18 



found thirty-one Palaeolithic implements in the gravels on 

 both sides of the Lea between Clapton and Leyton or Forest 

 Gate. These implements are mostly pointed or lanceolate, a 

 few ovate. I have also found seven * trimmed flakes,' as they 

 are termed — i.e., flints chipped all over one side (like an imple- 

 ment), the other side being plain or nearly so. Add to this 

 several hundreds of flakes of all sorts and sizes — a few bones 

 and fragments of mammoths' tusks, &c." Among numerous 

 microscopic objects found in the gravel of the Lea Valley, at 

 a depth of twelve feet, Mr. Smith has also discovered some 

 liuman hair, which he believes to be of Palaeolithic age. The 

 remains of animals of post-glacial age have been discovered 

 plentifully in the chalk quarries and brick-earth pits at Gray's 

 Thurrock and Ilford '■'•'• — these districts indeed appear to be 

 veritable geological Tom Tiddler's grounds — and sections of 

 Post-glacial beds have likewise been exposed at Leyton, 

 Aveley, Plaistow, and in the Eoding Valley at Theydon Bois. 

 Among more recent deposits we have an old sunken forest in 

 the peat opposite Walthamstow Marshes, which extends for 

 several miles, and is exposed at low water. 



Palaeolithic man was followed by his Neolithic successors, 

 who peopled this country after the last great glacial submer- 

 gence ; then we have evidence of those advances in civiliza- 

 tion which resulted in the use of bronze, and finally in the 

 iron age. The great geological record here passes into the 

 historical period, the study of which comes into the province 

 of archaeology. On this subject I shall have very little to 

 say. Good work has been done, and w411 no doubt continue 

 to be done, by the Essex Archaeological Society, and the fine 

 collection of antiquities in the Colchester Museum is partly 

 the result of their labours. The ancient earthworks recently 

 discovered in Epping Eorest by Mr. B. H. Cowper, and sur- 

 veyed by Mr. William D'Oyley, will be of special archseo- 

 logical interest to us. The Loughton Camp is supposed to 



* Among the mammalian remains found in these pits are the mam- 

 moth, two species of elephants, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, hyaena, bison, 

 two species of bears, Irish elk, cave lion, wolf, &c. Si? Antonio Brady's 

 Museum, at Stratford-le-Point, contained a collection of Post-glacial 

 fossils of world-wide celebrity, now presented to the British Museum. 



