The part of the pit which was being worked in 1859 exhibited the following section:—1. Surface soil, with a few flints2 feet.2. Brick-earth, consisting of a light-brown sandy clay, divided by an irregular layer of carbonaceous clay12 feet.3. Yellow sub-angular gravel6 in. to 1 foot.4. Grey clay, in places peaty, and containing bones, wood, and freshwater and land shells2 to 4 feet.5. Sub-angular flint gravel2 feet.6. Blue clay, containing freshwater shells10 feet.7. Peaty clay, with much woody matter6 feet.8. Hard clay1 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 sand4 ft. 9 in.2. Seams of white and ochreous gravel1 ft. 8 in.3. Light grey sandy clay0 ft. 8 in.4. Coarse yellow gravel1 ft. 0 in.5. Grey and brown clay, with abundance ofBythinia2 ft. 4 in.6. Boulder Clay1 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.Fig. 449.—Hoxne.1â„2The mammalian remains, which had then recently been found in this pit, consisted of those of deer, horse, and elephant. The shells comprisedCyclas,Pisidium,Unio,Bythinia,Helix,Limnæa,Planorbis,Succinea, andValvata. 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 wordHoxnebeing 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.Fig. 450.—Hoxne.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]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 theQuarterly Journal of Science.[2553]{577}
The part of the pit which was being worked in 1859 exhibited the following section:—
1. Surface soil, with a few flints2 feet.2. Brick-earth, consisting of a light-brown sandy clay, divided by an irregular layer of carbonaceous clay12 feet.3. Yellow sub-angular gravel6 in. to 1 foot.4. Grey clay, in places peaty, and containing bones, wood, and freshwater and land shells2 to 4 feet.5. Sub-angular flint gravel2 feet.6. Blue clay, containing freshwater shells10 feet.7. Peaty clay, with much woody matter6 feet.8. Hard clay1 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 sand4 ft. 9 in.2. Seams of white and ochreous gravel1 ft. 8 in.3. Light grey sandy clay0 ft. 8 in.4. Coarse yellow gravel1 ft. 0 in.5. Grey and brown clay, with abundance ofBythinia2 ft. 4 in.6. Boulder Clay1 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.
Fig. 449.—Hoxne.1â„2
Fig. 449.—Hoxne.1â„2
The mammalian remains, which had then recently been found in this pit, consisted of those of deer, horse, and elephant. The shells comprisedCyclas,Pisidium,Unio,Bythinia,Helix,Limnæa,Planorbis,Succinea, andValvata. 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 wordHoxnebeing 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.
Fig. 450.—Hoxne.
Fig. 450.—Hoxne.
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]
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 theQuarterly 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 Committeeâ€[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.â€
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 ofElephas 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 ofCorbicula 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,11â„2miles 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.
Fig.450A.—Saltley.1â„2
Fig.450A.—Saltley.1â„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.
Fig. 451.—Gray’s Inn Lane.1â„1
Fig. 451.—Gray’s Inn Lane.1â„1
Fig. 451.—Gray’s Inn Lane.1â„1
Fig. 451.—Gray’s Inn Lane.1â„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.â€[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.â€
A full-sized engraving of this implement illustrated my first notice of these discoveries, in theArchæologia,[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.
Fig. 452.—Hackney Down.1â„2
Fig. 452.—Hackney Down.1â„2
Before describing the recent discoveries which have been made higher up the valleys of the Thames and its affluents, it will be well to discuss the various localities in the immediate neighbourhood of London, so as not to disturb the sequence of the Figures which is necessarily that of my first edition. It will be needless to do this at any great length, as the principal investigator of the gravels around London, to whom indeed the greater part of the discoveries are due—Mr. Worthington G. Smith—has given full particulars in his excellent book, “Man, the Primeval Savage.â€[2565]
In the British Museum is an oval implement, formerly in the collection of the late Rev. Dr. Sparrow Simpson, F.S.A., shown in{584}Fig. 452, and found by Mr. G. H. Gaviller in gravel dug at Hackney Down, to the north-east of London, and not far from Shacklewell. It is of ochreous flint, slightly rolled, and in form remarkably like that from Bournemouth, Fig. 476. Though the exact place whence it came is unknown, there can be no doubt of its belonging to the Hackney Down gravels, which may be regarded as identical in age and character with those of Shacklewell, which have been described by Sir Joseph Prestwich.[2566]The surface of the ground at Hackney Down[2567]is 70 feet above Ordnance Datum, and in 1866 a shaft was there sunk through gravel and sand, to a depth of 22 feet. In the sandy beds at the base Mr. G. J. Smith[2568]discovered numerous land and freshwater shells, and among them theHydrobia marginata—already mentioned as having been found in the Bedford Drift, and as being no longer an inhabitant of Britain—and theCorbicula fluminalis, which has already been cited as occurring near Cambridge, and of which more will be said immediately. The Shacklewell gravel mainly consists of subangular broken flints, some large flints but little worn, Lower Tertiary pebbles, a few quartz and sandstone pebbles, and some rolled blocks of hard Tertiary sandstone. In the pit described by Sir Joseph Prestwich there is, at a depth of about 8 feet, a bed of sandy clay intercalated in the gravel, and containing mammalian remains, numerous land and freshwater shells, and remains of oak, elm, alder, and hazel. The group of shells procured here resembles that of the Salisbury Drift, of which mention will be made hereafter.Since 1854, when his paper was read, numerous specimens of theCorbicula fluminalis, or, as it was formerly called, theCyrena consobrina, have been found here by Sir Joseph Prestwich, Sir Charles Lyell,[2569]and others, including myself. This shell, of a mollusc no longer living in Europe, though still found in the Nile and in several Asiatic rivers, has also been found in the Drift deposits of the Somme at Menchecourt, near Abbeville, associated with flint implements; and is likewise to be met with in the drift deposits of the Thames at Gray’s Thurrock, Ilford, Erith, and Crayford, in several of which implements have now been found. The beds at these places have by some geologists been regarded as belonging to an older and Pre-glacial period; but the discovery of an implement at Hackney Down raises a presumption that the gravel there is, like other flint implement-bearing gravels, Post-glacial; and the discovery of an implement in beds of fluviatile origin at a still higher level than those of Hackney Down corroborates this view, as the lower bed is probably the more modern.The fluviatile beds in question were exposed in two brick-pits at Highbury New Park, near Stoke Newington, and attention was first called to them in August, 1868,[2570]by the late Mr. Alfred Tylor, F.G.S. The surface of the ground at the more eastern of these two pits is, according to Mr. Tylor, 102 feet above Ordnance Datum; and 22 feet below the surface there is a bed of clay 2 feet thick, full of land and freshwater shells, accompanied by much wood. There are{585}also shells in the lower part of the reddish loam or brick-earth immediately above the clay. The shells are said to consist ofHelix,Zua,Clausilia,Succinea,Carychium,Limnæa,Planorbis,Valvata,Pisidium, andCyclas; to which Mr. J. Wood Mason, F.G.S.,[2571]addedAchatina,Bythinia,Pupa, andVelletia.On reading the account of this discovery, I was at once impressed with the possibility of the occurrence of palæolithic implements in the deposit; and accordingly in September, 1868, I visited the pit with the view of searching for them, taking with me my youngest son, Norman, who had a quick eye, and an almost instinctive power of recognizing a worked flint. Our search was soon rewarded, for immediately on descending into the lower part of the pit, where the shell-bearing beds were exposed, my son picked up the remarkably well-formed implement shown in Fig. 453. It was notin situ, but was lying in the bottom of the pit; and judging from the staining upon a portion of its surface, it appears to have been derived from the brick-earth, rather than from the more shelly beds below.Fig. 453.—Highbury New Park.1â„2It is well adapted for being held in the hand as a sort of knife or chopper, having a thick rounded back formed of the natural crust of the nodule of flint from which it was formed. One face of it has been the result of a single blow, and its surface is that of a portion of a what irregular cone, at the apex of which the blow was struck, by{586}which it was produced. The other face, as will be seen by the figure, has been fashioned by first roughly chipping the implement to a curved edge, by blows administered on the flatter face, and then neatly trimming this edge to a regular sweep by secondary chipping. The ends have also been trimmed into shape. At the upper end, as shown in the figure, a small piece has been broken off, but otherwise the edge is uninjured. In character it is identical with the implement from the Santon Downham gravel, Fig. 437, and it closely resembles some of the large trimmed flakes from High Lodge, near Mildenhall, and the “choppers†from the cave of Le Moustier. The surface of the flint is stained ochreous in places, and presents much the same appearance as do some of the implements from the brick-earth at Hoxne.It was in consequence of my publication of these discoveries that the attention of Mr. Worthington Smith was directed to the gravels of North-Eastern London, among which his labours have been crowned with such marked success. Not only has he found palæolithic implements in the City,[2572]Gray’s Inn Lane, Clerkenwell, London Fields, Dalston, Kingsland, Homerton, Hackney, Lower Clapton, Upper Clapton, Stamford Hill, Mildmay Park, South Hornsey, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, and Shacklewell, but he has been able to identify the old surface of the ground, which was occupied by the early men who chipped out the implements. To this old land-surface he has given the name of the “Palæolithic floor,†and he has been able to trace its existence over a considerable area of ground on the western as well as the eastern side of the river Lea.[2573]It consists of a stratum of five or six inches of subangular ochreous gravel, in some places, however, only one or two inches in thickness, or only visible as a tone of colour. On, and imbedded in this floor among rolled and waterworn stones and bones, black, sharp and unabraded implements of flint occur, together with flakes which, in some instances, have been susceptible of being replaced in their original juxtaposition. Below the floor are usually thin beds of sand containing shells of land and freshwater mollusca, and beds of gravel, sometimes as much as 12 feet thick, containing palæolithic implements more or less abraded. The sand is not always present. Above the floor are usually contorted loamy beds of “warp and trail,†generally 4 to 6 feet thick, including the superficial humus. These seem to be of subaërial origin and may be due to a lengthened prevalence of a cold and rainy climate. The fauna of the gravels is described as includingFelis spelæa,Hyæna,Elephas primigenius,E. antiquus,Rhinoceros megarhinus,R. leptorhinus, andR. tichorhinus,Cervus tarandus, andMegaceros hibernicus. Remains ofAntilope Saïgahave, I believe, been also found. Among the testaceous remainsCorbicula fluminalisandHydrobia marginatahave already been noted.Another diligent investigator of the gravels of North-East London, who has also treated of the Palæolithic floor, is Mr. J. E. Greenhill.[2574]He has given some interesting sections, showing how the waterworn, abraded implements underlie those of the Palæolithic floor which are quite unworn.[2575]Professor Rupert Jones, F.R.S., has also written on{587}the subject. The best geological account is that given by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S.[2576]By the kindness of Mr. Worthington Smith most of the important specimens that he has found are now in my collection. I am further indebted to him for the use of the blocks illustrating some of the implements.[2577]Fig. 453Aexhibits a finely pointed implement from Lower Clapton. Its surface is lustrous and it shows at its butt part of the original crust of the nodule of flint out of which it was chipped.Fig.453A.—Lower Clapton.1â„2The fine ovate implement,[2578]Fig.453B,came from the 12 feet stratum at Stamford Hill. It is of dark colour, lustrous, and has the angles slightly abraded.A small example from the Palæolithic floor at Stoke Newington is shown in Fig.453C.[2579]The edges are still quite sharp, and at one place there appear to be traces of use. A quartzite[2580]implement from the same locality is shown in Fig.453D.Fig.453B.—Stamford Hill.1â„2Fig.453C.—Stoke Newington Common.1â„2Implements presumably of Palæolithic Age have been found in the bed of the Thames. One from Battersea is of peculiar form, with a{588}truncated butt, and has been presented to the Christy Collection by Sir A. Wollaston Franks, F.R.S. Another from Hammersmith is in the same collection, having been formerly in that of the late Rev. Dr. Sparrow Simpson, F.S.A. It is81â„4inches long, and much resembles that from Reculver, Fig. 458, though somewhat longer in its proportions and thicker in the butt. It is much rolled and water-worn, so that it has probably belonged to a bed of gravel at a much higher level than that from which it was dredged up. Another(55â„16inches) from the bed of the Thames at the Chelsea Suspension Bridge was found by Mr. Lambton Young, C.E., in 1854, before general attention had been directed to such relics. Mr. G. F. Lawrence, of Wandsworth, has ovate specimens from the Thames, at Wandsworth, Battersea, Putney, and Richmond, all but the latter much rolled.It will be most convenient to reserve the discoveries in the South of London and in the valley of the{589}Lea for future pages, and to proceed up the Thames valley towards its sources.
In the British Museum is an oval implement, formerly in the collection of the late Rev. Dr. Sparrow Simpson, F.S.A., shown in{584}Fig. 452, and found by Mr. G. H. Gaviller in gravel dug at Hackney Down, to the north-east of London, and not far from Shacklewell. It is of ochreous flint, slightly rolled, and in form remarkably like that from Bournemouth, Fig. 476. Though the exact place whence it came is unknown, there can be no doubt of its belonging to the Hackney Down gravels, which may be regarded as identical in age and character with those of Shacklewell, which have been described by Sir Joseph Prestwich.[2566]The surface of the ground at Hackney Down[2567]is 70 feet above Ordnance Datum, and in 1866 a shaft was there sunk through gravel and sand, to a depth of 22 feet. In the sandy beds at the base Mr. G. J. Smith[2568]discovered numerous land and freshwater shells, and among them theHydrobia marginata—already mentioned as having been found in the Bedford Drift, and as being no longer an inhabitant of Britain—and theCorbicula fluminalis, which has already been cited as occurring near Cambridge, and of which more will be said immediately. The Shacklewell gravel mainly consists of subangular broken flints, some large flints but little worn, Lower Tertiary pebbles, a few quartz and sandstone pebbles, and some rolled blocks of hard Tertiary sandstone. In the pit described by Sir Joseph Prestwich there is, at a depth of about 8 feet, a bed of sandy clay intercalated in the gravel, and containing mammalian remains, numerous land and freshwater shells, and remains of oak, elm, alder, and hazel. The group of shells procured here resembles that of the Salisbury Drift, of which mention will be made hereafter.
Since 1854, when his paper was read, numerous specimens of theCorbicula fluminalis, or, as it was formerly called, theCyrena consobrina, have been found here by Sir Joseph Prestwich, Sir Charles Lyell,[2569]and others, including myself. This shell, of a mollusc no longer living in Europe, though still found in the Nile and in several Asiatic rivers, has also been found in the Drift deposits of the Somme at Menchecourt, near Abbeville, associated with flint implements; and is likewise to be met with in the drift deposits of the Thames at Gray’s Thurrock, Ilford, Erith, and Crayford, in several of which implements have now been found. The beds at these places have by some geologists been regarded as belonging to an older and Pre-glacial period; but the discovery of an implement at Hackney Down raises a presumption that the gravel there is, like other flint implement-bearing gravels, Post-glacial; and the discovery of an implement in beds of fluviatile origin at a still higher level than those of Hackney Down corroborates this view, as the lower bed is probably the more modern.
The fluviatile beds in question were exposed in two brick-pits at Highbury New Park, near Stoke Newington, and attention was first called to them in August, 1868,[2570]by the late Mr. Alfred Tylor, F.G.S. The surface of the ground at the more eastern of these two pits is, according to Mr. Tylor, 102 feet above Ordnance Datum; and 22 feet below the surface there is a bed of clay 2 feet thick, full of land and freshwater shells, accompanied by much wood. There are{585}also shells in the lower part of the reddish loam or brick-earth immediately above the clay. The shells are said to consist ofHelix,Zua,Clausilia,Succinea,Carychium,Limnæa,Planorbis,Valvata,Pisidium, andCyclas; to which Mr. J. Wood Mason, F.G.S.,[2571]addedAchatina,Bythinia,Pupa, andVelletia.
On reading the account of this discovery, I was at once impressed with the possibility of the occurrence of palæolithic implements in the deposit; and accordingly in September, 1868, I visited the pit with the view of searching for them, taking with me my youngest son, Norman, who had a quick eye, and an almost instinctive power of recognizing a worked flint. Our search was soon rewarded, for immediately on descending into the lower part of the pit, where the shell-bearing beds were exposed, my son picked up the remarkably well-formed implement shown in Fig. 453. It was notin situ, but was lying in the bottom of the pit; and judging from the staining upon a portion of its surface, it appears to have been derived from the brick-earth, rather than from the more shelly beds below.
Fig. 453.—Highbury New Park.1â„2
Fig. 453.—Highbury New Park.1â„2
It is well adapted for being held in the hand as a sort of knife or chopper, having a thick rounded back formed of the natural crust of the nodule of flint from which it was formed. One face of it has been the result of a single blow, and its surface is that of a portion of a what irregular cone, at the apex of which the blow was struck, by{586}which it was produced. The other face, as will be seen by the figure, has been fashioned by first roughly chipping the implement to a curved edge, by blows administered on the flatter face, and then neatly trimming this edge to a regular sweep by secondary chipping. The ends have also been trimmed into shape. At the upper end, as shown in the figure, a small piece has been broken off, but otherwise the edge is uninjured. In character it is identical with the implement from the Santon Downham gravel, Fig. 437, and it closely resembles some of the large trimmed flakes from High Lodge, near Mildenhall, and the “choppers†from the cave of Le Moustier. The surface of the flint is stained ochreous in places, and presents much the same appearance as do some of the implements from the brick-earth at Hoxne.
It was in consequence of my publication of these discoveries that the attention of Mr. Worthington Smith was directed to the gravels of North-Eastern London, among which his labours have been crowned with such marked success. Not only has he found palæolithic implements in the City,[2572]Gray’s Inn Lane, Clerkenwell, London Fields, Dalston, Kingsland, Homerton, Hackney, Lower Clapton, Upper Clapton, Stamford Hill, Mildmay Park, South Hornsey, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, and Shacklewell, but he has been able to identify the old surface of the ground, which was occupied by the early men who chipped out the implements. To this old land-surface he has given the name of the “Palæolithic floor,†and he has been able to trace its existence over a considerable area of ground on the western as well as the eastern side of the river Lea.[2573]It consists of a stratum of five or six inches of subangular ochreous gravel, in some places, however, only one or two inches in thickness, or only visible as a tone of colour. On, and imbedded in this floor among rolled and waterworn stones and bones, black, sharp and unabraded implements of flint occur, together with flakes which, in some instances, have been susceptible of being replaced in their original juxtaposition. Below the floor are usually thin beds of sand containing shells of land and freshwater mollusca, and beds of gravel, sometimes as much as 12 feet thick, containing palæolithic implements more or less abraded. The sand is not always present. Above the floor are usually contorted loamy beds of “warp and trail,†generally 4 to 6 feet thick, including the superficial humus. These seem to be of subaërial origin and may be due to a lengthened prevalence of a cold and rainy climate. The fauna of the gravels is described as includingFelis spelæa,Hyæna,Elephas primigenius,E. antiquus,Rhinoceros megarhinus,R. leptorhinus, andR. tichorhinus,Cervus tarandus, andMegaceros hibernicus. Remains ofAntilope Saïgahave, I believe, been also found. Among the testaceous remainsCorbicula fluminalisandHydrobia marginatahave already been noted.
Another diligent investigator of the gravels of North-East London, who has also treated of the Palæolithic floor, is Mr. J. E. Greenhill.[2574]He has given some interesting sections, showing how the waterworn, abraded implements underlie those of the Palæolithic floor which are quite unworn.[2575]Professor Rupert Jones, F.R.S., has also written on{587}the subject. The best geological account is that given by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S.[2576]
By the kindness of Mr. Worthington Smith most of the important specimens that he has found are now in my collection. I am further indebted to him for the use of the blocks illustrating some of the implements.[2577]Fig. 453Aexhibits a finely pointed implement from Lower Clapton. Its surface is lustrous and it shows at its butt part of the original crust of the nodule of flint out of which it was chipped.
Fig.453A.—Lower Clapton.1â„2
Fig.453A.—Lower Clapton.1â„2
The fine ovate implement,[2578]Fig.453B,came from the 12 feet stratum at Stamford Hill. It is of dark colour, lustrous, and has the angles slightly abraded.
A small example from the Palæolithic floor at Stoke Newington is shown in Fig.453C.[2579]The edges are still quite sharp, and at one place there appear to be traces of use. A quartzite[2580]implement from the same locality is shown in Fig.453D.
Fig.453B.—Stamford Hill.1â„2
Fig.453B.—Stamford Hill.1â„2
Fig.453C.—Stoke Newington Common.1â„2
Fig.453C.—Stoke Newington Common.1â„2
Implements presumably of Palæolithic Age have been found in the bed of the Thames. One from Battersea is of peculiar form, with a{588}truncated butt, and has been presented to the Christy Collection by Sir A. Wollaston Franks, F.R.S. Another from Hammersmith is in the same collection, having been formerly in that of the late Rev. Dr. Sparrow Simpson, F.S.A. It is81â„4inches long, and much resembles that from Reculver, Fig. 458, though somewhat longer in its proportions and thicker in the butt. It is much rolled and water-worn, so that it has probably belonged to a bed of gravel at a much higher level than that from which it was dredged up. Another(55â„16inches) from the bed of the Thames at the Chelsea Suspension Bridge was found by Mr. Lambton Young, C.E., in 1854, before general attention had been directed to such relics. Mr. G. F. Lawrence, of Wandsworth, has ovate specimens from the Thames, at Wandsworth, Battersea, Putney, and Richmond, all but the latter much rolled.
It will be most convenient to reserve the discoveries in the South of London and in the valley of the{589}Lea for future pages, and to proceed up the Thames valley towards its sources.
Nearly ten miles to the west of London, and on the northern side of the Thames, the careful researches of General Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., have been amply rewarded, he having found several implements of well-marked palæolithic types, and numerous flakes, in the gravels of Ealing Dean and Acton.[2581]He has fully described the localities and given sections of the beds in a communication to the Geological Society.[2582]
Fig.453D.—Stoke Newington Common.1â„2At the former spot, the surface of the ground is 92 feet above Ordnance Datum, and here several implements have been found. At Acton the surface is from 60 to 80 feet above high-water mark, and here an implement of oval form was found beneath 7 feet of stratified sand and gravel, and resting on the clay beneath; another, of pointed form, was found in the middle of the gravel, about 10 feet from the surface, and beneath beds of sand 8 feet in thickness. Others were found in gravel from the same spot, and from Mill Hill, half-a-mile to the westward, which had been spread on the roads. One of the pointed implements from Ealing Dean is shown in Fig. 454. In form it much resembles that from Reculver, Fig. 458, though smaller in size. Like all the other implements from these two spots, it is stained of the ochreous colour of the gravel, and has had its angles worn away by being rolled in water along with the other constituents of the gravel. The flakes, which are comparatively abundant, are for the most part{590}large and rude, but many appear to have had their edges chipped by use. Some have been wrought into the scraper form. Cores or blocks of flint from which flakes have been struck have also been found.In May, 1871, an implement, 8 inches long, and of rather less tapering form than that from Ealing, Fig. 454, was found at Acton, beneath 13 feet of sand and gravel, at a spot where the surface is 70 feet above high-water mark. General Pitt Rivers has also seven or eight flakes of flint, one of them51â„2inches long and 1 inch wide, which were found together, beneath 9 feet of brick-earth and gravel, in excavating for the foundations of a house at Acton. Their edges are sharp and unworn, so that they must have been deposited where they were found, prior to the accumulation of the 9 feet of drifted beds above them. They lay in a bed of ochreous sandy clay, about 1 foot in thickness, which reposed immediately on the blue London Clay.Fig. 454.—Ealing Dean.1â„2In Acton village, the beds of Drift which constitute the first patch of gravel occurring at so high a level as we go westward from London, and which form a sort of terrace overlooking the broad valley of the Thames, attain a thickness of 18 feet, and consist of layers of sub-angular gravel, mixed with yellow and white sand, very irregularly stratified. The gravel consists principally of flints and Tertiary pebbles, with some of quartz and quartzite. A few mammalian remains, including a tooth ofElephas primigenius, have been found in these beds, and south of Ealing Park[2583]land and freshwater shells. At{591}a lower level, and cut off from the upper gravels by an outcrop of London Clay, is a wide terrace of alluvial deposits at an average height of about 20 feet above high-water mark, and a lower terrace still is to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of the river. General Pitt Rivers’s researches in the mid-terrace beds of gravel and brick-earth have not produced any implements of the River-drift types, but he has obtained animal remains which were identified by the late Mr. G. Busk, F.R.S., as those ofElephas primigenius,Rhinoceros hemitæchus,Hippopotamus major,Bos primigenius,Bison priscus,Cervus tarandus, and other species of deer. They occur invariably at the base of the gravel 12 or 13 feet from the surface. The late Mr. Thomas Belt, F.G.S.,[2584]has speculated on the age and character of the Acton deposits.Mr. J. Allen Brown, F.G.S.,[2585]has diligently continued these researches, and in laminated clay, 200 feet above O.D. at the Mount, Ealing, has found an ochreous flake trimmed at the edge. At Creffield Road, Acton,[2586]Middlesex, he has discovered another “Palæolithic floor,†having found more than 600 flakes and implements in an area of not more than 40 feet square. Besides implements from Acton and Ealing up to 130 feet above O.D. he has described specimens from East Sheen, on the other side of the Thames, and Hanwell,[2587]Iver, Gunnersbury, Kew, Turnham Green, and Dawley, near West Drayton. An ovate implement from Dawley is of felsite. He has also described implements found at Southall[2588]associated with remains ofElephas primigenius. A pointed specimen from Southall is made of quartzite. At Hounslow[2589]also implements have been found. It is possible that the gravels at West Drayton belong to the valley of the Colne rather than to that of the Thames, as also those at Hillingdon, where in the Town-pit, 180 feet above O.D., Mr. Brown has found palæolithic implements.Farther west, at Langley and at Burnham, implements have been found in the gravels. One from Burnham was given to me by Mr. E. Sawyer. He has also found a broad-pointed implement at Cookham, near Maidenhead. They have likewise been discovered at Ruscombe,[2590]Taplow,[2591]Maidenhead, and Marlow. A very broad-pointed implement(51â„2inches) found in high-level gravel at Cookham, Maidenhead, has been shown to me by Mr. E. Sawyer. In my own collection are specimens from the majority of the other localities here enumerated. In form and character they approximate so closely to those from similar deposits elsewhere that it seems needless to figure any of them.Higher up the river Thames, the next important discoveries to recite are those which have been made in and near Reading by Dr. Joseph Stevens. At Grovelands,[2592]about 80 feet above the level of the{592}river, near the junction of the Kennet and the Thames, the Drift deposits are ferruginous and about 15 feet thick. In them were found a tooth of a mammoth and numerous implements, principally of ovate forms and made of flint, but among them one made of quartzite. At Redlands, at a lower level, about 40 feet above the river, mammoth remains occur, as also at the Kennet Mouth Pit, Newtown, where a kite-shaped implement was found. The geological position and structure of the Redlands beds have been described by Prof. Poulton, F.R.S.[2593]In 1882 I found in the gravel at Pig’s Green, near Reading, the butt-end of a pointed implement, which had been originally about41â„2inches long and had lost its point before being deposited in the Drift. The gravel was subangular and ochreous, and contained from 15 to 20 per cent. of quartzite pebbles. Flint flakes were fairly abundant, but finished implements, scarce. On the other side of the river, at Caversham, Dr. Stevens has found implements in gravel 120 feet above the level of the Thames. I have myself found an acutely-pointed implement (4 inches) in the same beds.
Fig.453D.—Stoke Newington Common.1â„2
Fig.453D.—Stoke Newington Common.1â„2
At the former spot, the surface of the ground is 92 feet above Ordnance Datum, and here several implements have been found. At Acton the surface is from 60 to 80 feet above high-water mark, and here an implement of oval form was found beneath 7 feet of stratified sand and gravel, and resting on the clay beneath; another, of pointed form, was found in the middle of the gravel, about 10 feet from the surface, and beneath beds of sand 8 feet in thickness. Others were found in gravel from the same spot, and from Mill Hill, half-a-mile to the westward, which had been spread on the roads. One of the pointed implements from Ealing Dean is shown in Fig. 454. In form it much resembles that from Reculver, Fig. 458, though smaller in size. Like all the other implements from these two spots, it is stained of the ochreous colour of the gravel, and has had its angles worn away by being rolled in water along with the other constituents of the gravel. The flakes, which are comparatively abundant, are for the most part{590}large and rude, but many appear to have had their edges chipped by use. Some have been wrought into the scraper form. Cores or blocks of flint from which flakes have been struck have also been found.
In May, 1871, an implement, 8 inches long, and of rather less tapering form than that from Ealing, Fig. 454, was found at Acton, beneath 13 feet of sand and gravel, at a spot where the surface is 70 feet above high-water mark. General Pitt Rivers has also seven or eight flakes of flint, one of them51â„2inches long and 1 inch wide, which were found together, beneath 9 feet of brick-earth and gravel, in excavating for the foundations of a house at Acton. Their edges are sharp and unworn, so that they must have been deposited where they were found, prior to the accumulation of the 9 feet of drifted beds above them. They lay in a bed of ochreous sandy clay, about 1 foot in thickness, which reposed immediately on the blue London Clay.
Fig. 454.—Ealing Dean.1â„2
Fig. 454.—Ealing Dean.1â„2
In Acton village, the beds of Drift which constitute the first patch of gravel occurring at so high a level as we go westward from London, and which form a sort of terrace overlooking the broad valley of the Thames, attain a thickness of 18 feet, and consist of layers of sub-angular gravel, mixed with yellow and white sand, very irregularly stratified. The gravel consists principally of flints and Tertiary pebbles, with some of quartz and quartzite. A few mammalian remains, including a tooth ofElephas primigenius, have been found in these beds, and south of Ealing Park[2583]land and freshwater shells. At{591}a lower level, and cut off from the upper gravels by an outcrop of London Clay, is a wide terrace of alluvial deposits at an average height of about 20 feet above high-water mark, and a lower terrace still is to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of the river. General Pitt Rivers’s researches in the mid-terrace beds of gravel and brick-earth have not produced any implements of the River-drift types, but he has obtained animal remains which were identified by the late Mr. G. Busk, F.R.S., as those ofElephas primigenius,Rhinoceros hemitæchus,Hippopotamus major,Bos primigenius,Bison priscus,Cervus tarandus, and other species of deer. They occur invariably at the base of the gravel 12 or 13 feet from the surface. The late Mr. Thomas Belt, F.G.S.,[2584]has speculated on the age and character of the Acton deposits.
Mr. J. Allen Brown, F.G.S.,[2585]has diligently continued these researches, and in laminated clay, 200 feet above O.D. at the Mount, Ealing, has found an ochreous flake trimmed at the edge. At Creffield Road, Acton,[2586]Middlesex, he has discovered another “Palæolithic floor,†having found more than 600 flakes and implements in an area of not more than 40 feet square. Besides implements from Acton and Ealing up to 130 feet above O.D. he has described specimens from East Sheen, on the other side of the Thames, and Hanwell,[2587]Iver, Gunnersbury, Kew, Turnham Green, and Dawley, near West Drayton. An ovate implement from Dawley is of felsite. He has also described implements found at Southall[2588]associated with remains ofElephas primigenius. A pointed specimen from Southall is made of quartzite. At Hounslow[2589]also implements have been found. It is possible that the gravels at West Drayton belong to the valley of the Colne rather than to that of the Thames, as also those at Hillingdon, where in the Town-pit, 180 feet above O.D., Mr. Brown has found palæolithic implements.
Farther west, at Langley and at Burnham, implements have been found in the gravels. One from Burnham was given to me by Mr. E. Sawyer. He has also found a broad-pointed implement at Cookham, near Maidenhead. They have likewise been discovered at Ruscombe,[2590]Taplow,[2591]Maidenhead, and Marlow. A very broad-pointed implement(51â„2inches) found in high-level gravel at Cookham, Maidenhead, has been shown to me by Mr. E. Sawyer. In my own collection are specimens from the majority of the other localities here enumerated. In form and character they approximate so closely to those from similar deposits elsewhere that it seems needless to figure any of them.
Higher up the river Thames, the next important discoveries to recite are those which have been made in and near Reading by Dr. Joseph Stevens. At Grovelands,[2592]about 80 feet above the level of the{592}river, near the junction of the Kennet and the Thames, the Drift deposits are ferruginous and about 15 feet thick. In them were found a tooth of a mammoth and numerous implements, principally of ovate forms and made of flint, but among them one made of quartzite. At Redlands, at a lower level, about 40 feet above the river, mammoth remains occur, as also at the Kennet Mouth Pit, Newtown, where a kite-shaped implement was found. The geological position and structure of the Redlands beds have been described by Prof. Poulton, F.R.S.[2593]In 1882 I found in the gravel at Pig’s Green, near Reading, the butt-end of a pointed implement, which had been originally about41â„2inches long and had lost its point before being deposited in the Drift. The gravel was subangular and ochreous, and contained from 15 to 20 per cent. of quartzite pebbles. Flint flakes were fairly abundant, but finished implements, scarce. On the other side of the river, at Caversham, Dr. Stevens has found implements in gravel 120 feet above the level of the Thames. I have myself found an acutely-pointed implement (4 inches) in the same beds.
These Caversham Beds have been well described by Mr. O. A. Shrubsole.[2594]At Toots Farm the implements are usually pointed, as also at Shiplake, at a distance of about three miles and at a slightly lower level. At Henley Road, Caversham, about 59 feet above the Thames, he obtained a flat ovoid implement of flint. A molar ofElephas primigeniuswas found at this spot. South of the Thames, besides the pits mentioned by Dr. Stevens, Mr. Shrubsole enumerates the following localities: a cutting of the South Western Railway at Earley, one of the Great Western Railway at Sonning, a gravel-pit at Charvil Hill, Sonning, and a brick-yard at Ruscombe, near Twyford. In the last-mentioned place several implements of various types have been found. Some extremely doubtful specimens, probably of purely natural origin, have been found on Finchampstead Ridges,[2595]but in gravel at Wokingham[2596]a large highly finished pointed implement has been obtained by Mr. P. Sale.
Some more or less worked flints from the Reading[2597]gravels have been described and figured by Mr. O. A. Shrubsole, who has assigned uses to what he terms “the less familiar forms of Palæolithic Flint Implements.â€
Still higher up the Thames, near Wallingford, there is a considerable spread of gravel, some of it at a distance of two miles or more from the existing streams. In this gravel implements have been found, though up to the present time in no great abundance. I{593}have a fine kite-shaped specimen of the type of Plate I., No. 6(51â„2inches), that was found at Gould’s Heath, East of Wallingford, and two from Turner’s Court,[2598]rather nearer the town. In all three cases the flint has become more or less whitened. I have another large flat ovate implement more like Plate I., No. 16, that was found at Cholsey, on the other side of the river. It is more lustrous and not so much whitened. Another was found on the surface at Ipsden,[2599]3 miles S.E. of Wallingford.
In the neighbourhood of Oxford a fair number of palæolithic implements have been found, some of which are in the University Museum. The first of these was a fine specimen with a heavy butt and pointed tip (broken off), procured, in 1874, by Sir Joseph Prestwich from gravel on the left bank of the Cherwell, at Marston Ferry, not more than from 4 to 5 feet from the surface. Another, ovate(33â„4inches), was obtained by the late Professor Rolleston from the foundations of the New Schools in the High Street, in 1878, and two more of ruder workmanship came from the site of the Girls’ High School in the Banbury Road, in 1880. Yet another was found below Oxford by the side of Bagley Wood, opposite Iffley. The principal discoveries have, however, been made at Wolvercote, about11â„2miles north of Oxford, whence many have been collected by Mr. A. M. Bell,[2600]from whose account of the discoveries I have been quoting. Among the specimens in his and other collections are pointed and ovate implements, a fine example of the shoe-shaped type, like Fig. 429(81â„2inches), trimmed flakes and a hammer-stone. One of Mr. Bell’s pointed implements has been chipped out of quartzite. The brick-earth and gravel deposits lie in what appears to be an old river-channel, which has been cut into the Oxford clay and the superimposed Northern Drift to a depth of about 17 feet from the surface. It is at the base of this channel that the implements are found. In the sand near the base nine or ten species of land and freshwater shells occur, and in a peaty bed immediately above the sand and gravel the remains of various plants; but both the testaceous and vegetable remains belong to species still found in the neighbourhood. Mammoth, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus as well asCorbicula fluminalishave, however, been found in the Oxford gravels. The beds at Wolvercote above the peat consist of clay and sand deposited evenly in successive layers, but towards the surface they are{594}traversed by an irregular line of “trail,†such as is often seen above palæolithic deposits and for which it is so difficult to account.
Mr. Percy Manning, F.S.A., possesses several palæolithic implements found near Oxford. Among eleven specimens from Wolvercote, mostly tongue-shaped, is one of brown flint91â„2inches long and41â„2inches broad, sharply pointed with a truncated butt and the sides curving outwards somewhat like Fig. 475. Another fine implement from the same place has straighter sides and is63â„4inches long. The others are smaller, but among them is one of pointed form rather rudely chipped from a quartzite pebble.
Mr. Manning has also three implements dredged from a backwater of the Thames between Oxford and North Hinksey, one of them(43â„4inches) like Fig. 422, but more roughly chipped and much waterworn. Another (4 inches) is like Fig. 436, but more pointed. The third(51â„8inches), is a remarkably symmetrical ovate-lanceolate implement, in outline like Plate II., No. 11, made out of a pebble of quartzite, or possibly of chert. This also is waterworn.
At Broadwell, Oxon, on the borders of Gloucestershire, Mr. Manning found an implement(41â„4inches) resembling Fig. 459, apparently from gravel dug upon the spot. The village of Broadwell lies about 3 miles to the north of the Thames.
In my former edition I called attention to the discovery in the valley of the Wey, at Peasemarsh, between Guildford and Godalming, by the late Mr. Whitbourn, F.S.A.,[2601]some sixty years ago, of the implement shown in Fig. 455, which is now in my own collection. It was found embedded in the gravel in a layer of sand about 4 or 5 feet from the surface, in apparently undisturbed ground. Mr. Whitbourn had heard of remains of large animals having been discovered in the same beds, but not in very close proximity to the spot where the implement was found. It is, as will be seen by the figure, of a different shape from the majority of the implements found in the River-drift, being very broad at the base and short in proportion to its width. The flint of which it consists is grey and slightly ochreous. At the base is a considerable portion of the original crust of the flint, which is stained of a dull red. The gravel beds, in which it was found, have been described by Mr. R. A. C. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S.[2602]They rest on Wealden Clay, and in places, on beds of the Lower Greensand. The material principally consists of sub-angular chalk flints, and{595}in it have been found numerous remains ofElephas primigenius. In places, the gravel overlies what appears to have been an old land-surface, in the mould of which fragments of branches of trees, and bones of ox and elephant, have been found uninjured and lying together. Mr. Godwin-Austen does not record the discovery of any land or freshwater shells in the gravels, nor on visiting the spot was I able to find any, or any more worked flints. In the Woodwardian Museum, at Cambridge, is an implement of palæolithic type, and of the ovate form, found higher up the valley of the Wey, near Alton, but on the surface, and not in gravel.