THE WEALD 605 



of his history, 1 since this final transformation of the Weald 

 began. 



APPENDIX 



The following description of the plateau drift found on the 

 North Downs Plateau, quoted by S. Laing in Human Origins 

 (Watts & Co.) from a paper by Professor Prestwich, has a 

 direct bearing on this denudation. He writes : 



" Great, however, as is the antiquity shown by these rela- 

 tively modern instances, they sink into insignificance compared 

 with that evidenced by a recent discovery, which I quote the 

 more readily because it rests on the authority of the late 

 Professor Prestwich. It is afforded by the upland gravels in 

 Kent and Surrey, which are scattered over wide areas of the 

 chalk downs, at elevations far above existing valleys and 

 water-sheds, and which could have been deposited only before 

 the present rivers began to run, and when the configuration 

 of the country was altogether different. Mr. Harrison, at 

 Ightham in Kent, who is an ardent field geologlist, recently dis- 

 covered what have been named eolithic, or pre-palaeolithic 



1 There is no doubt in my mind that the Coomb Rock, in which Moustierian and 

 other flint implements have been found, was a diluvial wash-down on the melting 

 of a cycle of glaciation, which at one time gave rise to an ice-sheet spreading over 

 the south coast of England. This was probably of local origin, and was caused 

 by a greater intensity of glaciation, due to an increased eccentricity of the earth's 

 orbit for northern hemisphere winters. Leverrier stated that such occurred 

 200,000 years ago, and a still greater eccentricity 850,000 years ago. From the 

 supposed age of some flint implements in Kent's cavern— 700,000 years — I am 

 inclined to think the Coomb Rock was formed at the earlier date. 



The significance of the enclosed Moustierian implements is very great under the 

 point of view of man's antiquity ; for, from the general absence of wealden debris 

 in the Coomb Rock, it seems to have been formed after the Weald had been worn 

 down below the chalk level. Thus the pre-palaeolithic implements (Harrison's), 

 found on the North Down plateau, now, after a quarter-century of controversy, 

 hall-marked as human, must date back to a time enormously more remote, i.e. 

 before they were washed down from higher wealden mountains to their last 

 resting-place on the top of the Downs. These flints comprise no weapon for 

 the hunt or for offence, being in most cases for the purpose of rubbing down 

 various parts of the body. This, besides expressing the paucity of human wants 

 at that time, implies existence in an age before any glaciations had taken place — 

 the sub-tropical Pliocene times — when body-hair was a sufficient covering, and 

 vegetable diet was forthcoming at all seasons of the year. 



These plateau implements, moreover, do not mark the beginnings of man's 

 manufacturing power, since in many instances they are 'combination' tools, show- 

 ing great ingenuity of adaptation. If a really primitive culture be sought, such 

 will be found in the Darmsden flints, which from their crudity might well represent 

 the dawn of invention. (See Vol. II., Part II., Proceedings, Prehistoric Society 

 of E. Anglia, J. Reid Moir.) 



