22 



found at Abbeville. Dr. Falconer having seen this collec- 

 tion urged Mr. Prestwich to explore the geology of the 

 valley of the Somme. He did so in company with Mr. J. 

 Evans. They established the authenticity of these flint 

 implements, and the geological age of the deposit in which 

 they were found. The only conclusion they could arrive at 

 was, that they were of the same age as the gravel with 

 ■which they were associated, as the fractured surfaces were 

 discoloured by the gravel ; that they could not have been 

 formed by natural means ; that they were of the same age 

 as the bones of extinct Mammalia found in the same deposit, 

 and that the river Somme had not much altered its level 

 since the Roman period. That the peat extended to the 

 coast and there passes under the sand-dunes below the sea 

 level. 



It so happened that among the collection of things 

 found in the peat, there was the remains of a piece of 

 Roman pottery, which Mr. Brent would tell them could be 

 identified as having been made at a definite period, an- 

 terior to a certain date. This Roman pottery rested near 

 the surface of the peat, and was so constructed that it could 

 not very easily sink into the peat,' and as the piece to which 

 he had alluded was discovered at some depth, they had data 

 on which to estimate the rate of growth of this peat. That 

 the flint implements found in the bed of the river must have 

 been of extreme antiquity would thus appear. The charac- 

 ter of the extinct mammals would show that the climate 

 was not so warm as at present, as some of the extinct 

 animals now only exist in Northern regions. It had been 

 known that flints formed after a similar pattern had been 

 found in caves with bones of extinct animals, but it had 

 hitherto been supposed that they had been introduced 

 at a later period. Human bones had likewise 

 frequently been found, with these flint implements. 

 Mr. Dowker then directed the attention of the audience to 

 what he called a clipped "weathered-flint," which he said 



