28 NATURAL SCIENCE [January 



good example he will find hundreds of indifferent ones. The rough, 

 badly-struck flakes used as scrapers and knives, as their edges 

 testify, the rude axes and other tools, both Neolithic and Palaeolithic, 

 are familiar objects to him ; for the ancient savage, except on rare 

 occasions, was in the habit of making his tools and weapons with 

 the least possible labour. Hence these trimmed flints from the 

 Plateau naturally appeal to him ; he has seen similar work in more 

 modern specimens, and of its human origin he has no doubt. 



It is remarkable that, until the appearance of Mr Cunnington's 

 paper in the November number of Natural Science, no serious 

 attack had l^een made on Plateau man. Adverse criticism, it is 

 true, had been evoked on tlie flints at the Geological Society and at 

 the Anthropological Institute. They had also been dismissed with 

 " Of no interest whatever." Consequently it is a matter of con- 

 gratulation that we are at last in a position to examine carefully 

 the various objections and criticisms which, though often urged in 

 private, have never appeared in print till now. Since, however, 

 the Pre-glacial age as well as the human origin of the flakings has 

 been attacked, it is necessary to restate the case for Plateau Man. 



Scattered over the North Downs, but always at a great elevation, 

 comparatively speaking, are patches of flint gravel, in which one also 

 occasionally finds Pliocene ironstone and the well-known Oldbury 

 stone. The flints are stained a deep ochreous brown colour, and 

 some of them are chipped on the edges, whilst very rarely a fairly 

 well-shaped implement is found. That these flints were at one time 

 in an iron pan there can be little doubt, as portions of a ferruginous 

 deposit are often found incrusting both the chipped and the un- 

 chipped portions. 



Objection was first made that, as all the finds were on the sur- 

 face, it was impossible to say anything about their age. By means 

 of a grant from the British Association, pits were sunk at the 

 Parsonage Farm, Ash, whilst last year further excavations were 

 made by Mr Harrison. In all these pits, at a depth of 8 feet from 

 the surface, a bed of gravel, varying from 6 to 12 inches in thick- 

 ness, was found. The gravel was cemented by iron, and was so 

 hard that a pick was needed to break it up. The section from the 

 first pit, which is typical of them all, was as follows : — Humus, 

 1 foot; stony loam, 2-|- feet; grey loam, with a few scattered 

 pebbles and small worked stones, 3 1 feet; ochreous loam, 1 foot; 

 gravel layer, with many worked flints, 6 to 12 inches. The under- 

 lying sandy loam, which was pierced for a further depth of 19 feet, 

 is probably of early Tertiary age. 



Since the publication of Mr Harrison's finds on the North 

 Downs the chipped flints have been found by other workers over a 

 large extent of country. They have been discovered at Friston, 



