In June, 1866,[1] the late Mr. J. W. Flower, F.G.S., who had long carried on investigations in the district, communicated a paper to the Geological Society on the subject of the discoveries at Thetford, and again in April, 1869,[2] a second paper on the discoveries of flint implements in Norfolk and Suffolk, with some observations on the theories accounting for their distribution, on which I shall have to make some comments hereafter.
The highest point up the valley of the Little Ouse at which, up to the present time, flint implements have been discovered in the gravel on its slopes, is Redhill, on the Norfolk side of the river, about a mile north-west of Thetford. The gravel at this place is coarse in character, and consists principally of sub-angular flints, some of large size, mixed with a few pebbles derived from beds of the Glacial series, and deposited in a red sandy matrix. It forms a terrace running nearly parallel with the present stream, and ranging from about 12 feet to nearly 40 feet above its level. In places, the gravel is from 12 to 16 feet in thickness,[3] the largest stones, as usual, occurring towards its base, in which part of the gravel the greater number, but by no means all, of the flint implements occur, as some are dispersed throughout the whole thickness of the mass. Occasionally they have been found in pipes of gravel, let down into the chalk by means of water charged with carbonic acid eroding its upper surface. Sandy seams[4] are, as usual, interbedded with the gravel; and in one of these, about 10 feet below the surface, I found shells of Helix, Bythinia, Cyclas, Pisidium, Ancylus, and Succinea, Of mammalian remains, those of Elephas primigenius, ox, horse, and stag have occurred.
A very large number of implements have been found in the gravel at Redhill, of which specimens exist in the Christy Collection, the Blackmore Museum, and in numerous private collections.[5] Those selected for engraving here, are all in my own possession.
- ↑ Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc. (1866), vol. xxii. p. 567; (1867), vol. xxiii. p. 45.
- ↑ Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc. (1869), vol. xxv. pp. 272, 449.
- ↑ Mr. Trigg (Quar. Journ. Suff. Inst., vol. i. p. 5) gives the following section:—
- 1. Surface soil1 foot.
- 2. Yellow sand, slightly argillaceous, interspersed with ferruginous seams and layers of small flint shingle5 to 7 feet.
- 3. Slightly rolled and sub-angular flints in an ochreous sandy matrix, with seams of silt and chalky detritus—variable6 to 9 „
- 4. A similar matrix, with larger chalky patches, large masses of flint but slightly broken, and some sub-angular flints—variable6 to 9 „
It is in No. 3 that the implements are usually met with.
- ↑ Mr. Flower is mistaken in saying that these are some feet above the gravel in which the implements occur. Implements are found both above and below such seams, though for the most part towards the base of the gravel.
- ↑ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 431.
