A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE
of the Thames, where the old gravels have been worked for road-metal. Implements had previously been found in other parts of the Thames valley.
The Palæolithic Age in Berkshire must have lasted a very long time, as is evident from the fact that during its continuance the river-channel was cut down some 70 feet deeper. A considerable lapse of time is also indicated by the differences in the condition and form of the implements. Some are of ruder type, and are very much rolled by water-action; others are comparatively unabraded. Occasionally it is found that an old broken implement has been re-chipped at a later date. A specimen of the kind is in the Reading Museum. Owing however to the mixed condition of fluviatile deposits, it is not quite practicable to draw up a chronological order of sequence of the various forms; for implements of a rude form are found at all levels; and at one of the highest and presumably oldest levels, namely at St. Peter's Hill (Toots farm), Caversham, various types have been found, although the lanceolate form is most in evidence, and the workmanship varies, showing every transition from highly finished forms to slightly trimmed nodules.[1]
The gravel-deposit in which these Caversham implements have been found is 114 feet above the level of the Thames. Of the large number of specimens found here many have been but little rolled. Flakes were also abundant. It is curious that a considerable number of small instruments of the hatchet type have been found here, some being even less than 2 inches long. From all the indications it is probable that most of the implements were made near the spot. Implements have also been found at Caversham, in Henley Road, only about 50 feet above the river-level. They were associated with the remains of mammoth, and are of different type from the above, approximating in general form to those found at Grovelands and at other places on the Berkshire side of the river.
The gravel of the Grovelands pit near Reading is about 75 feet above the river-level, and the implements found here are not particularly well made. They are mostly irregularly ovate, have usually a clumsy look, and many of them are water-worn. The type, as suggested by Prof. Rupert Jones,[2] has a certain amount of affinity to the Moustierian of the French caves.[3] At this pit flakes of flint, large and small, were numerous; yet the unabraded tools were few and rarely of good type. Large and rude tools such as choppers or 'diggers,' also scrapers, particularly of the hollow type, were relatively abundant. An interesting form combining a knife, saw, and hollow scraper is consistent with a comparatively late date. A hatchet of quartzite was found here by Dr. J. Stevens,[2] and scrapers of the same material have been found. Quartzite was rarely used by Early Man for cutting tools if flint could be obtained. The implements found in this pit were more abundant near the base of the gravel.
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