5i6 



PLEISTOCENE. 



these ancient works of man. Indeed, the Implements that have been found in the 

 river-gravels of East Norfolk are mostly of Neolithic type ; the few Pak-eolithic imple- 

 ments recorded from this part of the county having been picked up on the surface 

 of the ground.^ On the coast, however, near West Runton, an implement was 

 found by Mr. A. C. Savin, in old valley-gravel ; and further west a large Palseo- 

 lithic implement was found in the gravel at Wells, together with remains of the 

 Mammoth. 



The formation of the marshes north of Wells is, perhaps, connected with this 

 subject. They appear to be the Alluvium of a valley which at one time was 

 bordered on the north by hills that have been destroyed through the encroachments 

 of the sea. The older Elephant- and Implement-bearing gravels of Wells and 

 Runton may, perhaps, be remnants of the early gravels of the river which flowed 

 along this valley. Possibly it was connected with the Ouse valley, which, at Bedford 

 and other places, contains ancient deposits with Palseolithic implements and 

 Pleistocene Mammalia. These suggestions might be extended further, in con- 

 nection with the numerous Pleistocene organic remains dredged up in the North 

 Sea, and more particularly off the Dogger Bank, a shoal under lo fathoms, and 

 about I20 miles N.N.E. of Cromer. From this bank many Mammalian remains 

 have been obtained, that belong to the group which characterizes the old Thames- 

 Valley deposits of Ilford and other places ; and a large collection, now in the 

 British Museum, was made by Mr. J. J. Owles, of Yarmouth.^ When the 

 Thames united its waters with those of the Rhine, and flowed over what is now 

 the bed of the North Sea, the Ouse may also have been a tributary, and this old 

 bank called the Dogger may be a relic of the period. ■* 



At Copford in Essex beds of blue brickearth have been extensively worked, and 

 this deposit is overlaid by peat and shell-marl with Freshwater and Land 

 Mollusca, including Corbicula fluininalis, also Pleistocene Mammalia, to which 

 attention was directed by John Brown of Stanway.'' Remains of Bear, Beaver, 

 Elephant, Hippopotamus, etc., have been recorded from the Copford 

 deposit. Similar deposits occur at Marks Tey, Witham, at Ballingdon in 

 the Stour Valley, and at Colchester in the Colne Valley.^ The brickearth at 

 Copford contains many concretions of carbonate of lime, termed "race." At 

 Sutton Ness, on the estuary of the Stour, brickearth with Corbictila fliiminalis, 

 etc., occurs ;^ and at Ipswich remains of Elephas autiqmts, Rhinoceros, etc., have 

 been found. 



At Clacton-on-Sea there is about lo feet of gravel, underlaid by laminated clay 

 and peaty beds (20 feet), full of vegetable remains, with marine, freshwater and 

 land shells. Bones of several species of Mammals were found in sand at the base 

 of this deposit. The Mammalian remains include Fdis spchea, Elephas antiqinis. 

 Rhinoceros leptorkimis, and Hippopotamus ; and the Mollusca comprise Cardimn 

 edule, Co7-bicuIa Jiiiininalis, Unio Uttoralis, Paludina, etc' 



At Lexden remains of Elephant, Rhinoceros and Insects have been found in 

 peaty beds with much sand and gravel that occur beneath the brickearth.® 



^ Geol. Norwich (Geol. Surv.), p. 145 ; Geol. Diss, etc., by F. J. Bennett, 

 p. 19. 



2 W. Davies, G. Mag. 1878, pp. 97, 443. According to S. Woodward, the 

 Oyster Ridge off Happisburgh, and the Knole Sand off Yarmouth, have yielded 

 many Mammalian remains, some however belonging to the Cromer Forest Bed 

 Series. He mentioned that at one time the Rev. James Layton of Catfield had as 

 many as 600 grinders of the Elephant! Geol. Norfolk, 1833; G. Mag. 1S68, 



p. 319- 



2 P. Geol. Assoc, ix. 11 1 ; Geol. Fakenham, etc. (Geol. Surv.), p. 36; T. R. 

 Jones, P. Geol. Assoc, viii. 344. 



« Proc. G. S. iv. 164 ; Q. J. viii. 184 ; Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. 436, ix. 429 ; W. 

 H. Dallon, Geol. Colchester, p. 5. 



5 J. Brown, P. Geol. Assoc, i. 29. 



6 Whitaker, Geol. Ipswich, p. 96 ; see also Morris, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1836. 



■' J. Brown, Mag. Nat. Hist. (2), iv. 197; O. Fisher, G. Mag. 186S, p. 213; 

 Dalton, op. cit, p. 8. ** O. Fisher, Q. J. xix. 393. 



