EARLY MAN 



categories — so there are many varieties of striated implements, which can 

 similarly be referred to six or seven categories. 



1. The most ancient class of neolithic implements would appear to be 

 represented by a group of exceedingly rough pieces, the humanly-made surfaces 

 of which are scratched all over ; in typical specimens the scratches are so 

 numerous and so criss-crossed over the whole surface that it would be difficult 

 to put more than the point of a pin between them. 



2. The next class in apparent age is mainly composed of deep blue or 

 deep blue-black highly lustrous pieces. The scratches though less numerous 

 than in Class i are yet very well marked, generally large and deep ; and 

 striae thus made go right into the substance of the flint and are more or less 

 of uniform depth. The bulbar side of the implement or flake is the one 

 chiefly affected, and the bulb is especially liable to be scratched, apparently as 

 being the part that is most prominent. Implements of this class are generally 

 rough in make, but they are quite different in shape from those of Class i. 

 Occasionally an implement of Class 2 has been made from one of Class i. 

 In that case the two periods of work on the same stone are sharply defined 

 from one another by quality of workmanship, by patina, and by the kind of 

 scratching on the surfaces. 



3. This class resembles Class 2 in its main features ; but differs from it 

 in degree of patination, in the smaller number and depth of the scratches, 

 and in the greater variety of forms and greater delicacy in the make of 

 the implements. 



4. This is a numerous class, composed of implements in which the patina 

 is much less developed than in either of the preceding classes ; or of implements 

 without colour patina but on which a lustred surface of a high degree of 

 intensity has been produced. These implements are scratched in a different 

 way from those in the first three classes. The scratches are large, but instead 

 of being of the same colour as the surrounding flint they stand out white, and 

 are prominently visible when seen at a distance of some feet. There is a 

 strong tendency to parallelism in these white scratches. In the scratching of 

 the first three classes, though parallelism is sometimes seen, yet on the whole 

 it is not a striking feature. In the white scratches of this class the parallelism 

 is one of the points that at once attract attention. Examination with a lens 

 will reveal the cause of the whiteness. The scratches will then be seen to 

 differ from those on stones of the first three classes in this respect : it has 

 been remarked that in those classes the scratches go with fair uniformity into 

 the substance of the flint from end to end of the scratch. These white scratches 

 will be seen to be composed not of a single straight furrow on the flint, but 

 of a number of little digs into the flint separated by minute intervals of un- 

 broken surface ; or if the surface be broken throughout, the scratch is by no 

 means of uniform depth, and the surface of the scratch is bruised rather than 

 cut cleanly through. It is to this lack of uniformity of depth, combined 

 with the bruising of the flint, that the whiteness of the scratch is due. 



5. This class, which is very curious but quite well defined, is met with 

 less frequently in the valley itself than in some of the neighbouring districts. 

 The characteristic of the scratching on the implements is that instead of large 

 scratches the surfaces show a number of very fine hair-like scratches. These 

 fine scratches occur in groups of from four or five up to forty or fifty ; the 



251 



