EARLY MAN 



which we have seen was clearly after the deposit of the gravels at Warren 

 Hill and other parts of the ridge, the ridge was continuous towards the east 

 with the high ground which extends to and beyond Elveden about 5 miles 

 away. The western boundary of the valley in which these ridge gravels were 

 deposited had already disappeared in the general denudation which gave rise 

 to the present fen districts and the surrounding low-lying chalky plain. On 

 the slope resulting from this denudation Mousterian man lived and made his 

 implements, which were successively buried in the brick-earth in which they 

 are now found. When at some subsequent period the diluvial conditions 

 arose which gave rise to the present river-system of this part of the country, 

 great floods of water poured over from the higher ground in the neighbour- 

 hood of Elveden and rushed down over the ridge (not yet separated on its 

 eastern side) and so into the low-lying country beyond. The great main 

 drain of the district was meantime forming, and is now represented by the 

 River Lark. This would tend to draw towards itself the minor drains of the 

 system, and amongst these would be that represented by the valley which has 

 cut the ridge off from the high ground to the east. This valley would, 

 however, not be formed all at once. It would be shorter and narrower, to 

 begin with, than it subsequently became. But as it cut its way back north- 

 wards it would tap first one and then another of the streams which up till 

 then had been rushing from the high ground to the east towards and over the 

 gravel-topped land which now constitutes our ridge. These streams flowing 

 from east to west would in ordinary course be cutting their way down 

 through the gravels and underlying strata, and with time would deepen and 

 widen their beds. The tapping process described would deflect the water 

 first of the ' gully,' then of the ' vale,' and finally of the ' valley,' The ' gully,' 

 as we have seen, had attained a bottom width of 100 yds., when its further 

 progress was thus stopped ; the ' vale ' a width of about a third of a mile, 

 when it ceased to carry further water ; whilst the ' valley ' was a mile wide 

 before it was finally tapped. 



Here, then, we must look for the explanation of the superposition of 

 ' drift ' gravels to ' Mousterian ' brick-earth. Not only were there these three 

 breaches made in the ridge by the rush of waters from the east, but a fourth 

 breach was begun half-way between our ' gully ' and the Lark. The water 

 had time to push the gravels capping the ridge at this point over on to the 

 side of the ridge to the west, when the valley which the waters were 

 excavating to the east of the ridge tapped the source of this flow, and here the 

 gravels have remained to this day. The paradox in prehistoric archaeology 

 thus caused comes as an aid to geology in clearing up a very curious problem. 



A comparatively simple confirmation of the account here given may be 

 obtained. If it be the case that large portions of the ridge with its imple- 

 mentiferous gravels have been carried away by the Lark and by the streams 

 that gave rise to the breaches here described, then there ought to be some 

 signs of the resulting debris in the valley of the Lark below the ridge and in 

 the country to the west of the ridge ; and such evidence is forthcoming. A 

 certain number of typical Warren Hill implements have been found at or 

 near the surface of the ground at various spots in the lower Lark Valley ; 

 and implements of pure ' drift ' types, and with typical ' drift ' patination, 

 have been picked up on fields opposite each of the breaches described at 



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