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RIVER-DRIFT IMPLEMENTS.
[CHAP. XXIII.

no signs of wearing by water transport. On the slope of the hill, near the base of the gravel, a narrow seam of sand was found to contain some land shells of the genera Helix, Pupa, and Zua. No mammalian remains, with the exception of a tooth of horse, have been found in the gravel.

Flint implements have been discovered here in considerable numbers, mostly of the pointed lanceolate form; some of ovate, and other forms, including a scraper, have also occurred. Most of them are now in the Blackmore Museum. More than one specimen is of chert. In about 150 yards of gravel, excavated to form a cellar at Elm Grove, Milford Hill, no less than twenty implements of different forms were found, principally by Mr. James Brown. Dr. Blackmore observes that the implements on the side of the hill are relatively only half as numerous as on the top, and that the condition of their surface varies considerably, the majority being waterworn, but others having their edges and angles as sharp as if they had been made yesterday. The degree of staining also varies, and is not always due to their present position in the gravel, some deeply stained having been dug out of the chalk rubble at the base, where they lay side by side with fragments of flint, which retained their original colour; and, on the other hand, perfectly unstained specimens having been obtained from the ochreous gravel. Several implements were observed, in situ, by Mr. Wheaton, Mr. James Brown, and others; and they were found scattered unevenly through the deposit, but the majority low down and towards the base. Many of them are extremely rude; in fact, as a whole, "ruder and less skilfully made than most of the specimens from the valley of the Somme." Flakes and spalls were found in considerable numbers, and also a few remarkably well-made implements, of which a magnificent specimen is shown in Fig. 472. It is of light- grey flint, with the natural crust on part of the base. The face not shown is roughly chipped, but it has been neatly wrought at the edge to a symmetrical form. Its angles are but slightly rounded. A de- tailed account of the discoveries at Bemerton[1] and Milford Hill, with maps and figures of several implements, has been given by Mr. C. J. Read, of Salisbury.

A scraper-like implement from Britford, a short distance below Salisbury, is in the Blackmore Museum.

About 6 miles below Salisbury, in gravel, near Downton,[2] and at an elevation of about 150 feet above the river Avon, Sir Joseph Prestwich picked up a small ovate implement, in form like Fig. 456, but more sharply pointed and only 3 inches in length. Between the pit, in which it was found, and the river, two gravel-terraces occur, one 80 to 110 feet, and the other 40 to 60 feet, above its level. At Breamore, farther south, a well-shaped pointed implement of chert was found by Mr. E. Westlake in 1888, in gravels 100 feet above the Avon.

A few miles farther down the valley, and about half a mile S.W. of Fordingbridge, at Ashford[3] railway station, is a gravel-pit, which was largely worked for the purpose of ballasting the railway, and in this
  1. Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. xxii. p. 117.
  2. Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc. (1872), vol. xxviii. p. 39.
  3. "Flint Chips," p. 47.