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61. — The Gun-flint Manufactory at Brandon, with reference 

 TO ITS Connection with the Stone Age. 



By Edward Lo\'ett. 



(Read September 8th, 188G.) 



In that vastly remote period in the history of man, known to 

 us as the age of stone, we have every reason to beheve that 

 metals in any shape or form were entirely unknown. This age, 

 of which the only trace whatever exists in the various imiDlements 

 of stone found in almost all parts of the world, together with a 

 few mounds, cairns, &c., and still fewer Imman remains, has 

 been divided into two periods, which are called the Palaeolithic, 

 or older stone period, and the Neolithic, or newer stone period. 

 The chief material used for the manufacture of implements in 

 these periods was flint (although silica in many other forms was 

 extensively used in various parts of the world). But it was in 

 the older stone period that flint was most general in use, igneous 

 and other hard rocks coming into use in the later era. In om- 

 own country there are abundant traces of this age of flint 

 occurring even in places where flint is not found in situ, as, for 

 example, in some parts of Ireland and Scotland, and notably in 

 the case of my cave discovery in the Island of Jersey. Where, 

 however, flint does occur «i situ, worked flints and traces of 

 imperfect working and chipping are often common, and show by 

 their position that they were obtained and worked up into 

 weapons on the spot. Several of these old stone-age-men's 

 workshops exist on our south coast, and on the Wolds of York- 

 shire. 



Perhaps, however, no one spot possesses more interest in this 

 respect than the locality now occupied by the picturesque village 

 of Brandon, on the borders of Suffolk and Norfolk, and near the 

 town of Thetford. Near this village there stiU exist deep and 

 curiously formed pits in the chalk, the origin and history of 

 which were shrouded in mystery till their exploration and the 

 excavating of fallen-iu debris revealed their unwritten history. 

 In and near these pits were discovered great numbers of the 

 earliest type of flint implements, rudely shaped baches, pick-like 

 instruments, calcined cooking-stones, bruisers, &c. ; but by far 

 the most wonderful discovery of all was a number of picks 

 formed of the horns of the red deer, to which I shall again 

 allude. These were found in the workings of the old flint pits. 

 The country about this part bears strong evidence of having 

 been a place of great importance in palajolithic times, and when 

 the Neolithic age dawned its reputation had either not been lost 

 or was discovered fi-esh by the men of the newer stone age, for 

 flakes, knives, scrapers, &c., occur in greater abundance than in 



