12 Darbispiire, luipleuients from the Kentish Plateau. 



confessed himself one of the sceptical critics, and complains 

 that he " had seen very {qsn implements which seemed to 

 " him to have any purpose or motive of any kind." 



It is convenient to recollect the distinction between 

 pre-historic implements that have been classed as 

 "neolithic" — as exhibiting a more recent and advanced 

 culture in form and workmanship — and " palaeolithic," as 

 referring to stones simply chipped into shape. 



The usual localities for the finding of these classes of 

 implements are the surface of burial places or in morasses 

 for the neolithic tools, and, as noted above, the river 

 valleys, older or more recent, for the palaeolithic remains, 

 or, in either case, even the present face of the ground. 



As a further step in identification of their position 

 and elevation, and from the comparatively restricted 

 material and condition of the plateau stones, it is 

 customary to group them as " eolithic," that is to say, 

 stones of the time of the dawn of such manufacture 

 and use. 



If the palaeolithic discoveries indefinitely enlarged 

 the pre-historic existence of mankind, it has been thought 

 and believed by many skilled observers of long research 

 and large survey that these plateau gravels and their 

 contents carry the story for ages further back. 



Palaeolithic man is now a recognised ancestor of the 

 race, and he has certainly left tools of absolutely unmis- 

 takable design and skill, though we may not know how 

 he used them. We have no other proof of his existence. 



It is indeed startling to find on this plateau, at such 

 levels above the sea as bespeak an age indefinitely 

 greater than that of the ordinary river-gravel series, vast 

 numbers of stones of uniform and very peculiar design 

 and of uniform skill in shape, which it is impossible not 

 to consider distinctly evidential of intellect and skill 



