117 



NEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS FROM THE NORTH 

 DOWNS NEAR SUTTON, SURREY. 



By J. P. JOHNSON. 



Judging from the vast quantity of flakes and chips with 

 which they are strewn, the North Downs, in the neighbourhood 

 of Sutton, must once have been the site of a great flint imple- 

 ment industry, which no doubt owed its position to the amount 

 of raw material at hand. 



The majority of these flakes are as sharp and translucent as 

 any freshly produced specimens, from which they differ, how- 

 ever, in being, without exception, highly lustrous. Those that 

 have lain long on the surface, exposed to the direct action of 

 atmospheric agencies have become opaque, and many are dis- 

 coloured with rust due to the oxidation of the streaks of iron 

 gained by contact with the plough, while a small proportion are 

 patinated, that is, the surface of the flint has undergone some 

 change which has given it a glazed appearance. They are 

 mostly small, few reaching the size of the average Palaeolithic 

 flake. In colour they range, in glassy specimens, from amber 

 to black, and in porcellaneous examples, from white, through 

 mottled blue and white to blue, with every intermediate tint 

 imaginable. 



While the greater number of flakes are merely chips that 

 have been struck off in the manufacture of implements, many, 

 on the other hand, are designedly shaped, and are such as 

 require great skill in their production. Such are the minute 

 thin narrow flakes, one of which is shewn in the set of figures 

 on page 1 18 with three or more faces and a well-developed bulb of 

 percussion. Miscellaneous flakes were largely employed by 

 pre-historic man for various purposes. Nearly all have their 

 edges notched through use. 



These flakes are not all of the same age. Sometimes one 

 comes across s}iecimens that have been re-trimmed at a later 

 period. In cases where the original flake is externally mottled 

 and opaque, the newer chipping is black, having penetrated the 

 semi-transparent interior. 



The cores from which the flakes have been struck are 

 frequently met with. I have one very beautiful example, con- 



