Occurrence of Flint-imjjlements in Gi-avel-beds. 297 



The specimens of the weapons figured by Mr. Frere, and those 

 now in the British Museum and elsewhere, present a singular simi- 

 larity iu work and shape to the more pointed forms from St. Acheul. 



One very important fact connected with this section, is that it 

 shows the relative age of the bone and implement-bearing beds. 

 They form a thin lacustrine deposit, which seems to be superimposed 

 on the Boulder Clay, and to pass under a bed of the ochreous sand and 

 flint-gravel belonging to the great and latest drift-beds of the district. 



The author purposely abstains for the present from all theoretical 

 considerations, confining himself to the corroboration of the facts : — 



1 . That the fliut-implements are the work of man. 



2. That they were found in undisturbed ground. 



3. That they are associated with the remains of extinct Mammalia. 



4 . That the period was a late geological one, and anterior to the 

 surface assuming its present outline, so far as some of its minor 

 features are concerned. 



He does not, however, consider that the facts, as they at present 

 stand, of necessity carry back Man in past time more than they bring 

 forward the great extinct Mammals towards our own time, the 

 evidence having reference only to relative and not to absolute time ; 

 and he is of opinion that many of the later geological changes may 

 have been sudden or of shorter duration than generally considered. 

 In fact, from the evidence here exhibited, and from all that he 

 knows regarding drift phenomena generally, the author sees no 

 reason against the conclusion that this period of Man and the ex- 

 tinct Mammals — supposing their contemporaneity to be proved — 

 was brought to a sudden end by a temporary inundation of the 

 land ; on the contrary, he sees much to support such a view on 

 purely geological considerations. 



The paper concludes with a letter from Mr. John Evans, F.S.A. 

 and F.G.S., regarding these implements from an antiquarian rather 

 than a geological point of view, and dividing them into three classes : — 



1. Flint flakes — arrow-heads or knives. 



2. Pointed weapons truncated at one end, and probably lance or 

 spear heads (fig. 2). 



3. Oval or almond-shaped implements with a cutting edge all 

 round, possibly used as sling-stones or as axes (fig. 1). 



Mr. Evans points out that in form and workmanship those of the 

 two last classes differed essentially from the implements of the so- 

 called Celtic period, which are usually more or less ground and 

 polished, and cut at the wide and not the narrow end ; and that, had 

 they been found under any circumstances, they must have been 

 regarded as the work of some other race than the Celts or known 

 aboriginal tribes. lie fully concurs with Mr. Prestwich, that the 

 beds of drift in which they were found were entirely undisturbed. 



" Observations on the Discovery in various Localities of the Remains 

 of Unman Art mixed with the Bones of Extinct Races of Animals." 

 By Ciiarles Babbage, Esq., M.A., F.R.S. &c. 



Statements have recently been made relative to tlie discovery of 

 works of human art occurring in a breccia amongst bones of ancient 



