214 



EOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS FROM THE PLATEAU 



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What the makers of these implements 

 were like is quite unknown as no human 

 bones nor indeed any contemporaneous 

 organic remains have ever been found in the 

 plateau gravel. Nothing of that sort could 

 be preserved from such antiquity in so porous 

 a deposit. Our knowledge of the animals 

 with which these people were associated and 

 hence of the approximate conditions under 

 which they lived is little better, though a 

 slight clue is afforded by the occurrence in 

 a drift at Dewlish of Eolithic implements 

 together with the bones of an extinct species 

 of elephant — the Ekphas meridionalis of Nesti 

 — which did not survive into the succeeding 

 Palaeolithic period. 



The relation of the plateau gravel to the 

 other implement - bearing deposits of the 

 Thames Basin is well shewn by the accom- 

 panying section (fig. 7), and may be briefly 

 tabulated thus : — 



Pliocene 

 Pleistocene 



Holocene . , 



Plateau Gravel 



Eolithic. 



i High-level Valley Drft | palaeolithic 

 i Low-level Valley Drift j ^aiaeoiitnic. 



Alluvial Flats 



Neolithic 

 — Historic. 



Implements of Eolithic type have been 

 found at several localities in Britain outside 

 the Thaines Basin' the most noteworthy 

 being Dewlish and Alderbury. They also 

 occur on the adjacent mainland of Europe - 

 and in South Africa. 



For the use of those who would like to 

 go more deeply into the interesting problems 

 connected with Eolithic man, I have 

 appended a list of the more important papers 

 that I ha\e been able to consult in the pre- 

 paration of this account. In this connection 



1. As new records I may mention that I have obtained Eolithic Implements trom among 

 Plateau Gravel dibris overlooking the railway-station in the Chipstead Valley and from the 

 heights above Dover, both localities being on the North Downs. 



2. The implements from the Plateau Gravel roughly correspond to the '• Reutelian " and 



