356 PLATEAU IMPLEMENTS. [l891. 



the world of science had scouted. In his previous paper 

 on palaeolithic flint implements, read before the Geolog- 

 ical Society in 1889, he had recorded their occurrence 

 in about forty places in the neighbourhood of Ightham, 

 Kent. Sir John Evans, our leading authority on the 

 flint and stone weapons of primitive man, refers to this 

 paper in the second edition, recently issued, of his 

 magnificent work. 1 He remarks : 



Since that paper was published, Mr Harrison, aided by Mr 

 de B. Crawshay, has extended his researches, with the result 

 that many more implements have been found at high elevations 

 to the north of the escarpment of the Chalk. These discoveries 

 enabled Sir Joseph Prestwich in another paper, " On the Age, 

 Formation, and Successive Drift -stages of the Valley of the 

 Darent, and on the Origin of its Chalk Escarpment," still further 

 to extend his interesting speculations. It is true that he accepts 

 as being of human manufacture flints with bruised and battered 

 edges which I and some others venture to regard as owing their 

 shape to purely natural causes. But, fortunately, this does not 

 invalidate his arguments, as in most cases where the so-called 

 " Plateau types " have been found, more or less well -finished 

 palaeolithic implements of recognised form, though much abraded 

 and deeply stained, have also been discovered. The evidence of 

 such witnesses is not impaired by calling in that of others of 

 more doubtful character. 



To the last Prestwich persistently maintained his 

 belief in the rude plateau implements as being the 

 handiwork of man, and not mere natural flints. He 

 insisted that they admitted of classification into three 

 distinct groups, illustrating the different uses for 

 which they were designed. To speak generally, the 

 first group included flat flint flakes, with their edges 



1 On the Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain : Longmans & Co., 

 1897. 



