EARLY MAN 



of what it must have been originally, much of it having been destroyed 

 by river action of later times ; and both north and south ends are abrupt 

 and without any present connexion with the neighbouring higher ground. 

 Nor is the ridge continuous from end to end. At some time in its 

 history it has been cut across at right angles by streams coming from the 

 east. There are at least three such breaches of continuity which will be 

 described more fully presently. And these three breaches are by no means 

 the only evidences of the past destructive forces to which this area of ground 

 has been exposed. The very fact that to-day it exists as a ridge speaks 

 eloquently of its past history. All along the top of the ridge are gravels, 

 most of them implementiferous, and at least two of them teeming with the 

 handiwork of man. When these gravels were laid down what is now the 

 ridge must have been a valley, all traces of the boundaries of which have 

 now disappeared. To the west the ridge slopes down to the flat expanse 

 of the chalk plain of Cambridgeshire and the Fen country ; whilst to the 

 east it is bounded by a valley, in many parts a mile wide, running 

 parallel to the ridge from north to south, which valley must have been 





ScAkt I INCH TO TMt MILt 



Plan of the Mildenhall District 

 237 



