1898] THE AUTHENTICITY OF PLATEAU MAN 31 



dispute, because at the present time no similar form is known to Ijc 

 in use by any savage people. With Neolithic specimens, what one 

 authority calls a sacrificial knife (which by the way has generally a 

 blunt edge), others tell us is a skin scraper. The fact is that little 

 or no attention has been paid to savage wants and customs, and I 

 am afraid that owing to the spread of civilisation it is now too late 

 in most cases to obtain reliable information. 



Mr Cunnington's statement that " the chipping is limited to the 

 edges of the slabs : there are no known instances in which the flint 

 has been artificially flaked into the form of the weapon : the asserted 

 human workmanship is limited to chipping of the edges of naturally- 

 shaped flints," is totally at variance with that of Sir Joseph Prest- 

 wich. " It is only in a very few instances that an implement has 

 been entirely wrought out of a larger flint." As a matter of fact 

 they do occur, but only rarely. 



Another objection is the supposed abundance of these worked 

 flints, and we are further told that " on the chalk plateau the 

 stained flints are all more or less chipped." That there are large 

 numbers of them in various collections is indeed true, but the vast 

 majority have been obtained from the labourers, nearly all of 

 whom are very keen hunters indeed. I have tramped many miles 

 in search of them, and I should consider fifty examples found after 

 six hours' search, as a very good day's work. There are patches 

 of the gravel where one cannot find a single worked flint. If they 

 occasionally occur in abundance at one spot, do not palaeoliths also 

 occur in the same manner ? I have found more Palaeolithic imple- 

 ments and flakes in one field as the result of four hours' search 

 than I could carry away. I have never been so fortunate with 

 Plateau specimens. Mr Cunnington states that " if the flints were 

 worked, used, and then thrown down again, we should expect to 

 find them widely scattered." Speaking for myself, I expect 

 nothing of the kind, for it is well known to all geologists that 

 the surface of the North Downs has suffered greatly by denudation 

 in modern times, consequently the flints are not likely to be found 

 on the wasted portions, but we do find them scattered over the 

 surface of the un wasted portions. As to whether all the flints 

 obtained from the pits show traces of human work, I am not in a 

 position to state ; but I must admit that I would reject a certain 

 number, which, however, Mr Harrison accepts. The large bruised 

 and battered specimens are to my mind the result of river action, 

 but there are a large number which I unhesitatingly accept. 



Then, Mr Cunnington urges that the hollows in the flints are 

 chipped in the same manner as the edges, and points to this as a 

 proof of the natural origin of the flakings. I have carefully gone 

 through my own collection, and through a large part of Mr 



