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,[1] 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.[2] 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 subaerial origin and may be due to a lengthened prevalence of a cold and rainy climate. The fauna of the gravels is described as including Felis spelæa, Hyæna, Elephas primigenius, E. antiquus, Rhinoceros megarhinus, R. leptorhinus, and R. tichorhinus, Cervus tarandus, and Megaceros hibernicus. Remains of Antilope Saïga have, I believe, been also found. Among the testaceous remains Corbicula fluminalis and Hydrobia marginata have 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.[3] He has given some interesting sections, showing how the waterworn, abraded implements underlie those of the Palæolithic floor which are quite unworn.[4] Professor Rupert Jones, F.R.S., has also written on- ↑ "Man, the Prim. Savage," p. 214. Nature, vol. xxvii. p. 270.
- ↑ Journ. Anth. Inst., vol. xii. p. 176; xiii. p. 357. Nature, vol. xxv. p. 460; xxvi p. 579. Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. viii. p. 126. Essex Naturalist, vol. i. p. 125.
- ↑ Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. viii. p. 336.
- ↑ Op. cit., vol. viii., p. 344.
