Stone Age of South Africa. 295 



the best account of them. It discusses the flint examples originally 

 obtained by Benjamin Harrison from the patches of early drift on 

 the chalk plateau near Ightham in Britain. Besides the two sub- 

 groups of true Eoliths, he included a few, amounting at the time he 

 wrote to 6 % of the total hnds — a proportion that must now have 

 dwindled to a mere fraction — that are admitted on all hands. Of 

 these, represented by his figures 38 and 39, and perhaps also 10 and 

 37, not a single example has been found in situ in the plateau gravel. 

 The writer's opinion is that these, which are merely rude examples of 

 Palaeolithic forms, and which, if they are all in the same condition 

 as those represented by Figs. 38 and 39 (which the writer has seen) 

 are much fresher than the majority at least of the typical Eolithic 

 forms, should be included with those other implements found on the 

 plateau, of which Prestwich says : " It is true that some specimens 

 found on the plateau are as well worked as any from the valley- 

 drifts [Palaeolithic] and how to account for their presence yet pre- 

 sents some difficulty, but that they are not of the same age, I feel 

 nearly certain. Not only is their make different, but their condition, 

 their freshness — if it may be so termed — and their rarity constitute 

 differences so great that, placed side by side, they would never be 

 placed in the same category. That they should be found on the 

 plateau is no more surprising tlian that unmistakable Neolithic imple- 

 ments are found on the same surface, in company with the plateau 

 gravel [Eolithic] implements." It must he remembered that at the 

 time he wrote there were no sections in the deposit, all the specimens 

 being picked up on the surface. No implements of this third sub- 

 group have been found in the sections which have since been specially 

 made. 



Primitive Group from Mambivlakte, Hay. 



By the homestead on the farm Mambivlakte, there are three 

 flat-topped quartzite hills, one to the north, the other two to the 

 south, of the road. On the middle one, and probably on the others 

 also, there is a covering of dark-coloured jasper, chert, and ironstone 

 gravel, containing numerous glazed flake-Eoliths, mostly of brown 

 and yellowish-brown jasper, like those from Leijfontein. 



Primitive Group and Palaeolithic Types from Kameelfontein, 



Hay. 



On the farm Kameelfontein there is gravelly debris like that at 

 Leijfontein, containing worn, glazed jasper Eoliths and flakes with 

 an Eolithic style and quality of trimming. Of these, however, the 

 latter amount to more than one-half of the total implements, so that 

 the general assemblage is in advance of that of Leijfontein. 



» Further, rude chipped discs and flat, more or less circular, 

 pieces of stone, with an edge worked along part of the periphery, 

 also occur. These last are worked in the same way as the typical 

 Palaeolithic implements, by alternately striking a chip first off one 

 face and then off the other. They are evidently the initial stage in 

 the evolution of that class of implement. Some of the specimens 



