Chapter XXIII: Implements of the River-Drift Period (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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

* * * * *

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.”[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 the _Hydrobia marginata_—already mentioned as having been found in the Bedford Drift, and as being no longer an inhabitant of Britain—and the _Corbicula 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.