IN THE THAMES BASIN. lO/ 



mammals (see Newton, Geol. Mag., dec. iii., vol. vii., 1890). 

 Beneath the chalk cliff, against which the brick-earth abuts, he 

 came across a dense layer offtakes. " The uppermost edge of the 

 area covered by them is about 36 feet from the present surface, 

 the lowest nearly six feet lower. This area was thickly covered 

 with chips for the space of about 10 feet north and south, and^ 

 as far as I know at present, 15 feet east and west . . . but 

 I expect that it will be found to extend further. . . The 

 flakes are in most cases quite new and clean, always so on the 

 lower side, very slightly discoloured on the upper." He was 

 able to re-construct some of the blocks of flint which 'had been 

 split up into flakes by fitting together the pieces. These can be 

 seen in the Natural History Department of the British Museum. 



Near Northfleet^'^ (close by Swanscombe) the same dis- 

 tinguished observer " found a kind of beach on which lay several 

 hdclies. They lay according to the slope, from five to twenty-five 

 feet below the surface. . . Elephant remains of great size, 

 also those of rhinoceros, bison, horse, etc., are found on this 

 spot. Here perfect lidches of five distinct kinds and make were 

 obtained and some unfinished and spoilt examples. I have 

 examined many thousands of flakes and discovered numerous 

 flint hammers and knapping tools with which the hdches were 

 made, also some elegant scrapers of peculiar form." 



On the other side of the river at Grays^® implements have 

 been found both in the high-level gravel and in the fossiliferous 

 low-level brickearth. 



Leaving the main valley the remaining localities will be more 

 conveniently dealt with in alphabetical order. 



The first on the list is Aylesford, where a large number of the 

 characteristic weapons have been found. There are numerous 

 specimens in Benjamin Harrison's collection in the Maidstone 

 Museum, and he shewed me additional specimens when I visited 

 Ightham last year (1901). 



At Caddington, Worthington Smith discovered an old 

 working place similar to that at Stoke-Newington. It is 

 probably the most interesting and most thoroughly investigated 

 of all the Palaeolithic " floors " and is fully described in the 



17 "Palaeolithic Implements found in West Kent," Archceologia Cantiana xv. (1883) 

 and "On some Palaeolithic Knapping-tools and modes of using them," J own. Anthrop. 

 Institute xiii. {1884). 



18 Hinton and Kennard, "Contributions to the Pleistocene Geology of the Thames 

 Valley," Essex Naturalist xi. (1900) ; also J. P. Johnson, op.cit. 



