A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLRMENT. lOQ 



beds. I do not remember taking them from the peaty horizon, 

 where the larger and stronger flakes were found in situ by me.^ 



The worked flints, chips and fine flakes, are so numerous 

 as to suggest that the population was considerable, and 

 that the dwellings were in close proximity to a manufactur- 

 ing ground of these objects. On the southern slope of the 

 valley, at an elevation of 30 feet, and a hundred yards distant, 

 operations for excavating brick-making material are likewise in 

 progress. The Brick-earth here is formed of rain-wash from the 

 higher ground. In neolithic times the surface on the slope was 

 about 2 ft. 6 in. below the present level. It is at this depth that 

 flakes, identical with those in the dwellings, occur in large quan- 

 tities, many of which are worked from rolled pebbles. These 

 pebbles were evidently carefully selected. The cores are 

 abundant on this valley working-ground, and not on other sites. 

 The time that has elapsed since the flakes were worked has 

 sufficed for the deposition of two feet of Talus, while the action of 

 the river has accumulated six feet of alluvium. From the first I 

 kept the two sets of flints separate, thinking that they might 

 belong to a different period or race of men ; now I feel convinced 

 that both are from the same source. This point is of great 

 interest, as it tends to show that the dwelling-places were in the 

 bottom of the valley, surrounded by water, whilst the working- 

 ground was on the slope. 3* Only the flints and very sparse 

 scraps of pottery are found on the slope. The dry brick-earth 

 may not have been conducive to the preservation of bone and 

 wood. Sometimes a small " nest "' of flakes, together with the 

 cores from which they were struck, lay at a depth of two or 

 three feet, while others were found scattered at intervals over all 

 parts of the excavated brick-field. This was probably the result 

 of long occupation by the settlers. They were therefore fixed to 

 the locality at least some portion of the year, either summer or 

 winter. 



Bone and Horn Implements. 



The most striking and important of these are such as are 

 formed from the antlers of Red Deer. They appear to be 



3 Mr. W. J. L. Abbott, in his three papers on the " Hastings Kitchen Middens," places these 

 small implements in the bronze age. The suggestions of Mr. Abbott open out a chapter in the 

 history of flint manufacture which is not touched in the standard comprehensive works on the 

 subject. I do not tiiink that they were worked out of our chalk fluits. I have some very 

 small flakes ot the same kind from the banks of the Lea River in Hackney Marshes. See 

 remarks on (and plates of) these minute implements in /oi/;-«. Antliwp. Institute, vol. \xv., 

 plates II, 12, and 13. 



3A See Plan, at spot marked " Flint factory site." 



