Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvi. (1901), No. %. 9 



himself, with notes by Mr. Benjamin Harrison and Mr. 

 Crawshay, on " The Primitive Character of the Fh'nt 

 Implements of the Chalk Plateau of Kent " 



Without going into further detail, I may explain that, 

 from the River Medway westward to the River Darent and 

 further westward still, there is a long mass of chalk 

 broken southwards with an escarpment. On the very top 

 of large portions of this chalk there are the remains of 

 the bed of a red clay drift above referred to. It was 

 described by Mr. Prestwich as from 5 to 20 feet thick. 

 In process of time great water channels have been cut 

 through this to expose the chalk. 



This red gravel bed stands high above the level of the 

 sea. Mr. Prestwich in his paper enumerates 22 distinct 

 localities levelled at 400 feet, at West Yoke Farm 460 

 feet, at South Ash 520 feet, at Plaxdale 630 feet, at Terry's 

 Ledge 770 feet, all therefore antecedent to the mighty 

 denudation of the Weald ; and long preceding the later 

 river valley drifts and deposits of lower levels. It is from 

 one or other of these particular stations that the specimens 

 presented for examination have been taken. 



In 1869, Mr. Prestwich and Mr. Evans found on a 

 certain farm near Halstead, on the chalk Plateau, a 

 palseolithic instrument of the ovoid shape, at a point 600 

 feet above the sea level. 



In 1883, a similar implement was found on the 

 Darent, by Mr. Benjamin Harrison, of Ightham, near 

 Sevenoaks, on the chalk at the same level of 600 feet. 



Gradually, — greatly excited by the discovery- — ^Mr. 

 Harrison, a most indefatigable and most accurate observer, 

 instituted his own search, frequently submitting specimens 

 v^hich he discovered to Mr. Prestwich for examination 

 and certificate, and several other geologists of note 

 prosecuted similar research with great success. 



