180 Sm JOHN EVANS — THE STONE AGE 



At the International Congress of Pre-historic Archaeology held 

 at Norwich in 1868 I gave an account of the method by which 

 I believed various forms of stone implements were made, and after- 

 wards when at our warehouse in the City I was told that a man 

 wanted to see me. I found myself confronted by a disreputable- 

 looking individual who informed me that he was known as " Flint 

 Jack." He was a notorious forger of stone implements and of fossils 

 in general, carrying on his iniquitous trade in Yorkshire. On my 

 enquiring how he came to be in London he said to me : "I under- 

 stand that you have been showing them at Norwich how to make 

 these things, and I wish you would show me some of your 

 specimens, for I understand that you are likely to attain to an 

 equal degree of eminence with myself." I did not satisfy his 

 curiosity, but gave him a trifle and advised him to get back to 

 Yorkshire. Since that time I have always looked with a certain 

 amount of interest at "Flint Jack's" productions, although I 

 consider my own arrow-heads to be superior to those which he was 

 in the habit of making. 



I will not detain you with any account of the other forms of 

 implements which were in use in the Neolithic Age, nor of the 

 ornaments with which the ladies of that period adorned themselves, 

 but I may say that there was already at that time a certain 

 number of domesticated animals, that spinning and weaving were 

 practised to some extent, and civilization was fairly advanced, 

 considering that metals were almost unknown. It is now necessary 

 to say a few words about the Palaeolithic or River-drift Period. 



The Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age is also known as the River- 

 drift Period, because the majority of the implements belonging to 

 that age have been found in river-gravels, near the course of the 

 present rivers but above their present levels. It is, however, 

 a mistake to suppose that the occupation of the country by 

 Palaeolithic man was limited to river-valleys, for a considerable 

 number of implements has been found a long way from any stream. 



Let us briefly consider how oiir rivers have been able to deepen 

 their courses. As it is chiefly in the gravels of such Chalk districts 

 as those of our own county that such implements are found, it will 

 be sufficient to trace the probable origin of one of our Hertfordshire 

 river-valleys. 



We may assume that the central part of our county, over which 

 the upper portions of the rivers Lea and Colne and their tribu- 

 taries now flow, was an almost horizontal area of chalk, with beds 

 of marine clay and shingle upon it, rising from beneath the sea 

 more rapidly than a river flowing over it could excavate its valley 



