has been worn away by use into a curved notch. On the opposite side is a more modern break. It is almost equally convex on the two faces.
Fig. 456.—Dartford Heath. 12
Mr. Spurrell informs me that he found this implement lying on its face, at a depth of 8 feet below the surface of the gravel, which is that of the upper level of Dartford Heath, and appears to belong to the valley of the Thames, and not to that of either the Cray or the Dart.
Another implement has been found near the same spot by Mr. C. C. S. Fooks.[1] A little to the north of Crayford, in the brick-earth below an old cliff of chalk and Thanet sands, Mr. Spurrell has found a number of flakes of flint associated with remains of the Pleistocene fauna. He has, indeed, discovered a "Palæolithic floor" on which the ancient workmen lived while they fashioned their tools. Not many of the larger implements were found, but many of the flakes after having been struck off the nucleus had been trimmed at the butt-end. By patience and skill Mr. Spurrell was able to bring many of the flakes together into their original positions, and thus to reconstitute the blocks of flint from which they had been manufactured.[2] In one instance he was able to build up around an implement—broken in old times—the various flakes struck off during its manufacture, and thus to reproduce the block of flint originally taken in hand by the workman. Two hammer-stones were present, made from cylindrical nodules of flint.
It is to be remembered that in April,[3] 1872, the Rev. O. Fisher, F.G.S., found a worked flint, or flake, in Slade's Green Pit, Crayford, beneath a sandy stratum containing among other shells those of Corbicula fluminalis. In 1875 a large broad flake (512 inches) was picked up by Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S.,[4] in a
- ↑ Q. J. G. S., vol. xxxvi., 1880, p. 547.
- ↑ Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. 1880, p. 294, pl. i.
- ↑ Geol. Mag., vol. ix., 1872, p. 268. Q. J. G. S., vol. xxviii., 1872, p. 414. Geol. Mag., 2nd Dec, vol. i., 1874, p. 479.
- ↑ Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1875, p. 175. Nat., vol. xii. p. 202. Proc. W. Lond. Sci. Assoc., 1876.
