PALEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS FROM THAMES VALLEY. 



55 



Despite the thorough investigation of the fossil vertebrate 

 fauna of the Uphall Brickyard undertaken by Sir Antonio Brady 

 and others, it had not yielded any traces of man up to the time 

 of its abandonment ; and it was not until the early part of last 

 year, when I discovered some flint flakes^ in the pits which had 

 then lately been opened on the classical site, that Homo sapiens 

 was known to be a member of that fauna. 



Fig. 2. Flint Spear-head from the Cray ford Brick-earth. Nat. size. 



One of these flakes is shewn in Fig. 3, and is another 

 excellent sample of the neat work of the men who inhabited the 

 Thames Valley during the low-level epoch. The best specimen 

 however (Fig. 4), is a flake of slate-black flint which has been 

 carefully serrated along the edge ; the secondary trimming is very 



Fig. 3. Flint Flake from the Gravel at Ilford, Essex. Actual size. 



fine and far superior to any I have seen from the high-level 

 drift. I found these flakes all in situ in the upper part of the gravel, 

 with which they were clearly contemporaneous, being little, if at 

 all, worn, and quite free from ochreous stains. This same bed 

 yielded bones of rhinoceros, together with land and freshwater 

 shells, some of which are no longer living in this country. 



While exploring the Grays district, together with my friends 

 Messrs. Hinton and Kennard, I obtained several flint tools from 



3 J. P.Johnson, "Additions to the Palieolithic Fauna of the Uphall Brickyard, Ilford." 

 Essex Naturalist, vol xi. (1900), pp. 209-212. 1 can now also add Vitrea raUiatula (Aid.), 

 some shells of this Gastropod being in the collection of my friend Mr. G. White. 



