294 PHYSICAL ETHNOLOGY. 



been on record tlius long before their significance was appreciated, but the rude 

 implements of the drift have been exhibited in the collections of the British 

 Museum and the Society of Antiquaries of Loudon as the works of man; nor 

 was it till the corresponding discoveries in the French drift, and the minute 

 examination of the stratified gravel in which they were found, had led Rigollot, 

 Prestwich, Lyell, and other competent authorities to deduce evidence of a lapse 

 of many ages between the era of the fossil implements and that to which 

 llomano-Gaulish relics belong, that any one dreamt of questioning their human 

 origin. More recently similar implements have been found in the same diluvial 

 gravel and clay in which remains of the gigantic fossil mammals abound, in 

 Sufiblk, Kent, Bedfordshire, and other post-pliocene deposits of the south of 

 England;* and not only is their artificial character undoubted, but the corres- 

 pondence Jbetween the drift implements of France and England is so close as to 

 be at once recognized by the workmen employed in the excavations both at 

 Hoxne and Abbeville. 



Such discoveries have naturally led to many startling speculations relative to 

 the apparent lapse of a vast period of time between the era of the drift race and 

 the earliest dates of authentic history, and it has been specially noted that while 

 the drift implements resemble in material those most frequently found in the 

 graves of northern Europe's stone period, they present a striking contrast to the 

 small and well-finished implements chiefly pertaining to such sepulchral deposits, 

 and seem to be the memorials of an age of ruder strength and still more infantile 

 skill. Such a conclusion, if fully borne out, is all the more important as it has 

 otherwise been noted as a highly interesting fact, that so general a correspondence 

 is traceable between the majority of the flint and stone weapons and implements 

 found in ancient European graves and those still manufactured by the aborigines 

 of the Pacific islands, and throughout the American continent, that they seem 

 like the products of the same mechanical instinct, repeating itself under similar 

 circumstances in the arts of savage man. 



When Mr. Joseph Prestwich proceeded to Abbeville, in 1859, to investigate 

 the discoveries reported by M. Boucher de Perthes, he was accompanied by Mr. 

 John Evans, F. S. A., Avho has since communicated the results of their observa- 

 tions to the Society of Antiquarie's.t He notes that, so far as hitherto observed, 

 the implements found in the drift are formed exclusively of flint, and these he 

 classifies, for convenience of further reference, under three heads : 



1. Flint flakes, apparently intended for arrow-heads or knives. 



2. Pointed weapons, some probably lance or spear heads. 



3. Oval or almond-shaped implements presenting a cutting edge all round. 

 The objects first named most nearly resemble a numerous class found in 



ancient sepulchral deposits, but they are produced by so simple a process, and 

 betray such partial traces of artificial modification, that even when their character 

 as works of art is indisputable, they bear so much resemblance to similar simple 

 natural forms as to be of little value as conclusive evidence of human design or 

 workmanship. But the case is altogether different with the two other classes; 

 and the opinion has been repeatedly expressed that they present little or no 

 analogy in form to any of the works described by Danish, British, or other 

 archaiologists of Europe, as pertaining to the so-called Stone Period. Accord- 

 ingly, after having described the repeated discovery of flint flakes in the drift, 

 as in the sand and gravel near Abbeville, and in the corresponding formation at 

 Menchecourt, where Mr. Prestwiclv witnessed their exhumation. ]Mr. Evans 

 acknowledges the uncertainty pertaining to any argument based solely on such 

 evidence ; and still further specifies as an element rendering them valueless for 



* Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. XVII, p. 362. 



f On the Oocurreuce of Flint loiplements in Undisturbed Beds of Gravel, Sand, and Clay. 

 By John Evans, F. S. A., F. G. S. Archajologia, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 280. 



