects, and their association with animals now extinct.” Acting on Dr.

Falconer’s suggestion, the late Sir Joseph Prestwich, F.R.S., whose

extensive and accurate researches had placed him in the first rank of

English geologists, visited Abbeville and Amiens, in April, 1859; where

I, on his invitation, had the good fortune to join him. We examined the

local collections of flint implements and the beds in which they were

said to have been found; and, in addition to being perfectly satisfied

with the evidence adduced as to the nature of the discoveries, we had

the crowning satisfaction of seeing one of the worked flints still _in

situ_, in its undisturbed matrix of gravel, at a depth of 17 feet from

the original surface of the ground.

I may add that on March 26th, 1875, I dug out from the gravel, in a pit

close to the seminary at Saint Acheul, a pointed implement at a depth

of 10 feet 10 inches from the surface.

From the day on which Sir Joseph Prestwich gave an account to the

Royal Society, of the results of his visit to the Valley of the Somme,

the authenticity of the discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes and Dr.

Rigollot was established; and they were almost immediately followed by

numerous others of the same character, both in France and England.

Before proceeding to describe the discoveries made in this country,

it will be well to say a few words as to some others of those which

have been made on the continent of Europe. In France such discoveries

have been so abundant that it would be an almost hopeless task to

enumerate the whole of them, I must, therefore, content myself by

calling attention to a few only; and, moreover, shall not overburden

my pages with references. One of the earliest discoveries was made

by M. Vincent at Troyes[2462] (Aube), where, in 1850, at a depth

of 3 metres, he found an |528| ovoid implement, but most of the

recent finds date subsequently to 1859. Those made at Chelles[2463]

(Seine et Marne) deserve especial mention, inasmuch as M. Gabriel

de Mortillet, regarding the deposits at that place as being more of

one and the same age than those at St. Acheul, has termed his oldest

stage of the Palæolithic Period _Chelléen_ rather than _Acheuléen_.

He places the _Moustérien_ next, but in some respects the subdivision

is unsatisfactory. The _Elephas antiquus_ occurs at Chelles, but at

Tilloux[2464] (Charente) _E. meridionalis_, _E. antiquus_, and _E.

primigenius_ all occur together with well-marked palæolithic implements

of usual types. At Paris itself, in the gravels of the valley of the

Seine, numerous implements have been found, as well as lower down the

valley at Sotteville, near Rouen. At Argues,[2465] near Dieppe, Saint

Saen, and Bully,[2466] near Neufchâtel, they have also occurred. At

Grand Morin[2467] (Seine et Marne) and Quiévy,[2468] (Nord), fine

specimens have been found. At the Bois du Rocher,[2469] near Dinan,

in the Côtes du Nord, numerous implements, mostly small and of

fine-grained quartzite occur—I found eight there myself in 1876—and

near Toulouse[2470] many larger and coarser examples chipped out of

quartzite pebbles. I have also implements from Chelles made of a kind

of quartzite. Of other localities in the north of France I may mention

Guînes and Sangatte, near Calais; Montguillain and other spots near

Beauvais; Thenay and Thézy, near Amiens, and Vaudricourt, near Béthune.

In the district of the Loire I have found implements in the gravels of

Marboué, near Châteaudun, and at Vendôme. Further south in Poitou they

are abundant on the surface at Coussay-les-Bois and other places near

Leugny. They have also been found in some abundance near Sens (Yonne),

and occur in Dordogne, the Mâconnais and Champagne, the departments of

Corrèze, Indre et Loire, Nièvre, and indeed over the greater part of

France.

In Belgium several discoveries have been made, notably at Curange[2471]

and Mesvin.[2472] |529|

To the east, in Germany,[2473] Austria,[2474] Hungary,[2475] and

Russia,[2476] such discoveries, though rare, seem to be not entirely

unknown. Further evidence, however, is desirable.

In Italy[2477] various implements, presumed to be of Palæolithic age,

have been found in the gravels of the Tiber, but they are nearly

all rude flakes. One, however, of ovate form, has been found near

Gabbiano,[2478] in the Abruzzo.

Other well-defined implements have been found near Perugia,[2479] in

the Imolese,[2480] Ceppagna[2481] (Molise), and elsewhere.

In the gravels of the valley of the Manzanares, at San Isidro, near

Madrid, palæolithic implements of the usual types have been found, as

well as some of a wedge shape, unlike the ordinary European types,

but similar to one of the Madras forms. They are associated with the

remains of an elephant, probably _E. antiquus_. The Quaternary beds

at San Isidro are nearly 200 feet above the level of the existing

river, and the implements that they contain are varied in character,

some chipped out of porphyry and other old rocks, being very rude in

fabric, while others of flint are as dexterously made as any of the

ordinary specimens from St. Acheul. The first discovery made there

was by M. Louis Lartet.[2482] I have on several occasions visited the

spot. Diagrammatic sections of the valley have been given by Prof. A.

Gaudry[2483] and M. E. Cartailhac.[2484] Messrs. Siret[2485] mention

several other localities in Spain that have yielded palæolithic

implements.

In Portugal[2486] also, both in gravels and in caves, such implements

have been found, and a good ovate specimen, made of quartz, from

Leiria, near Lisbon, has been figured by[2487]Cartailhac.

In Greece some almond-shaped implements, of the true |530| palæolithic

type, are said to have been discovered in beds of sand near

Megalopolis,[2488] with bones of the great pachyderms.

Returning to this country and to the year 1859, I may observe that

it turned out on examination that more than one such discovery as

those of Abbeville and Amiens had already been recorded, and that

flint implements of similar types to the French had been found in the

gravels of London at the close of the seventeenth century, and in the

brick-earth of Hoxne, in Suffolk, at the close of the eighteenth, and

were still preserved in the British Museum, and in that of the Society

of Antiquaries.

During the thirty-eight years that have elapsed since renewed and

careful attention was called to these implements, numerous other

discoveries have taken place in various parts of England of instruments

of analogous forms in beds of gravel, sand, and clay, for the most part

on the slopes of our existing river valleys, though in some instances

at considerable distances from any stream of water, and occasionally

not thus embedded, but lying on the surface of the ground. Several of

these discoveries have been made in localities where, from the nature

of the deposits, it had already been suggested by the late Sir Joseph

Prestwich and myself that implements would probably be found; and

others have resulted from workmen, who had been trained to search for

the implements in gravel, having migrated to new pits, where also their

search has proved successful. In not a few instances the researches for

such evidence of the antiquity of man have been carried on by fully

qualified observers. It is, however, needless here to trace the causes

and order of the discoveries, and I therefore propose to treat them in

geographical, and not chronological, sequence. In so doing it will be

most convenient to arrange them in accordance with the river systems in

connection with which the gravels were deposited, wherein for the most

part the implements have been found.

* * * * *

The district of which, following the order formerly adopted, it seems

convenient first to treat, is the basin of the river Ouse and its

tributaries, comprising, according to the Ordnance Survey,[2489] an

area of 2,607 square miles. Beginning in the west of this district,

I may mention the finding by Mr. Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S., of

several implements near one of the sources of the Ouse, a little to the

north of Leighton Buzzard. Through his kindness I possess a pointed,

thick and deeply-stained implement, found at Bossington, about a mile

north of Leighton. A more important scene of discoveries of this

kind is the neighbourhood of Bedford, where the late Mr. James |531|

Wyatt, F.G.S., obtained specimens so early as April, 1861, since

which time considerable numbers have been found. The pit in which

they first occurred is one near Biddenham, in which I had, some few

years before, discovered freshwater and land shells,[2490] and which I

had, previously to Mr. Wyatt’s discovery, already visited with him in

the expectation of finding flint implements in the gravel. The other

localities in the immediate neighbourhood of Bedford where palæolithic

implements have been found, are Harrowden,[2491] Cardington, Kempston,

Summerhouse Hill, and Honey Hill, all within a radius of four miles.

The Ouse near Bedford winds considerably in its course, which has in

all probability much changed at different periods, the valley through

which the river now passes being of great width. As instances of its

changes even within historical times, it may be mentioned that the

chapel in which Offa,[2492] King of Mercia, was interred, is said to

have been washed away by the Ouse; and in the time of Richard II.[2493]

its course was so much altered, near Harrold, that the river is

recorded to have ceased flowing, and its channel to have remained dry,

for three miles.

At Biddenham, the beds of Drift-gravel form a capping to a low hill

about two miles in length, and about three quarters of a mile in width,

which is nearly encircled by one of the windings of the river. Judging

from the section given by Sir Joseph Prestwich,[2494] the highest point

which the gravel attains is about 59 feet above the river, and its

surface in the pit, where the implements are found, is 40 feet above

it. The gravel rests upon the Cornbrash, or upper member of the Lower

Oolite; but the valley itself, though partly in the limestone rock, has

been cut through a considerable thickness of Oxford Clay and of Boulder

Clay, which here overlies it. The gravel consists of subangular stones

in an ochreous matrix, interspersed with irregular seams of sand and

clay.[2495] It is principally composed of fragments of flint, local

Oolitic _débris_, pebbles of quartz and of sandstones from the New Red

Sandstone conglomerates, with fragments of various old rocks. All these

latter have no doubt been derived from the washing away of the Boulder

Clay or of other Glacial beds. The thickness of the gravel, in the pit

where the implements have been principally found, is about 13 feet, and

detailed sections of it have been given by Sir Joseph Prestwich and by

Mr. Wyatt. Dispersed throughout, from a depth of about 5 feet from the

surface down to the base, are to be found land and freshwater shells,

mostly in fragments, but occasionally perfect. Their character has

been determined by the late Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S.;[2496] and they

consist—including some specimens from Harrowden and Summerhouse Hill—of

various species of _Sphærium_, or _Cyclas_, _Pisidium_, _Bythinia_,

_Valvata_, _Hydrobia_, _Succinea_, _Helix_, |533| _Pupa_, _Planorbis_,

_Limnæa_, _Ancylus_, _Zua_, and _Unio_. Of these the _Hydrobia_

(_marginata_) has never been found alive in this country.

[Illustration: Fig 414.—Biddenham, Bedford. 1∕1]

Mammalian remains also occur in the gravel, principally towards

its base. Including other localities in the neighbourhood of

Bedford, besides those already mentioned, but where the gravel is

of the same character, remains of the following animals have been

found:[2497] _Ursus spelæus_, _Cervus tarandus_, _Cervus elaphus_,

_Bos primigenius_, _Bison priscus_, _Hippopotamus major_, _Rhinoceros

tichorhinus_, _Rhinoceros megarhinus_, _Elephas antiquus_, _Elephas

primigenius_, _Equus_, and _Hyæna spelæa_.

[Illustration: Fig. 415.—Biddenham, Bedford. 1∕1]

I have already given in the _Archæologia_[2498] full-size figures of

two of the implements from the Biddenham pit, which are here reproduced.

[Illustration: Fig. 416.—Biddenham, Bedford. 1∕2]

[Illustration: Fig. 417.—Biddenham, Bedford. 1∕2]

Fig. 414, though worked to a wedge-like point, is very massive,

weighing something over 1 1∕2 lb. The butt-end has been roughly |534|

chipped into form, and has some sharp projections left upon it, so that

it can hardly have been intended to be simply held in the hand when

|535| used, but was either mounted in some manner, or else some means

were adopted for protecting the hand against its asperities. I have

already called attention to its resemblance to an implement from Kent’s

Cavern, Fig. 388A.

The second specimen, Fig. 415, still shows the natural crust of the

flint at its truncated end, and is well adapted for being held in the

hand when used.

Other specimens from the Biddenham Pit are engraved on the scale of

one-half linear measure in Figs. 416 to 418.

The whole, with the exception of Fig. 417, were in the collection of

the late Mr. Wyatt.

Fig. 416 is of ochreous cherty flint, symmetrically chipped, and

showing a portion of the original crust of the flint at the base. Its

angles are sharp, and not water-worn. In character it much resembles

many of the implements from the valley of the Little Ouse, and from St.

Acheul, near Amiens.

The original of Fig. 417 is in my own collection, having been kindly

presented to me by Mr. Wyatt. As will be seen, it is remarkably thick

at the butt, which is somewhat battered, almost as if the instrument

had been used as a wedge. On a part of the butt is a portion of the

white crust of the flint, which is somewhat striated, and suggestive of

the block of flint from which the implement was fashioned having been

derived from some Glacial deposit.

Fig. 418 represents a very curious form of implement made from a part

of a sub-cylindrical nodule of flint, and chipped to a rounded point

at one end, and truncated at the other, where the original fractured

surface of the flint is left intact. The angles at the pointed end are

but little worn.

Implements of various other forms and sizes have been found in the

gravels near Bedford, but in character they so closely correspond

with those found in other parts of England, and in France, that it

seems needless to particularize them. One of them, however, in my own

collection, 10 1∕4 inches long by 4 1∕4 inches wide, tongue-like in

character, but of a long ovate shape, deserves special mention. It was

found at Biddenham. The flat ovate, or oval type, is there of extremely

rare occurrence.

[Illustration: Fig. 418.—Biddenham, Bedford. 1∕2]

I have numerous other specimens from the Bedford gravels, principally

from Kempston, and others exist in various public and private

collections. Like the mammalian remains, they occur for the most part

towards the base of the gravel, but occasionally at higher levels in

the beds. Besides the more highly wrought instruments, knife-like

flakes of flint have been found, some of them presenting |536|

evidence of use upon their edges. A few flakes trimmed at the end into

scraper-like form have also been discovered.

At Tempsford, some seven or eight miles below Bedford, the river

Ouse is joined by the small river Ivel, a branch of which, the Hiz,

rises from the Chalk escarpment near Hitchin, and joins the Ivel at

Langford. About two miles south of the junction of these two streams,

near Henlow, Bedfordshire, Mr. F. J. Bennett, of the Geological Survey,

found in 1868 a flint implement of palæolithic type, not indeed in

gravel, but lying on the surface. It is 4 inches long and 2 1∕2 broad,

and of the same general character as that from Icklingham, Fig.

420, but rather more acutely pointed at each end. It is ochreous on

one face, and grey black on the other, and not improbably may have

been derived from some gravelly bed. I remarked in 1872 that this

discovery seemed to place the Ivel and Hiz among the rivers, in the

valley-gravels of which, farther search would probably be rewarded.

Since then at Ickleford,[2499] near Hitchin, numerous implements,

some of them much water-worn, have been found by Mr. Frank Latchmore

and others in gravels lying in the valley of the Hiz. I have also an

acutely-pointed specimen from Bearton Green,[2500] a little to the

north of Hitchin, in an angle between the rivers Oughton and Hiz.

But the most important discoveries are those which have been made

a short distance to the south of the town of Hitchin. There, near

the summit of a hill cut off by valleys on three sides from higher

land, a brickfield has been worked for some years by Mr. A. Ransom.

Although attention was called to the discovery in 1877,[2501] the

whole circumstances of the case are only now being thoroughly worked

out. At that time the section exposed was about 20 feet in depth, of

reddish brick-earth with numerous small angular fragments of flint

throughout. In places there were seams in which flints were more

abundant. With them were a few quartz and quartzite pebbles. Above

one seam, about 9 feet from the surface, was a layer of carbonaceous

matter. The implements,[2502] which are of various forms, both ovate,

like Pl. II., No. 17–19, and pointed, like Pl. I., No. 5–7, are said

to occur in the brick-earth, but not in the alluvial beds below. They

are mostly ochreous, but some are white. I have a hammer-stone found

with them which is made of an almost cylindrical portion of a nodule of

flint about 4 1∕4 inches long, truncated at each end; the edges round

both ends are much battered. It was probably used in the manufacture

of the other implements; a hammer of the same kind was found at Little

Thurrock.[2503] In October, 1877, a well was sunk at the bottom of the

pit showing—

ft. in.

(_a_) Red loam with a few quartz pebbles and flints, about 4 0

(_b_) White very sandy loam with freshwater shells about 5 6

(_c_) Dark greenish-brown loam with numerous shells and

vegetable remains, among them _Bythinia_, _Planorbis_

and _Limnæa_; also elytra of beetles, about 10 6

——————

20 0

|537|

Mammalian remains are reported to have been found in the argillaceous

beds at Hitchin,[2504] including bear, elephant, and rhinoceros.

In Fig. 418A is shown a small shoe-shaped implement from the

brick-earth at Hitchin, on which a considerable amount of the crust of

the original nodule of flint from which it was made still remains.

At the Folly Pit, about half a mile south and at a lower level, a

section was shown in 1877 of about 18 feet of Glacial Drift, with

large rounded pebbles of different rocks, false-bedded sands, &c.

On an eroded surface of sands and gravels of the Glacial Series was

brick-earth extending in the direction of Mr. Ransom’s pit. At one spot

white marly sand-like beds, full of freshwater shells, were visible.

The brick-earth at Hitchin, like that at Hoxne, seems to have been

deposited in what were locally Post-Glacial times.

[Illustration: Fig. 418A.—Hitchin. 1∕2]

A detailed examination of the spot has recently been carried out

by Mr. Clement Reid, F.G.S., who finds that the alluvial deposits

beneath the palæolithic brick-earth fill a deep channel and contain

a temperate flora, including such trees as the oak, ash, cornel,

elder, and alder. Towards the margin of the channel, in at least one

place, the Chalky Boulder Clay occurs beneath the ancient alluvial and

palæolithic strata. The succession corresponds closely with that found

at Hoxne.[2505] |538|

At Biggleswade, farther down the valley of the Ivel, a few palæolithic

implements have been procured from the railway ballast-pit.

Northwards of Hitchin a flint flake has been found in the gravel of

the Ouse at Hartford,[2506] near Huntingdon, together with remains

of _Elephas primigenius_ and _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_. I have also a

well-shaped ochreous pointed implement (5 inches) found at Abbot’s

Ripton, 3 1∕2 miles north of Huntingdon, in 1896, as well as one like

Fig. 457 (5 3∕4 inches) from gravel at Chatteris, Cambs.

Proceeding eastward, the next important affluent of the Ouse which is

met with, is the Cam, the gravels along the valley of which present

in various places characters analogous with those near Bedford.

Numerous mammalian remains of the same Quaternary fauna have been found

along its course, especially at Barnwell and Chesterton,[2507] near

Cambridge, where also land and freshwater shells occur in abundance. I

have also found them in a pit near Littlebury, a few miles from Saffron

Walden.

From Quendon, Essex, about 5 miles south of Saffron Walden, and in the

valley of the Cam, Mr. C. K. Probert, of Newport, Bishop Stortford,

obtained a magnificent sharp-pointed implement with the sides curved

outwards, 8 inches in length. It lay in sandy drift in a pit about 12

feet deep.

In the publications of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society[2508] is

a paper by the late Prof. Chas. C. Babington, F.R.S., “On a flint

hammer found near Burwell.” It is described as a pointed implement,

very similar to those found at Hoxne and Amiens, as represented in

Phil. Trans., 1860, Pl. XIV., 6 and 8. It was not found _in situ_,

nor in gravel, but is said to have come from a mill used for cleaning

coprolites, where it had been well washed with them. If it be the

specimen that I have seen in the museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian

Society, I fear it is a forgery. Another worked flint, also of

rather uncertain origin, but perfectly genuine, and having all the

characteristics of belonging to the River-drift, was found in 1862

on a heap of gravel, near Cambridge, by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., who

kindly placed it in my collection. It is a thick polygonal flake, about

3 inches long and 1 inch broad at the base, tapering to the point,

which is broken off. Its surface is stained all over of a deep ochreous

colour, its angles are slightly water-worn, and the edges worn away,

either by friction among other stones in the gravel, or by use. In the

Woodwardian Museum is another flake, apparently of palæolithic date,

which was found in gravel near the Cambridge Observatory. The Rev.

Osmond Fisher, F.G.S., possesses an implement in form and character

much like Fig. 470, from Highfield, Salisbury, which was found on

a heap of gravel brought from Chesterton. Other discoveries have

confirmed this evidence of the presence of palæolithic implements in

the gravels of the valley of the Cam.

Mr. A. F. Griffith[2509] in 1878 described a fine implement from the

Barnwell gravels (6 3∕4 inches) in form and size almost identical with

|539| Fig. 414. Others have been found in gravel from the Observatory

Hill, Cambridge, and from Chesterton. Another tongue-shaped implement

from the plateau near Upper Hare Park,[2510] Cambridge, has been found

by Mr. M. C. Hughes.

I may add that in the gravel at Barnwell, at a depth of 12 feet, and

associated with remains of elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus,

was found in 1862, a portion of a rib-bone like that of an elephant,

showing at one end “numerous cut surfaces, evidently made with some

sharp instrument used by a powerful hand.” I have not seen the

specimen, but Mr. H. Seeley, F.R.S.,[2511] who records the fact, has

“no doubt that the whittling is as old as the bone.” The _Corbicula

fluminalis_, _Hydrobia marginata_, and _Unio rhomboideus_ are among

the shells which are found in the River-drift of Barnwell, but are no

longer living in England.

I have a number of implements, principally of ovate form, which are

said to have been found in the neighbourhood of Bottisham, but I am

not sure as to the exact locality. I believe them to have come from

gravel-pits about a mile to the north of Six Mile Bottom Station.

In gravel at Kennett Station,[2512] about 5 miles north-east by east

of Newmarket, but still in Cambridgeshire, several specimens have been

found by Mr. Arthur G. Wright and others.

I have a much-worn flat ovate specimen from Herringswell, three miles

to the north of Kentford Station.

Implements occur, though rarely, at the base of the peat in the Fen

country, below Cambridge. I have a small ovate specimen (3 1∕4 inches)

from Swaffham Fen. It is of black flint with the surface eroded as

if a portion of its substance had been dissolved away. A much larger

implement (6 inches) from Soham Fen is also black, but its surface is

uninjured.

The valley of the Lark, the next river which empties itself into the

Ouse, has been much more prolific of implements in its gravels, than

that of the Cam. The fact of their occurrence in this valley was first

observed by myself, in 1860, in consequence of my finding among the

stone antiquities in the collection of a local antiquary—the late Mr.

Joseph Warren, of Ixworth—two specimens, which I at once recognized as

being of palæolithic types. On inquiry, it appeared that one had been

found by a workman in digging gravel at Rampart Hill, Icklingham; and

the other by Mr. Warren himself on a heap of gravel by the roadside,

which had been dug in the same neighbourhood. The late Sir Joseph

Prestwich[2513] and I at once visited Icklingham, and though our search

was at the time unsuccessful, yet the instructions given to the workmen

soon resulted in their finding numerous implements. The examination of

the gravel was at the same time taken up by the late Mr. Henry Prigg

(subsequently Trigg), of Bury St. Edmunds, to whose discrimination

and energy the discovery of implements in various other localities in

Suffolk is due. He brought together a large collection of antiquities,

of which the greater part, after his decease, came into my hands. |540|

[Illustration: Fig. 419.—Maynewater Lane, Bury St. Edmunds. 1∕2]

The principal places in the valley of the Lark, where palæolithic

implements have been found, are in the neighbourhood of Bury St.

Edmunds, Icklingham, and Mildenhall. The first specimen from the

River-drift at Bury St. Edmunds was obtained by Mr. Trigg in gravel

at a low level, near the ruined Gatehouse of St Saviour’s Hospital,

in October, 1862;[2514] since which time numerous other specimens

have been discovered, principally through his agency. Several were

found in the excavations made for the drainage of the southern part of

the town in 1864—one elongated oval implement having been discovered

in Botolph’s Lane; and three others, varying in form, in Maynewater

Lane, where also a flake was found. That here engraved as Fig. 419 is

from this latter locality, and was found at a depth of 14 feet in a

bed of loamy, sub-angular gravel, underlying a deposit of fine grey

loam 6 feet thick, containing scales of fish, and abundant remains

of _Anodonta_ and _Bythinia_. It is now deposited in the Blackmore

Museum at Salisbury. Its edges are sharp and unworn, and its colour

black, with ochreous spots. Others, since discovered, are of even finer

workmanship. One in my collection is a much ruder specimen, though

of nearly similar general form, which was found in the South Gate in

1869. Several have been found in Westgate and St. Andrew’s Streets,

and in Newton Road. The greatest number of implements found at Bury

have, however, come from what is known as the Grindle Pit, a short

distance to the south-east of the town, and on the summit and western

slope of a tongue of land between the Linnet and the Lark. Some of

them occurred in a dark, stiff, rather argillaceous gravel, composed

mainly of sub-angular flints, but also containing a small proportion of

the pebbles of the older rocks, derived from Glacial |541| deposits.

This gravel is from 2 to 3 feet in thickness, and underlies a stratum

of red brick-earth from 2 to 6 feet thick, which is again, in places,

surmounted by sands and clay with angular flints about 4 feet in

thickness, on which the surface soil reposes. This was the section

exhibited in 1865, but the beds are very irregular, and the character

of the section exposed in the pit varies considerably from time to

time, as material is removed. In places the Drift-beds are faulted, as

if by the giving way of the subjacent beds.

[Illustration: Fig. 419A.—Grindle Pit, Bury St. Edmunds. 1∕2]

A beautiful and absolutely perfect specimen from this pit is shown

in Fig. 419A. It was found in a black vein in the lower loamy bed,

on February 4th, 1870. Though the implement has been most skilfully

chipped, the edge is not in one plane, but when looked at sideways,

shows an ogival curve. The regular contour is partly due to secondary

working, but the edge is as sharp as on the day when the instrument

was made. Several others of almost the same form, though not quite so

delicately fashioned, came from the same pit, and may have been made by

the same hands.

I have a fine pointed implement, (5 1∕2 inches), also from the Grindle

Pit. Another, ovate, is 7 inches in length.

A remarkably fine palæolithic flake from Thingoe Hill,[2515] Bury St.

Edmunds, is shown in Fig. 419B. It is water-worn, and much resembles

some from the low-level gravels at Montiers, near Amiens, and

Montguillain, near Beauvais. It belongs, of course, to a much earlier

period than the mound in, on, or near which it was found.

As already observed, remains of shells, and some scales of fish, were

found in the Drift-beds during the drainage works, as also some |542|

mammalian remains. They were, however, scarce. Higher up the valley

by about three miles, there have been found in a pit at Sicklesmere,

remains of _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_ and _Elephas primigenius_; and,

in another pit, elephant remains; specimens of all of which are now

preserved in the Bury Museum. Mr. Trigg obtained several well-wrought

implements from the brick-earth of Sicklesmere, near Nowton, which

there overlies the Boulder Clay; and has also found examples in the

gravels of the valley of the Kent, another small affluent of the Ouse.

[Illustration: Fig. 419B.—Bury St. Edmunds. 1∕2]

One of these Nowton specimens is shown in Fig. 419C. It is broad and

kite-shaped in form and has weathered to a creamy white. In type

it approaches Fig. 435, from Santon Downham. Some remarkably fine

implements, principally ovate, have been found at Westley, about two

miles west of Bury, and at Fornham All Saints, two miles to the north;

and I have a pointed one from the Beeches Pit, West Stow, five miles

to the north-west, and nearer Icklingham. It was in one of the pits at

Westley, eroded in the old chalk surface and filled with loam, that Mr.

Trigg discovered portions of a human skull which he described to the

Anthropological Institute.[2516] In other pits at |543| the same spot

were molars of _Elephas primigenius_, and the chopper-like instrument

shown in Fig. 419D.

[Illustration: Fig. 419C.—Nowton, near Bury St. Edmunds. 1∕2]

In the valley of the Lark, about seven miles down from Bury, lies the

village of Icklingham, in the neighbourhood of which numerous remains

belonging to the Roman and Saxon Periods have been found, but where

also relics belonging to both the Neolithic and Palæolithic Periods

abound. Many of the latter have been discovered in the gravel of

Rampart Hill, about a mile to the south-east of Icklingham, and nearer

to Bury; but still more numerous specimens have now for many years also

been found in the gravel at Warren Hill—sometimes termed the Three

Hills—about two miles on the other side of Icklingham, and midway

between that place and Mildenhall. A section across the valley of the

Lark, near Icklingham, has been given by Sir Joseph Prestwich.[2517]

The valley, which is excavated in the chalk, is in its lower part

covered by recent alluvial deposits, but on the slopes of its northern

side, the chalk is covered with sands and gravels belonging to the

Glacial Series, which are again overlain by the Boulder Clay. The

gravel both at Rampart Hill and Warren Hill is of a different character

from that belonging to the Glacial Series, though of course containing

a number of the silicious pebbles from the conglomerate beds of the

New Red Sandstone, and other pebbles of the older rocks derived from

the Glacial Drift. It is for the most part composed of sub-angular

flints in an ochreous sandy matrix, and is spread out in irregular

beds interstratified with seams of sand. At Warren Hill there are

great numbers of quartzite pebbles, as well as |544| very many

formed from rolled chalk, mixed with the other constituents. These

are less abundant in the upper part of the deposit, which is there

of considerable thickness. I am not aware of the exact levels having

been taken at either place, but the surface of the ground is probably

from 40 to 50 feet above the level of the river. The gravel beds are

in places as much as 14 or 15 feet in thickness. Mammalian remains are

scarce, but teeth and portions of tusk of _Elephas primigenius_ have

been found at Rampart Hill, and the core of the horn of an ox, and

teeth of horse, and bones and teeth of elephant, at Warren Hill.

[Illustration: Fig. 419D.—Westley, near Bury St. Edmunds. 1∕2]

Up to the present time the search for remains of testacea in these beds

has proved unsuccessful.

Not only have the worked flints been discovered in considerable

numbers, but Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has found in the gravel at

Warren Hill, several quartzite pebbles bearing evident marks of |545|

abrasion and bruising at the ends, such as may have resulted from

their having been in use as hammer-stones, either for chipping out

the flint implements or for other purposes. He also obtained an ovate

lanceolate implement from this spot, 4 3∕4 inches in length, and

formed from a quartzite pebble, the original surface of which is still

preserved over nearly the whole extent of one of the faces.

Examples of the Icklingham implements are given in Figs. 420 to 424.

[Illustration: Fig. 420.—Rampart Hill, Icklingham. 1∕2]

The finer of the two, of which mention has already been made as having

formed part of the collection of the late Mr. Warren, of Ixworth, is

now in my own, and is shown in Fig. 420. It is more convex on one

face than the other, and a portion of the butt presents an almost

scraper-like appearance. The angles formed by the facets are slightly

worn, and the surface of the flint has been much altered in character,

having become nearly white, and quite lustrous. This alteration in

structure is almost universal with the Icklingham implements, though

in many cases they are ochreous instead of white, and not unfrequently

the discoloration is only partial, giving them a dappled appearance. In

many specimens the angles are much water-worn.

The original of Fig. 421 is in the Blackmore Museum, and is of |546|

dark brown lustrous flint, almost equally convex on both faces,

and of very regular elliptical form. In most cases the outline

approximates more to that of Fig. 467. These thin, flattened, oval,

and almond-shaped, or ovate, implements seem, as Mr. Trigg has pointed

out, to predominate at Icklingham. Those of oval form are especially

abundant at Warren Hill.

[Illustration: Fig. 421.—Icklingham. 1∕2]

Many of ruder character, however, also occur, one of which, in my own

collection, is shown in Fig. 422. It approaches more nearly in form to

some of the roughly chipped instruments of the Surface period, such as

Fig. 16, than do most of the implements from the River-drift.

[Illustration: Fig. 422.—Icklingham. 1∕2]

One of the finest specimens hitherto found in this country is that

shown in Fig. 423, from the original in the Blackmore Museum. It is of

dark ochreous flint, with the surface considerably decomposed, and the

angles but little worn. In the same collection is another Icklingham

specimen, in form like that from Thetford, Fig. 427, but 9 inches long

and 4 1∕2 wide.

Besides the more finished implements, a few flakes occur in the

Icklingham gravels. Some of these have been chipped all round the

periphery by blows administered on the flat face, thus producing a

bevelled edge. One such, from Warren Hill, in my own collection,

somewhat resembles the implement from Reculver, Fig. 461. It is,

however, narrower |547| in its proportions, being 4 1∕2 inches long and

2 3∕8 broad. It has been formed from an external flake, and has been

carefully trimmed all round into an almost perfect oval form, the butt

alone having been left untrimmed for about half-an-inch in width. A

small part of the other rounded and scraper-like end has been broken

off in ancient times. Others are wider in their proportions though

not so symmetrically worked. The trimmed flake, shown in Fig. 424, is

in my own collection, and at its rounded end is very scraper-like in

character. A very large flake, rounded into a broad scraper, and about

5 inches in diameter, was found by myself at Warren Hill, and is now in

the Christy Collection. |548|

[Illustration: Fig. 423.—Icklingham.]

Three-quarters of a mile to the north of the Warren Hill pits, and on

the same ridge, but at a rather higher level, is High or Warren Lodge,

distant about two miles from Mildenhall. To the south of this house,

and by the side of the Thetford road, is a small pit on the slope of

the hill, where, in the process of digging clay for brick-making,

a considerable number of worked flints have been obtained, many of

which passed into the collection formed by Canon Greenwell, who has

furnished me with particulars of the discovery. I have also visited

the spot. The clay or brick-earth is of a reddish hue, and rests upon

a chalky Boulder Clay, which is exposed farther up the hill. It ranges

in thickness from about 4 to 6 feet; and above it are sands and gravel,

the latter varying in thickness from about 2 to 6 feet, and of much

the same character as that of the Warren Hill pits, but containing far

less chalk. The sand occasionally comes down in pipes or pockets into

the clay, and some of the worked flints occur in it, as well as in the

clay. Many of these are merely roughly-chipped splinters, but several

well-wrought forms have also been found.

[Illustration: Fig. 424.—Icklingham. 1∕2]

[Illustration: Fig. 425.—High Lodge. 1∕2]

Among them is an oval implement of a common River-drift type, 4 1∕2

inches long, which, with three or four others of the same kind, was

found in the upper sands and gravel. From the clay itself are several

large side-scrapers, or choppers, made from broad flakes, 4 or 5 inches

long, and in form similar to the specimen from Santon Downham, Fig.

437, and of the same character as the implements from the cave of Le

Moustier.[2518] Besides these, there are several other large flakes

worked along the edge into side-scrapers, and presenting a Le Moustier

form.[2519] Another is like that from Thetford, Fig. 431, and worked

along both edges. Even external flakes have been utilized; one of

these, 4 inches long, having been neatly worked at one end |549| into

a segmental edge. Another large implement, 5 1∕2 inches long and 3

inches broad, is ovate-lanceolate in form, flat on one face, and worked

to a sharp edge all round. Several others have been found of the same

type. I have a considerable number from the Trigg collection.

One of the most beautifully formed of these implements from High

Lodge Hill is shown in Fig. 425. It has been made from a broad, flat

truncated flake, with a well-marked cone of percussion. The two sides

have been carefully trimmed to a curved edge, by secondary chipping,

and the edge itself has been finished by a subsequent process of finer

chipping. The angles where the truncated chisel-like end joins the

sides have also been retouched, but a portion of the sharp edge is left

in its original condition. The edge formed by the outer face of the

flake with its flat butt-end has also been re-chipped, and in one place

appears to have been bruised by an unskilful blow. The workmanship

generally is of a finer and neater character than is usual on the

implements found in the river gravels. In form and character this

instrument is remarkably similar to some of those found in the cave of

Le Moustier in the Dordogne.

[Illustration: Fig. 426.—High Lodge. 1∕1]

[Illustration: Fig. 426A.—High Lodge. 1∕2]

Others, again, resemble the scrapers from the surface and the caves.

One of these is engraved full size in Fig. 426. The edge is more acute

than usual with scrapers, perhaps in consequence of the curvature of

the inner face of the flake from which it was made.

Another example with a straight terminal edge at an angle of 80° to the

side is shown on the scale of one half in Fig. 426A.

The flint of the High Lodge implements is but little altered in

character, but has either remained black or has been stained of a deep

brown; the angles and edges being still as sharp as the day when they

were formed. In this respect they resemble the worked flints from the

brick-earth of Hoxne. Those from the brick-earth of the valley of the

Somme are usually quite white and porcellanous. |550|

I have seen fragments of a molar of _Elephas_, probably _primigenius_,

from the clay at this spot, and also a bone of a ruminant, probably

_Cervus megaceros_.

* * * * *

As will subsequently be seen, there appears some reason for believing

that at a remote period, the River Lark took a northerly, instead of a

north-westerly, course from the neighbourhood of Mildenhall, and thus

joined the Little Ouse instead of the Ouse itself; so that this pit

may possibly be connected with the old channel of the stream. On the

slope of the hill to the east of Eriswell is gravel of much the same

character as that at Warren Hill, but in which as yet few implements

have been found. I have, however, one of ovate form from Holywell Row,

near Eriswell, and another, not unlike Fig. 471, from the surface at

Cardwell, about three miles farther north. To the east of Lakenheath,

still farther to the north, is an isolated hill, near Maid’s Cross,

capped with gravel, in which flint implements have been found. It will

be best to describe this spot when treating of the discoveries that

have been made in the valley of the Little Ouse.

The source of this stream and that of the Waveney may be regarded as

one, inasmuch as both take their rise in a fen crossed by the road at

Lopham Ford; the one river running east, and the other west, of the

road. By the time it reaches Thetford, however, a distance of about

12 miles, the Little Ouse has been joined by the Ixworth stream and

the Thet, so that the area of ground drained by it is considerably

more than would at first sight appear probable, being upwards of 200

square miles. With the exception of a broad flint flake, found by Mr.

Trigg at Santon Downham,[2520] the first discovery of flint implements

in the gravels of the Little Ouse was made in 1865 at Redhill, near

Thetford, by a labourer from Icklingham, who had been trained to search

for implements in the gravel pits in his own parish. These specimens he

brought to Mr. Trigg, who subsequently obtained others at Whitehill,

farther down the valley on the same—or Norfolk—side of the river; and

on my visiting the spot with him in December, 1865, Mr. Trigg found in

my presence a well-formed pointed implement in some gravel at Santon

Downham, on the opposite—or Suffolk—side. Since then the discoveries

have extended farther down the valley, and numerous implements have

been found at several localities in the neighbourhood of Brandon, and

at Shrub Hill, in the parish of Feltwell, Norfolk. |551|

In June, 1866,[2521] the late Mr. J. W. Flower, F.G.S., who had long

carried on investigations in the district, communicated a paper to

the Geological Society on the subject of the discoveries at Thetford,

and again in April, 1869,[2522] a second paper on the discoveries of

flint implements in Norfolk and Suffolk, with some observations on the

theories accounting for their distribution, on which I shall have to

make some comments hereafter.

The highest point up the valley of the Little Ouse at which, up to

the present time, flint implements have been discovered in the gravel

on its slopes, is Redhill, on the Norfolk side of the river, about a

mile north-west of Thetford. The gravel at this place is coarse in

character, and consists principally of sub-angular flints, some of

large size, mixed with a few pebbles derived from beds of the Glacial

series, and deposited in a red sandy matrix. It forms a terrace running

nearly parallel with the present stream, and ranging from about 12 feet

to nearly 40 feet above its level. In places, the gravel is from 12 to

16 feet in thickness,[2523] the largest stones, as usual, occurring

towards its base, in which part of the gravel the greater number, but

by no means all, of the flint implements occur, as some are dispersed

throughout the whole thickness of the mass. Occasionally they have been

found in pipes of gravel, let down into the chalk by means of water

charged with carbonic acid eroding its upper surface. Sandy seams[2524]

are, as usual, interbedded with the gravel; and in one of these, about

10 feet below the surface, I found shells of _Helix_, _Bythinia_,

_Cyclas_, _Pisidium_, _Ancylus_, and _Succinea_. Of mammalian remains,

those of _Elephas primigenius_, ox, horse, and stag have occurred.

* * * * *

A very large number of implements have been found in the gravel at

Redhill, of which specimens exist in the Christy Collection, the

Blackmore Museum, and in numerous private collections.[2525] Those

selected for engraving here, are all in my own possession. |552|

[Illustration: Fig. 427.—Redhill, Thetford. 1∕2]

Fig. 427 shows a remarkably fine specimen, stained all over of a deep

ochreous red, though slightly mottled, owing to the original structure

of the flint from which it was chipped. The angles are to a small

extent waterworn. On what is in the figure the left side of the base,

a portion of the original crust of the flint has been left, so as to

form a protuberance at that part, instead of the edge being continued

all round the instrument. This protuberance is well adapted to fit

into the hand, like that of the Picts’ knife, described at page 345,

so that this may have been a cutting tool intended to be grasped.

I have another specimen of nearly the same size, and with the same

protuberance, from Santon Downham, and one of the implements from

Southampton presents the same feature, which, indeed, is not unusual.

A flat surface is frequently left on the sides of the ovate |553|

implements in or about the same position. This flat space has been

referred to by the late Mr. Flower,[2526] who considered it intended to

receive the thumb of the right hand, and not to go against the palm or

the fore-finger, as suggested by myself long ago.[2527]

[Illustration: Fig. 428.—Redhill, Thetford. 1∕2]

Fig. 428 represents another singularly fine specimen of a very uncommon

form, it being much more acutely pointed than usual. It is stained all

over of a deep ochreous colour, and its angles are still sharp. It has

been boldly but symmetrically chipped, and has a thick, heavy butt,

well adapted for being held in the hand. As is the case with almost

all these implements, an analogous form has been found in the |554|

gravels of the valley of the Somme. The magnificent implement from the

gravel of Vaudricourt, near Béthune, which was exhibited at Paris in

1867, was also much of this type. Its length is 10 1∕4 inches; that of

the Thetford specimen being 8 1∕2 inches. It would be an endless task

to attempt to engrave all the varieties of form found at this place,

but Mr. Trigg is correct in his remark as to the comparative absence of

the flat oval form with a cutting edge all round. The most common type

here is the ovate-lanceolate, like Pl. I., Fig. 5, rather thick towards

the butt-end. Mr. Flower has figured a fine lanceolate specimen, and

one of more ovate form from this place.[2528]

[Illustration: Fig. 429.—Redhill, Thetford. 1∕2]

The finely-wrought symmetrical specimens are rarer at Redhill than at

Santon Downham; but here, as elsewhere in this district, implements

are occasionally found of what has been aptly termed the shoe-shaped

type, of which an example is shown in Fig. 429. The form is flat on one

face, the other being brought to a central ridge rising towards the

butt, which is usually rounded and obtusely truncated. In this specimen

the greater part of the butt-end or heel of the shoe exhibits the

original crust of the nodule of flint from which the |555| implement

was formed. The point, which is usually brought to a semicircular sharp

edge, has been broken in old times either by use or by attrition in the

gravel. Most of these shoe-shaped instruments have been formed from

large spalls of flint, so that the flat face has been the result of a

single blow, though occasionally retouched by subsequent chipping.

[Illustration: Fig. 430.—Redhill, Thetford. 1∕2]

The implement shown in Fig. 430 is of this character, but is too thin,

in proportion to its size, to represent the typical shoe-shape. It has

been formed from a large external flake, the bulb of percussion being

at the lower left-hand corner of the figure, but on the opposite face

to that shown. The flake has been trimmed into shape by chipping along

the edges on both faces, so that not above half of the original inner

face remains free from secondary working. The surface is, as usual,

stained of a rich ochreous brown.

[Illustration: Fig. 431.—Redhill, Thetford. 1∕2]

A considerable number of flint flakes of various sizes and shapes have

been found at Redhill, many of them showing signs of use and wear on

their edges, and some being worked to a quadrant of a circle or more,

at the point, so as to make them almost assume the form of scrapers. I

have one external flake in which is worked a curved recess, as if by

scraping some hard cylindrical object, such as a round bone. The flake

engraved as Fig. 431 was found by myself in December, 1865, and has had

both its edges retouched by secondary chipping. The edge thus produced

seems to have been worn away by use. I have a rather larger flake,

presenting precisely the same characteristics, from the valley gravel

of the Somme, at Porte Marcadé, Abbeville.

A little lower down the river, and on the same side as Redhill, is

|556| the spot to which the name of Whitehall has been given by Mr.

Trigg. The gravel is composed of similar materials to that at Redhill,

of which it may be said to form a continuation, except that the matrix

is whiter. Mr. Trigg has informed me that beneath the gravel are beds

of red sand, and that at one time, a section was exposed of 26 feet in

depth. Of late, the gravel at this spot has been but little worked, and

but few implements have been found in it.

Mr. Trigg[2529] records having obtained three flint implements from

this place, one of which, at present in the Blackmore Museum at

Salisbury, is engraved as Fig. 432. Its surface has become white and

decomposed, and is partially covered by an incrustation of carbonate of

lime. A part of the edge, towards the point, on the right side of the

figure, appears to be worn away by use.

Remains of _Elephas primigenius_ and horse have been found here, but no

land or freshwater shells.

Between Whitehill and Santon Downham, but on the Suffolk slope of the

valley, a considerable quantity of gravel has been dug on Thetford

Warren. Though the gravel is of much the same character as at Redhill,

no implements appear to have been found in it.

[Illustration: Fig. 432.—Whitehill, Thetford. 1∕2]

About three miles north-west of Thetford, and also on the Suffolk

side of the Little Ouse, is Santon Downham Warren, on the slope of

which towards the river, is a considerable expanse of gravelly beds,

which have been largely excavated for road-making purposes. On the

sketch map given by Mr. Flower,[2530] this place is erroneously called

Whitehill. As has been already stated, the first implement from

this spot was discovered by Mr. Trigg, when in my company, in 1865.

Since that time, it has produced, at a moderate estimate, several

hundred specimens, some of them affording the finest instances of the

skill of the Palæolithic Period which have been found in Britain,

or indeed elsewhere. The gravel is at a somewhat higher level above

the river than that at Redhill, but resembles it in character. It

contains, besides flints, a few of the quartzite pebbles of the New

Red conglomerate, which have been derived from the Glacial beds and

Boulder Clay which cap the chalk hills on either side of the river. The

gravel is of considerable thickness, so much so that in places, caves

of sufficient magnitude to allow of a man standing inside, have been

formed within it, in consequence of the lower beds being let down into

the |557| chalk, through its erosion by water charged with carbonic

acid. The same phenomenon has been observed at Bromehill, the spot next

to be mentioned; and some connection was at one time supposed to exist

between these cavities and the implements often found in and near them.

I think, however, that the explanation[2531] that I have elsewhere

given of their origin will be deemed satisfactory. No testaceous

remains have been found here, and mammalian remains are very scarce.

Among the implements from Santon Downham, the almond-shaped[2532] type

seems to predominate, though other forms are also found.

[Illustration: Fig. 433.—Santon Downham. 1∕2]

A very elegant pointed specimen, in my own collection, is shown in

Fig. 433. It is chipped with great skill, and brought to a fine point,

the butt-end being comparatively blunt, so that it may have been used

in the hand without being in any way hafted. At the shoulder, shown

in the side-view, a part of the original crust of the flint is left,

and small portions are also left on the other face. In form, this

implement curiously resembles some of those from Hoxne, and that from

Gray’s |558| Inn Lane (Fig. 451). Like many of the implements from the

gravel, it is cracked in various directions, apparently from inward

expansion, and would break up into fragments with a slight blow. A very

sharp point, such as that presented by this specimen, is not uncommonly

met with in implements found at Santon Downham.

[Illustration: Fig. 434.—Santon Downham. 1∕2]

The original of Fig. 434 is also in my own collection, and is cracked

in a similar manner. It is uniformly stained of a light buff colour, as

are many of the implements from this spot, and has dendritic markings

upon it, and in places, particles of ferruginous sand adhering to the

surface. It is fairly symmetrical in contour, with an edge all round,

which is somewhat blunted at what is the base in the figure. This

edge, however, is not in one plane, but considerably curved, so that

when seen sideways it forms an ogee sweep, even more distinctly than

appears from the figure. I have other implements of the same and of

more pointed forms, with similarly curved edges, both from France, and

other parts of England, but whether this curvature was intentional, it

is impossible to say. In some cases it is so marked that it can hardly

be the result of accident, and the curve is so far as I have observed,

almost without exception Ƨ, and not S. If not intentional, the form

may be the result of all the blows by which the implement was finally

chipped out, having been given on the one face, on one side, and on the

opposite face on the other.

Fig. 435 represents an implement of porcellanous, slightly ochreous

|559| flint, found at that place, and now in the Fitch collection

at Norwich. The late Mr. Robert Fitch, F.S.A., kindly allowed me to

engrave it, as well as the specimen next to be described. Implements

of this broad, ovate-lanceolate form are extremely uncommon, and this

is a remarkably symmetrical specimen, of good workmanship, and almost

equally convex on the two faces. A few implements, almost circular in

outline, have been found at this spot.

Another specimen from Nowton, Fig. 419C, shows almost the same form. In

the Toulouse Museum is an implement (5 inches) in flint from Clermont,

about 18 miles south of that town, found with remains of mammoth and

reindeer.

[Illustration: Fig. 435.—Santon Downham. 1∕2]

The original of Fig. 436 presents an example of another rare form,

almost crescent-like in character. There is frequently a slight want of

symmetry between the two sides of the ordinary ovate implements, which

gives them a tendency to assume this form, but I have never seen it so

fully developed as in some of the implements from Santon Downham.

Another somewhat uncommon form is shown in Fig. 437, the original of

which, with several others, was presented to the Christy Collection by

the late Rev. W. W. Poley. It has been formed from a large broad flake,

the flat face of which is not shown in the figure, and has been chipped

to a bevelled segmental edge, so that it assumes the form of a ‘broad’

or ‘side’ scraper, resembling in character some of the implements from

the cave of Le Moustier in the Dordogne.

In the Greenwell Collection is a thick flake from Santon Downham,

4 1∕4 inches long and 2 1∕4 inches wide, trimmed at the butt-end to a

semicircular scraper-like edge.

Viewed as a whole, the implements from Santon Downham present a higher

degree of finish, and a greater skill in chipping the required forms

out of flint, than those found in the gravels of any other part |560|

of the valley of the Little Ouse, or, it may perhaps be added, of

England or France.

Following the course of the river, the next spot at which flint

implements have been found in the gravel, is a pit known as the

Bromehill or Broomhill Pit, in the parish of Weeting, and on the

Norfolk side of the Little Ouse, about a mile and a quarter east of

Brandon. The gravel here is at a lower level than that at Santon

Downham, or even Redhill, its base not being more than six or eight

feet above the river, to which it is close.

[Illustration: Fig. 436.—Santon Downham. 1∕2]

The late Mr. Flower[2533] has described the spot, but his description

of the section, and of the position in which the implements are found,

does not completely coincide with mine. On the occasion of one of my

visits to this pit, in July,[2534] 1868, in company with him, the

section exposed was 24 feet in height, from the chalk at its base to

the superficial soil at the summit. The upper part of the section

showed |561| sand, with a few gravelly seams, and from 8 to 10 feet

in thickness; at the base of this, a dark ferruginous band, a few

inches in thickness; then some 8 or 9 feet of ochreous gravel, with

a red sandy matrix, which was separated by a band of grey sand from

the lower beds of gravel, which contained a very large percentage

of rolled chalk and seams of chalky sand. Below the chalky gravel,

ferruginous beds also sometimes occur, containing large blocks of

flint. In the chalky gravel (the base of which is but a few feet above

the level of the river) implements are rarely found, but what there

are, are usually black. In the upper gravel they are more abundant, and

ochreous in tint. It was in this gravel that I had the opportunity of

examining one of the cavities already mentioned; and in the pipe formed

through the more chalky gravel into which a part of the upper bed had

been let down. I witnessed the finding of a pointed flint implement.

In character, the implements found at this spot much resemble those

from Redhill. They are, however, usually more rolled and waterworn.

There are but few pebbles from the Glacial Beds in the gravel, but

among these Canon Greenwell has found one of quartzite, with the ends

battered as if from its having been used as a hammer-stone.

[Illustration: Fig. 437.—Santon Downham.]

Remains of _Elephas primigenius_, and of horse, have been found here,

but as yet no land or freshwater shells.

The only specimen from this spot which I have thought it worth while

to engrave, is shown in Fig. 438. It presents a much narrower form

than is usual among the River-drift implements, and in outline closely

approximates to some of the neolithic rough-hewn celts. It is, |562|

however, much more convex on one face than on the other, and presents

what are apparently signs of wear along both the sides and the ends,

the broader of which is somewhat gouge-like in character.

In addition to the pit in the bluff facing the river, there is another

in the same gravel, but on the other side of the railway, which has

been here cut through the Drift deposits. In this also implements have

been found.

The next locality to be mentioned is on the Suffolk side of the

river, about two miles S.W. of Brandon Station. This spot has already

been described by Mr. Flower,[2535] under the name of Gravel Hill,

Brandon; it is also known as Brandon Down, or Brandon Field; and from

the contiguity of one of the pits to Brick-kiln Farm, Wangford, some

specimens from this place have been labelled as found at Wangford.

[Illustration: Fig. 438.—Bromehill, Brandon. 1∕2]

The gravel is worked on both sides of the point of a high ridge of

land, nearly at right angles to the course of the river, and about a

mile distant from it. The summit of the ridge between two of the pits

was found by Mr. Flower to be 91 feet above the level of the river at

its nearest point. The surface of the ground where gravel has been

dug is lower only by a few feet, and the beds possibly extend through

the ridge. Between the ridge and the higher land to the S.W. a valley

intervenes, along which the road to Mildenhall passes, so that the hill

on which the gravel reposes is isolated. The gravel is usually not

more than 10 feet in thickness, but often less, and it rests in some

places immediately on the chalk. It contains a very large proportion

of quartzite pebbles from the New Red Conglomerate, in some spots

more than 50 per cent. of the whole, as well as fragments of jasper,

clay-slate, quartz, greenstone and limestone; all derived from Glacial

Beds, from which also many of the flints appear to have come. The

matrix is of coarse red sand, and there is usually some thickness of

sand above the gravel. In some few places there are beds formed almost

exclusively of the quartzite pebbles; but Mr. Flower’s estimate of

their forming three fourths of the whole mass of gravel is, I believe,

very far in excess.

Flint implements have been found here in considerable numbers—at all

events, many hundreds. I have myself found several, and many flakes,

but all in gravel already dug and not _in situ_. They appear to occur

at all depths; but, as usual, for the most part, near |563| the base,

and occasionally resting on the chalk. A large proportion of them are

very rude, though they were evidently chipped into shape for some

particular purpose, and approximate to the more symmetrical specimens

in general form. It seems hardly worth while to figure any of these

roughly chipped implements, the character of which was no doubt in some

measure determined by the shape of the original blocks of flint from

which they were fashioned.

[Illustration: Fig. 439.—Gravel Hill, Brandon. 1∕2]

Mixed with these ruder tools or weapons, are some of much higher design

and finish. Mr. Flower had some remarkably beautiful specimens, in form

much like Fig. 472, from Milford Hill, two of which he bequeathed to

me. One of these is rather more than 9 inches long and 4 1∕2 inches

broad. Some of the flattened oval implements, such as are common at

Icklingham, occur also at Gravel Hill. I have one approaching the

circular form, the length being 3 1∕4 inches and the breadth 3 1∕8.

Those which I have selected for engraving are for the most part in my

own collection. Fig. 439 shows an unusually thick pointed specimen of

dark flint, with ochreous stains in places. This implement has been

dexterously made from a nodule of flint, |564| the original outer

skin of which is visible along the greater part of the ridge of one of

the faces. It has also been left on part of the butt, which, though

presenting some rather sharp angles, may have been intended to be held

in the hand.

[Illustration: Fig. 440.—Gravel Hill, Brandon. 1∕2]

I am not quite sure as to the locality along the course of the Little

Ouse from which the implement shown in Fig. 440 was obtained by Mr.

Flower, to whom it belonged, but it probably came from Gravel Hill. It

presents the peculiarity of being almost as much pointed at one end as

at the other. The depression in the centre is the result of a large

flake having been removed, and is probably accidental. Though pointed

at both ends, it seems probable that only one was intended for use, as

a small flat surface has been left at the other end, which unfits it

for cutting or piercing.

[Illustration: Fig. 441.—Gravel Hill, Brandon. 1∕2]

Flakes and spalls of flint are abundant in the gravel, though not often

noticed by the workmen. That shown in Fig. 441 was found by myself near

|565| Brick-kiln Farm. Except that the surface has undergone more

decomposition than is usual with flakes of the Neolithic Period, and

that it bears upon it some of those bright shining specks, so common on

flints from the gravel, there is nothing to distinguish it from one of

much more modern date. These bright or polished spots, which are very

minute, seem to indicate points of contact with other stones, and the

lustre upon them is probably due in part to pressure and in part to

friction. They are most apparent on dark-coloured flint, and afford one

of the tests of the authenticity of a worked flint professing to belong

to the River-drift Period.

[Illustration: Fig. 442.—Gravel Hill, Brandon. 1∕2]

One of the most interesting features at Gravel Hill is that there, for

the first time, were found cutting stone implements of the Palæolithic

Period formed of other materials than flint, chert, or quartzite. That

shown in Fig. 442, though so identical in form with many of the |566|

implements of flint, is formed of felstone, no doubt derived either

from the Boulder Clay or from some other of the Glacial Beds. One face

appears to show a considerable portion of the original surface of the

block of stone from which the instrument was fashioned, but the whole

surface is now somewhat decomposed, so much so, that it is difficult

to determine with certainty the nature of the material, which by some

has been regarded as diorite rather than felstone. One face has been

carefully chipped, the flakes having been removed in much the same

manner as if the substance wrought had been flint. At one part of the

other face there is a considerable shoulder between the central ridge

and the edge near the butt, where, owing to the ‘grain’ of the stone,

the flakes have run in and not come off kindly. The angles and edges

are slightly rounded.

Even the quartzite pebbles so abundant in this neighbourhood, were

occasionally utilized instead of flint. Mr. Flower obtained two pointed

instruments manufactured from such pebbles, one of which he bequeathed

to me. Lord Northesk had another well-formed ovate specimen. Another

has already been mentioned as having been found near Icklingham.

Another instrument, of a different form, was found by myself in the

gravel near Brick-kiln Farm, and is represented in Fig. 443. It is

a broad flake, having a well-marked cone of percussion on the flat

face. The other face shows, over nearly its whole extent, the original

surface of the quartzite pebble from which it has been formed. It has,

however, had a portion removed on one side of the cone, apparently to

produce a symmetrical form; and the whole of the edge at the broad end

of the flake has been trimmed by chipping from the flat face, so as to

produce a bevelled edge, which is now somewhat rounded, either by wear

in the gravel or by use. In character this implement is like those from

Santon Downham and Highbury (Figs. 437 and 453), or the side-scrapers

from the cave of Le Moustier.

[Illustration: Fig. 443.—Gravel Hill, Brandon. 1∕2]

* * * * *

On the opposite side of Wangford Fen, rather more than 2 1∕2 miles

S.W. of Gravel Hill, and 3∕4 mile E. of Lakenheath, close to Maid’s

Cross, is an isolated hill, about three miles distant from the Little

Ouse, locally known as the Broom, but distinguished on the old Ordnance

Map by the words, “The Old Churchyard.” The spot has been described

by Mr. Flower,[2536] with whom I have examined it. The greater part

of the hill is capped with gravel, in places |567| from 8 to 10 feet

thick, and of much the same character as that at Gravel Hill, but less

ferruginous, and not containing so many quartzite pebbles. The beds

here have not been excavated to the same extent as those near Brandon,

the gravel being only dug for the repairs of the parish roads; but

several well-fashioned implements have been found in them, mostly of

pointed form.

[Illustration: Fig. 444.—Valley of the Lark, or of the Little Ouse. 1∕2]

Some implements have also been found at a lower level in the gravel on

the slope of the hill towards the Fens, and close to the main street of

Lakenheath; amongst them one of ovate form most skilfully chipped into

shape.

* * * * *

The curious implement shown in Fig. 444, which was presented |568| to

me by Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., was procured from a Lakenheath workman,

but it is not certain whether it was found in the gravel near that

place, or in one of the pits near Brandon. It differs from all other

implements that I have seen from the River-drift, in having an oblique

hatchet-like edge at the end, so that the side-view somewhat resembles

that of the iron _Francisca_, of Saxon times. A considerable portion

of the original crust of the flint remains at the butt-end. Until

other specimens of the same form are discovered, it is hardly safe to

regard this as furnishing an example of a new type of implement; yet

its symmetry and character seem to prove that it was designedly chipped

into this form, to fulfil some special purpose.

* * * * *

It will be best to postpone any remarks as to the probable connection

of the beds near Lakenheath with the ancient course of the Lark and

Little Ouse, until I come to consider the geological aspects of the

whole case.

It was from a place called Botany Bay, near Brandon, that Mr. S. B. J.

Skertchly, F.G.S., of the Geological Survey, first obtained evidence on

which he founded the existence of the beds that he termed Brandon Beds,

which though containing palæolithic implements he regarded as occurring

below the Chalky Boulder-clay, and as, therefore, of Interglacial date.

The evidence that the implement-bearing beds are, at all events in the

Eastern Counties, later than the Boulder Clay is now beyond all cavil,

and, so far as I could judge, the supposed Boulder Clay lying above

the implement bed at Botany Bay was not in its original position, but

was either _remanié_ or had slipped down from a higher level. It is,

however, but fair to state that the Rev. O. Fisher,[2537] F.G.S., has

accepted Mr. Skertchly’s views, at all events with regard to some of

the localities, as to there having been three successive Palæolithic

Periods in Britain, each preceded and succeeded by a Glacial

Period.[2538] I can only say that I am not prepared to accept such a

view.

I must now proceed to describe another of the River-drift deposits in

the more immediate neighbourhood of the Little Ouse, and lower down its

course, at Shrub Hill, in the parish of Feltwell, Norfolk.

This too has been described by Mr. Flower in the paper to which I have

already so frequently referred. It has also been described by Mr. H.

Trigg,[2539] to whom flakes from this deposit were |569| brought, so

early as 1865. It caps a low-lying hill in the middle of the Fens,

about 8 miles nearly due W. of Brandon, and 1 mile N. of the present

course of the Little Ouse, and just to the N. of Fodder Fen Drove on

the old Ordnance Map. Mr. Flower states that the gravel here is about

12 feet in thickness, but that at the surface it is only 6 feet above

the river. Of course, however, the thickness varies, being often less

than 8 feet; and I am inclined to think that the elevation above

the river is somewhat underestimated. The gravel consists mainly of

subangular flints, mixed with some rolled chalk, a considerable number

of quartzite pebbles, and rolled fragments of other old rocks, derived

from the Glacial Beds higher up the river. It is in a very sandy

matrix, more or less ochreous at different spots. In places, the sand

predominates.

The Drift-beds rest upon the Gault clay, and not, as in most of the

cases already described, upon the Chalk. The implements found here

occur usually towards the base of the gravel, and as a rule are rolled

and waterworn. They have been found in considerable numbers, and of

various types, including many flakes. It will be remembered that a

barbed arrow-head and a partially polished stone celt were also found

here; from which it seems probable that in Neolithic times, Shrub

Hill formed a habitable spot in the midst of the Fens, or possibly

of the watery waste since choked up by vegetation. Teeth of _Elephas

primigenius_,[2540] and fragments of the horns of deer, and teeth of

some ruminant—probably deer also—and of a small horse, have been found

at Shrub Hill in the gravel, but I have searched in vain for testaceous

remains.

* * * * *

Among the implements found at Shrub Hill is one which is probably the

largest of its class as yet discovered in England or France, and which

was presented by the late Mr. Flower to the Christy Collection. It is

fully 11 1∕2 inches long and 5 1∕4 inches broad near the base. Its

greatest thickness is 3 inches. One face is much more highly ridged

than the other, and it has been boldly chipped with large facets. In

general form it resembles Fig. 445 from the same locality, but is

somewhat thicker and more elongated in its proportions, and is, as

nearly as may be, six times the length of the figure. It weighs 5 lbs.

7 oz.

An interesting account of large and heavy examples of palæolithic

implements has been compiled by Mr. Worthington Smith.[2541] The

heaviest is one formed of quartzite in the Central Museum at Madras. It

is 9 3∕4 inches long and 5 3∕4 wide with a weight of 6 1∕4 lbs.

The small specimen here shown as Fig. 445 was found in 1866, and is

less waterworn than is usual with Shrub-Hill implements, though its

|570| surface is beautifully sand-polished. It is of dark brown flint,

in places mottled with a fine amber colour. It shows a part of the

original crust of the flint at its base.

[Illustration: Fig. 445.—Shrub Hill, Feltwell. 1∕2]

[Illustration: Fig. 446.—Shrub Hill, Feltwell. 1∕2]

The same is the case with the implement shown in Fig. 446, which also

is in my own collection. It is a specimen of a thin broad type |571|

occasionally met with. Towards the point the edge bears all the

appearance of having been worn away by use as a scraping tool.

[Illustration: Fig. 447.—Shrub Hill, Feltwell. 1∕2]

Another implement of somewhat the same character, but thicker at the

butt, and having the sides rather straighter, so as to be more acutely

pointed, is shown in Fig. 447. The angles are much waterworn, and the

greater part of the base shows the natural crust of the flint.

The only other specimen which I have thought it worth while to engrave

from this locality (Fig. 448), shows a considerably smaller example of

the crescent-like implements, such as that already figured from Santon

Downham. It is, however, of coarser workmanship, and not so broad in

proportion to its length.

[Illustration: Fig. 448.—Shrub Hill, Feltwell. 1∕2]

Most of the forms which are found higher up the valley of the Little

Ouse occur also at Shrub Hill, and include some of the flattened oval

type. But as a rule, the general _facies_ of the implements is more

like that of |572| Redhill and Bromehill than that of either Santon

Downham or of Gravel Hill, Brandon.

The Little Ouse joins the main river about 4 miles N.W. of Shrub Hill;

and 5 miles N. of the junction the Ouse receives another affluent—the

Wissey or Stoke River, draining 243 square miles—along the course of

which, however, no palæolithic implements have as yet been found. The

same is the case with the valley of the Nar or Setchy, a river which

joins the Ouse just above King’s Lynn, a few miles before it discharges

into the Wash, and which drains an area of 131 square miles.

Along a great portion of its lower course the Ouse runs through a Fen

country, where, of course, no gravel is to be seen; but at Ash Wicken

and Leziate, a few miles E. of King’s Lynn, and at South Wootton, about

2 miles to its N., the late Rev. John Gunn, F.G.S., found Drift-beds

of apparently fluviatile character. In the gravels in a side valley

leading into the marshes, near the School at South Wootton, Mr. W.

H. Houghton, having been set upon the search for flint instruments

by Mr. Gunn, found, in 1884, a tongue-shaped specimen, 5 1∕4 inches

long, in form much like that from Shrub Hill (Fig. 447), but having

the whole surface worked, and having the flatter face slightly concave

longitudinally. It is stained all over of an ochreous colour, and shows

signs of use near the point, a part of which has been broken off. The

angles, though not sharp, are not waterworn. The late Mr. James Wyatt,

F.G.S., of Bedford, also found, in the year 1870, in gravel in a pit

near Lynn—the base of which is seldom reached on account of its lying

below the level of the water—an oval flint implement, well formed and

deeply stained, and another of rude workmanship.

Many miles to the east, but still in Norfolk, there is seen in the

cliff at West Runton,[2542] near Cromer, what appears to be the channel

of an old river, filled up with gravelly deposits. In these, at a depth

of 12 feet from the surface, and above a black freshwater bed, Mr. A.

C. Savin, of Cromer, in 1878, found _in situ_ a fine well-wrought ovate

implement of flint 4 3∕4 inches long. A few years later I found on the

sea-shore below, a large ochreous flake, apparently palæolithic, which

I gave to Mr. Savin.

About 3 miles S.W. of Runton, near Gallows or Gibbet Corner, in

Aylmerton parish, Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell found, in 1882, an ochreous

implement from the gravels capping the hill, not far from Sherringham

Heath. At East Runton,[2543] in the pre-glacial “Forest Bed,” Mr. W. J.

Lewis Abbott thinks that he has found worked flints. I fail, however,

to see any distinct marks of human workmanship upon his specimens.

With these discoveries in Norfolk and those near the mouth of the

river, my account of the basin of the Ouse ceases, but before

proceeding southwards I must record some others of the same kind.

Yorkshire lies far away from the usual scenes of palæolithic

discoveries, but I have seen a pointed implement (3 3∕4 inches), in

form like Fig. 419, that was found on the surface at Huntow, near

Bridlington. There is no record of its having been associated with any

remains of the Quaternary fauna.

In the first edition of this book I recorded my finding an implement

in form like Fig. 434, on a heap of stones near King’s Langley, within

|573| a short distance of the railway. As the staining and incrustation

upon it were unlike those on the stones of the local gravel, and

corresponded with those on the flints in the ballast of the railway, I

was inclined to refer the implement to that source, and to believe that

it had been brought from Oundle with the gravel, at that time used for

ballast. A visit to the pit proved unfruitful, but I suggested that in

all probability a prolonged search might result in adding the valley of

the Nene to those in which palæolithic implements have been found. My

suggestion has now been justified. In 1882 Mr. T. George, F.G.S., found

in a ballast pit at Elton, about 5 miles N. of Oundle, an ochreous

pointed implement, in colour and appearance identical with mine from

Langley, and kindly added it to my collection.

At Overton Longville, or Little Orton, two miles S.W. of Peterborough,

a spot visited by Sir Joseph Prestwich and myself in search of

palæolithic implements about 1861, some were found a few years ago by

the late Dowager Marchioness of Huntly.[2544]

* * * * *

The next valley to be considered is that of the Waveney, a river which,

after a circuitous course of 53 miles, joins the Yare a few miles S.W.

of Yarmouth, and passes through Breydon Water to the sea. It takes its

rise, as has already been stated, at Lopham Ford, close by the source

of the Little Ouse.

Up to the present time there is but one locality known in its valley,

where palæolithic flint implements have been found; but this is of

peculiar interest, on account of the discoveries having been observed

and recorded before the close of the last century, and, therefore,

at a time when speculations as to the great antiquity of the human

race can hardly be said to have commenced. And yet Mr. John Frere,

F.R.S.,[2545] in the concise and able account which he gives of the

discovery, shows himself to have been so much struck by the situation

in which the implements were found as to be tempted to refer them “to

a very remote period, indeed, even beyond that of the present world.”

Mr. Frere states that the implements or weapons, as he terms them,

lay in great numbers at the depth of about 12 feet, in a stratified

soil, which was dug into for the purpose of raising clay for bricks;

and he gives a section of the strata. He states that shells, which he

erroneously regarded as marine, occurred in sand at a depth of 9 feet,

together with bones of great size, and that below this, in a gravelly

soil, the flints were found. His account is illustrated by excellent

engravings of two of the implements, which I was enabled to reproduce

in illustration of my first Essay on Flint Implements from the Drift,

in 1859, and which have since been copied, on a smaller |574| scale in

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times.”[2546] Mr. Frere presented some specimens

of the Hoxne implements to the Society of Antiquaries, which are still

preserved in their museum; and it was my seeing these, on my return

from Amiens and Abbeville, in 1859, that again directed attention to

this most interesting discovery.

Sir Joseph Prestwich, F.R.S., in his admirable Papers on Flint

Implements and their containing Beds, published in the _Philosophical

Transactions_[2547] for 1860 and 1864, has given full details of the

contour of the surrounding country, and of the section at that time

exposed in the brick-field visited by Mr. Frere more than sixty years

before, which is still in operation. It is situated to the S.W. of the

village of Hoxne, in Suffolk, and close to Fairstead Farm; Hoxne itself

being about 4 miles to the east and slightly to the south of the market

town of Diss, which is on the other, or Norfolk, side of the Waveney.

The Drift deposits rest in a kind of trough, in the Boulder Clay[2548]

which caps all the neighbouring hills, and forms a sort of table-land

through which the small valleys are cut. The top of the freshwater beds

reaches within 6 or 8 feet of the summit of the hill of which they

form an unbroken and uniform part. Their upper surface is about 40

feet above the neighbouring Goldstream, from which they are not more

than 200 yards distant, and 50 feet above the Waveney, of which the

Goldstream is a tributary, and which flows within about a mile of the

spot. The present configuration of the surface is totally unconnected

with these beds of Drift, and must have been produced after they were

deposited.

* * * * *

The part of the pit which was being worked in 1859 exhibited the

following section:—

1. Surface soil, with a few flints 2 feet.

2. Brick-earth, consisting of a light-brown sandy

clay, divided by an irregular layer of carbonaceous

clay 12 feet.

3. Yellow sub-angular gravel 6 in. to 1 foot.

4. Grey clay, in places peaty, and containing

bones, wood, and freshwater and land shells 2 to 4 feet.

5. Sub-angular flint gravel 2 feet.

6. Blue clay, containing freshwater shells 10 feet.

7. Peaty clay, with much woody matter 6 feet.

8. Hard clay 1 foot.

The thickness of these lower beds was ascertained by Sir Joseph |575|

Prestwich and myself by boring, as the pit was not worked below the bed

of clay, No. 4. In another part of the pit we had a trench dug, which

exhibited the following section:-

1. Ochreous sand and gravel, passing down into

white sand 4 ft. 9 in.

2. Seams of white and ochreous gravel 1 ft. 8 in.

3. Light grey sandy clay 0 ft. 8 in.

4. Coarse yellow gravel 1 ft. 0 in.

5. Grey and brown clay, with abundance of

_Bythinia_ 2 ft. 4 in.

6. Boulder Clay 1 ft. 0 in.

In the gravel thrown out from Bed No. 4, I found an implement in form

like Fig. 433, but which had lost its point through having been struck

by the pick of the workman.

[Illustration: Fig. 449.—Hoxne. 1∕2]

The mammalian remains, which had then recently been found in this

pit, consisted of those of deer, horse, and elephant. The shells

comprised _Cyclas_, _Pisidium_, _Unio_, _Bythinia_, _Helix_, _Limnæa_,

_Planorbis_, _Succinea_, and _Valvata_. Among the remains of trees,

those of oak, yew, and fir had been recognized.

Implements[2549] still continue to be found from time to time in this

pit. Several of those found long since are also extant, in addition to

those already mentioned. One of pointed form was in the Meyrick[2550]

Collection of Armour, and is stated to have been found 12 feet below

the surface of the ground, and to have once been in the Leverian

Museum. |576| I have another of much the same character, which was

sold by auction in London as an ancient British spear-head, but which

I at once recognized as Palæolithic, and after purchasing it, found my

opinion confirmed by the word _Hoxne_ being written on its base.

In the account given by Mr. Frere, it is stated that the implements

had been found in such quantities that they had been thrown into

the ruts of the adjoining road, and it therefore appeared probable

that in the disturbed upper soil of the worked-out parts of the pit,

some implements still existed. I accordingly made search for them,

and succeeded in discovering, besides several flakes—one of which is

5 inches long and 2 inches broad—three implements, of which one is

engraved in Fig. 449. It will be observed that a flat place has been

left on one of the side edges of this instrument, probably to allow of

its being held comfortably in the hand, so as to serve for a rude kind

of knife.

Two remarkably fine specimens—one of them much like that from Reculver,

Fig. 459, and the other somewhat more irregular in form but also

round-pointed—were likewise found in the disturbed soil by Mr. Charles

M. Doughty, of Caius College, Cambridge, and are now in the Woodwardian

Museum. There are other specimens in the Christy Collection. A pointed

implement from this place has been figured by Prestwich.[2551]

[Illustration: Fig. 450.—Hoxne.]

Another of these very acutely pointed implements is shown in Fig.

450, the original of which is in my own collection. It presents the

peculiarity, which is by no means uncommon in ovate implements, of

having the side edges not in one plane but forming a sort of ogee curve

like that of Fig. 434. In this instance, the blade is twisted to such

an extent that a line, drawn through the two edges near the point, is

at an angle of at least 45° to a line through the edges at the broadest

part of the implement. I think, however, that this twisting of the

edges was not in this case intended to serve any particular purpose,

but was rather the accidental result of the method pursued in chipping

the flint into its present form. Curiously enough, one of the specimens

presented by Mr. Frere[2552] to the Society of Antiquaries exhibits

the same peculiarity, and, indeed, so closely resembles mine, that

they might have been both made by the same hand. An essay on the Hoxne

deposits by the late Mr. Thomas Belt, F.G.S., will be found in the

_Quarterly Journal of Science_.[2553] |577|

* * * * *

I have left my original account of this locality almost unaltered, but

the whole circumstances of the deposit have now been most thoroughly

and satisfactorily investigated. In 1888 Mr. Clement Reid, F.G.S.,

and Mr. H. N. Ridley, F.L.S., communicated a paper to the British

Association,[2554] calling attention to the presence of fossil Arctic

plants in the lacustrine deposits at Hoxne. This was followed, in

1895, by some further[2555] notes on the deposits by the same authors,

with the result that a small committee, of which I was chairman, was

appointed by the Association,[2556] “to ascertain by excavations at

Hoxne, the relation of the Palæolithic deposits to the Boulder Clay,

and to the deposits with Arctic and Temperate plants.” A sum of money,

subsequently supplemented by a grant from the Royal Society, enabled

Mr. Clement Reid, Messrs. E. P. and H. N. Ridley, to carry out the

necessary borings and excavations, while Miss Morse aided in washing

out specimens, and Mr. Mitten in determining the species of the mosses.

I cannot here enter into the details of the case, but must refer the

reader to the “Report of the Committee”[2557] for them. The general

results of the examination are as follows.

The deposits lie in a valley excavated in the Chalky Boulder Clay of

the district, through which a stream ran, probably connected with the

valley of the Waveney. By subsidence the channel of the stream was

converted into the bed of a freshwater lake which gradually silted up,

and its site became covered with a dense thicket of alders. From some

cause or other, lacustrine conditions reappeared and 20 feet more of

freshwater strata were deposited, but the climate had become Arctic or

sub-Arctic. Then followed floods which deposited the implement-bearing

beds, and finally the strata became sandy. During the formation and the

silting up of the channel, the climatic conditions seem to have changed

at least twice, having been at one time mild and then again Arctic. To

use the words of the report: “The Palæolithic deposits at Hoxne are

therefore not only later than the latest Boulder Clay of East Anglia,

but are separated from it by two climatic waves, with corresponding

changes of the flora. Such sweeping changes cannot have been local.

They must have affected wide areas.”

Subsequently, however, to the Palæolithic beds being deposited,

all traces of the shores of the old lake have disappeared, and but

for artificial excavations the surface of the ground would give no

indication either of a stream or lake having existed at the spot. |578|

Though terraces of gravel are found at various places along the course

of the Waveney, and apparently of the same age as those of the Little

Ouse valley, yet up to the present time no discoveries of implements

in them have been recorded, although it seems improbable that it is at

Hoxne alone that implements exist.

In the gravels of the valleys of the Gipping, and other small streams

between the Waveney and the Stour, no works of man have as yet been

discovered; but in a pit worked for ballast, near Melford Junction, on

the Great Eastern Railway, and at no great distance from the Stour,

the late Mr. Henry Trigg discovered one or two implements of flint,

and a portion of a tooth of _Elephas primigenius_. Some worked flints

have also been found in the gravel at Sudbury, Suffolk, and some

palæolithic implements in the valley of the Stour, north of Colchester.

In the cliff at Stutton, opposite Manningtree, is a freshwater deposit

containing many shells of _Corbicula fluminalis_. Numbers of these

washed out from the cliff are lying on the shore, and among them I

found, in 1883, a broad flake about 3 inches long, which has all the

appearance of being palæolithic. At Lexden Park,[2558] near Colchester,

Mr. Edward Laver has found a small ovate implement with a cutting

edge all round, ogival in character. Some other specimens have been

discovered to the north of Colchester. On the banks of the Ter, a

tributary of the Chelmer, Mr. J. French[2559] has found two palæolithic

implements near Felstead; and in 1883, at North End Place, 1 1∕2 miles

south of Felstead, the Rev. A. L. Rowe, F.G.S., picked up a rudely

chipped heavy oval implement of quartzite (6 inches) which he has

kindly added to my collection.

The valleys of the small rivers between the Stour and the Thames, the

Colne, the Blackwater, and the Crouch, have up to the present time

produced no relics of human workmanship, though I have seen a rudely

worked flint, apparently from gravel, which was found on the sea-shore

by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., a little to the north of the mouth of the

Colne.

Before proceeding to discuss the discoveries that have been made within

the basin of the Thames and in the Southern counties, I must call

attention to one that was made in 1890 in the Midland Counties, not far

from Birmingham.

The old gravels of the river Rea at Saltley, Warwickshire, have for a

long time been subjected to a careful examination by Mr. Joseph Landon,

F.G.S., of Saltley College, in the hope of |579| finding in them some

relics of human workmanship; and his search has been rewarded by the

discovery of the undoubted palæolithic implement, which through his

kindness I am able to exhibit in Fig. 450A. It is 4 inches in length

and has been formed from a brown quartzite pebble which, by dexterous

chipping, has been brought into a nearly symmetrical form with a

sharp point and edge. It much resembles one from the Robin Hood Cave,

Creswell Crags, Fig. 413A.

[Illustration: Fig. 450A.—Saltley. 1∕2]

The valley of the river Rea runs at Saltley in a more or less N.N.E.

direction, and is about a mile in width. Several stretches of gravel

are found at different heights on both sides of the valley, but

especially on the southern side. The highest and oldest gravels on

this side are exposed in a clay-pit just in front of Saltley College,

and are about 3 feet in thickness. They consist in the main of small

quartzite pebbles in a light-brown sandy matrix, though some large

pebbles and a few broken foreign flints also occur, and below the sandy

beds is a layer, 3 or 4 feet thick, of Glacial clay and sand, with

pebbles and boulders (Arenig felsite, &c.), and below this again come

the Keuper marls, which are used for brick-making. The level of the top

of the gravels is 395 feet above Ordnance Datum and that of the river

is about |580| 315 feet, so that the valley must have been excavated

to the depth of at least 80 feet since the gravels were deposited.

The implement was found at the base of the sandy gravel at a distance

of about 60 yards from the front of Saltley College. In the same beds

and in a small area, some 10 yards square, were found a number of

fractured quartzite pebbles, which though not presenting such distinct

signs of design may possibly owe their forms to human workmanship.

Some of the chipped pieces of quartzite in the caves of Creswell Crags

are rude in the extreme. The discovery of this well-fashioned specimen

suggests some interesting considerations.

It has been held that the absence of palæolithic implements in Britain

north of an imaginary line drawn from about the mouth of the Severn

to the Wash, is due to glacial conditions having prevailed in the

north-west part of England and in Scotland at the time when the makers

of these early tools or weapons occupied the southern and eastern parts

of this country, which, however, in those days was not an island but

was still connected with the Continent.

The question now arises whether the assumed absence of palæolithic

implements over this area may not be due to their not having as yet

been found, and not to their non-existence.

It must be remembered:—

1st. That flint is extremely scarce over a great part of the area, and

therefore that any implements would almost of necessity have to be

formed from some other material, such as quartzite or one of the older

rocks.

2nd. That in the case of implements made of such materials, the

evidences of human workmanship are not so conspicuous or so easily

recognized as on those formed of flint.

3rd. That owing to the nature of the rocks over which the ancient

rivers flowed, the alluvial deposits within the area in question are of

quite a different character from those formed in districts where flint

abounds.

4th. That such alluvial deposits are not so constantly being excavated

for economic purposes, and consequently not so open to examination as

ordinary flint gravels, and that implements made from such materials as

quartzite being probably more difficult to make, they would be fewer in

number over a given area and also more highly treasured.

Even in the case of cave-deposits we have seen how, in those of

|581| Creswell Crags, a locality which lies within the presumed

non-implementiferous district, all the larger implements were made from

quartzite, some of the tools being so rude that human workmanship can

hardly be recognized upon them. I therefore venture to think that if

competent observers like Mr. Landon will devote their attention to the

ancient gravel-like alluvial deposits of our northern rivers, and seek

for implements not formed of flint but of quartzite or some other of

the older rocks, their search will be rewarded. In some of the Welsh

caves the implements were for the most part made of felstone and chert.

The finding in the neighbourhood of Bridlington of a flint implement

of a distinctly palæolithic type, seems to afford corroborative

evidence in favour of extending the area of such discoveries, though it

must be admitted that so far as at present known it was not lying in

association with any remains of the pleistocene fauna.

It may be incidentally mentioned that palæolithic implements of

quartzite, and even of Tertiary sandstones, occur though rarely in

districts in which flint abounds. Possibly it was found that this

material was tougher and less brittle than flint, and therefore better

adapted for certain uses when the sharpness of the edge was not of

primary importance. Most of the implements from India are formed of

a quartzite which is more easily chipped into form than that of our

English pebbles.

I now come to the important district drained by the Thames and its

affluents, which comprises an area of upwards of 5,000 square miles.

The number of localities within this area, where discoveries have been

made in the ancient River-drift, has greatly increased since 1872, and

at some of them palæolithic implements have been found in abundance.

[Illustration: Fig. 451.—Gray’s Inn Lane. 1∕1]

The Thames valley may moreover lay claim to the first recorded

discovery of any flint implement in the Quaternary gravels, whether in

this or any other country. An implement is preserved in the British

Museum to which my attention was first directed by Sir A. Wollaston

Franks, and which is thus described in the Sloane Catalogue:—“No.

246. A British weapon found, with elephant’s tooth, opposite to black

Mary’s, near Grayes Inn Lane. _Conyers._ It is a large black flint

shaped into the figure of a spear’s point. K.” This K. signifies that

it formed a portion of Kemp’s collection. It appears to have been found

at the close of the seventeenth century, and a rude engraving of it

illustrates a letter on the antiquities of London, by Mr. Bagford,

dated in 1715, and printed |583| in Hearne’s edition of Leland’s

“Collectanea.”[2560] From his account it would seem that a skeleton of

an elephant was found not far from Battlebridge by Mr. Conyers, and

that near the place where it was found, “a British weapon made of a

flint lance, like unto the head of a spear, was dug up.”

A full-sized engraving of this implement illustrated my first notice of

these discoveries, in the _Archæologia_,[2561] and is here reproduced

as Fig. 451. As will be seen, it is remarkably similar in form to that

from Santon Downham, Fig. 433, though rather larger in size. During

some excavations in Gray’s Inn Lane[2562] in 1883 and 1884, several

palæolithic implements of different forms were found; but none I think

so fine as that described by Leland. One found in Clerkenwell Road

in 1883 by Mr. G. F. Lawrence,[2563] was, however, slightly larger.

Another implement was found in Drury Lane,[2564] and others from

Jermyn Street and Prince’s Street, Oxford Street, are in the Museum of

Economic Geology.