44 o SCIENCE PROGRESS 



characteristics which are believed to be associated only with 

 human intention : 



(a) The flakes removed from their edges are the result of 



blows which have been delivered at a constant angle 

 to these edges. 



(b) The flakes are not squat, nor do they cut deeply into 



the flint, causing a step or ledge to appear at the 

 point of their final separation from the parent block. 



(c) The flakes do not exhibit numerous and prominent 



ripple-marks upon their surfaces. 



(d) The flaked edges do not exhibit a sinuous outline, nor 



do they show an undue number of truncated flakes 

 removed in the formation of these flaked edges. 



The specimens flaked by the author (figs. 8 and 9) agree 

 in every particular with the above specimens. The Lowestoft 

 specimen (fig. 7), found upon a shingle-beach, does not, how- 

 ever, exhibit edge-flaking of the same order as the specimens 

 illustrated in figs. 1-6, but the flaking approximates very 

 closely to that produced by fortuitous percussion in the sack 

 experiment described. The author is of opinion that the 

 foregoing examination has indicated with some amount of 

 certainty that the primitive edge-flaked flints selected for 

 illustration (figs. 1-6) are of human origin, and that such 

 specimens deserve the closest attention by all serious pre- 

 historians. But it is to be hoped that, in future, the old 

 unscientific attitude towards these primitive and very ancient 

 flaked flints will be abandoned, and that their acceptance or 

 rejection as the work of man may be based upon some 

 tangible evidence such as has been set forth in this paper. 

 All the specimens illustrated are in the author's possession 

 and can be examined by any one desirous of doing so. 



