CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



and smoothened edge, or completely polished. 

 This classification, however, has no bearing on 

 the chronological relations of the implements indi- 

 vidually. Certain forms, such as the flint arrow 

 and spear head, were never ground in any age, 

 and the common form of ' celt,' or wedge-shaped 

 stone axe, is almost universally polished when 

 made of other materials than flint. When flint is 

 the material, chipping is the rule, and polishing 

 the exception. While it is true that the earliest 

 implements are also the rudest, it does not by any 

 means follow that the rudest are all of the earliest 

 age. The utmost that we can say of any un- 

 polished implement is, that the process of polish- 

 ing has not been applied to it. By no method of 

 examination can we extract from it the informa- 

 tion whether the art of polishing was known or 

 unknown at the time when it was made. 



The Paleolithic and Neolithic Periods. On the 

 assumption that the art of chipping stone into 

 shape must have preceded the art of grinding its 

 edges and polishing its surface, it has been pro- 

 posed to subdivide the Stone Age proper into two 

 periods, supposed to have been characterised by 

 these two styles, namely, the Palaeolithic, or Older 

 Stone Period ; and the Neolithic, or Newer Stone 

 Period. But, as has been already indicated, while 

 this may be true of the styles, it cannot be applied 

 to the individual implements. The absurdity 

 which would result if it were so applied, may be 

 shewn by a simple illustration. On the reasonable 

 assumption, that dry-built walling preceded the 

 art of cementing, we may subdivide the structural 

 period of human history into: (i) The Palaeolithic 

 Period uncemented structures ; (2) The Neo- 

 lithic Period cemented structures. But if we 

 now proceed to arrange the structures themselves 

 under these two classes, we shall have to place 

 in the class representing the Palaeolithic period all 

 the recent dry-stone dikes in the country. And 

 this is exactly the mistake we should commit if we 

 were to pronounce any specimen of a stone imple- 

 ment ' Palaeolithic,' because it is unground and 

 unpolished. Mere rudeness or style of finish is 

 in itself no certain indication of the age of an 

 implement. 



Association the Test of Antiquity. It is only 

 when we proceed to apply the test of association 

 to the implements of different types, that we obtain 

 definite results as to their relative antiquity. 

 Thus we find, by collating a long series of obser- 

 vations, that the implements imbedded in the 

 river-drifts of England and France are exclusively 

 of the rude unpolished types, and that they are 

 associated with the bones of animals that are now 

 wholly extinct. We also find that the implements 

 from the caves of England, France, and Belgium 

 are for the most part of types similar to those 

 found in the drifts, though accompanied by forms 

 of finer finish, and that they are associated with 

 rare instances of the extinct animals, but with 

 abundant remains of others, which, though not 

 extinct, had wholly disappeared from these coun- 

 tries long before the dawn of the historic period. 

 Again, we find that the implements recovered 

 from the barrows, cairns, and other sepulchral 

 deposits, from the upper strata of the caves, and 

 from sites of ancient dwellings, encampments, and 

 sea-side resorts of prehistoric times, while not 

 always of the more highly finished types, are yet, 

 for the most part, ground or polished, and are 



724 



never associated with remains of extinct animals^ 

 but always with those of the domestic or wild 

 species still inhabiting the country. Thus, we 

 have the palaeolithic types of rude implements- 

 associated with extinct animals exclusively, and 

 the neolithic types exclusively associated with 

 animals that are still existing. 



THE RIVER-DRIFT PERIOD. 

 Implements. In examining the characteristics 

 of the implements from the river-drifts, the most 

 noticeable is their extreme rudeness, rendering it 

 difficult at first to recognise them as really the 

 work of human hands. Yet of most of them it 

 may be truly said, in the words of Professor 

 Ramsay, that ' they are as clearly works of art as 

 any Sheffield whittle.' It is noticeable also that 

 we find among them no such forms as those 

 which are so common in the surface ' finds,' or in 

 the later cave-deposits no arrow-heads, very few 

 of the long, ridged flakes, and but few even that 

 seem well adapted for spear-points. The com- 

 monest forms are : (i) A roughly chipped elon- 

 gated or tongue-shaped implement, with an ir- 

 regularly rounded butt, and tapering more or less 

 sharply and regularly to a point ; (2) A flattish 

 discoid or ovate form, usually with an irregular 

 edge all round, though sometimes edged only on 

 one side. Ten or a dozen sub-varieties have been 



Fig. 8. 



a, Tongue-shaped Implement, 6J inches ; 6, Ovate Implement, 

 6 inches long. 



made out of these two, but it is perhaps easier to- 

 describe than to identify them. 



Generally speaking, these implements are so 

 clumsily shaped that it is difficult to imagine any 

 kind of useful purpose for them. Mr Evans has 

 suggested 'piercing, digging, or boring' for the 

 tongue-shaped, and cutting or scraping for the 

 discoid variety. Some shew obscure signs of use 

 of some kind on their edges, but none of them 

 exhibit any indications of having been intended 

 to be fixed in handles. 



These implements occur in the gravels of the 

 valleys of the Great and Little Ouse, the Wave- 

 ney, the Thames, the Medway, the Itchen, the 

 Test, and the Avon, in England. They have 

 not been found farther north than the Ouse in. 

 Yorkshire, or farther west than the Avon in. 

 Wiltshire. In France, they occur most abun- 

 dantly in the valleys of the Somme, the Oise, and 

 the Seine. 



Antiquity. In estimating their antiquity, we 

 are met by the difficulty (which is peculiar to the 

 implements of the drift), that they are not found in 



