318 



DISCOVERY 



the plateau of Hautes Fagnes, in the Ardennes, known 

 as the Fagnian culture, have been the subject of care- 

 ful study by M. Rutot, the eminent Belgian archae- 

 ologist, whose carefully aiTanged and graded collection 

 has carried conviction to more than one sceptic who 

 previously was acquainted only with such selected 

 implements as had been figured in M. Rutot's publica- 

 tions. Incidentally, in this connection it may be 

 mentioned that those who support the eolith claim 

 that no criterion is equal in value to the judgment 

 which comes from the experience of handling and testing 

 the adjustment to the hand of a large number of 

 specimens, genuine and other. Up to the present the 

 evidence for Miocene, and still more Oligocene, man 

 has been regarded with considerable caution by 

 archaeologists. Recently, however. Professor W. J. 

 Sollas, who has on more than one occasion expressed 

 himself strongly against the human origin of many 

 examples for which it was claimed, has examined a 

 large collection of specimens from the Miocene deposits 

 of Cantal, made by the late Mr. Westlake. His opinion, 

 which was submitted to the Anthropological Section 

 at the recent meeting of the British Association at 

 Liverpool, is in favour of their being of Miocene date 

 and possibly of human origin. He was, at any rate, 

 prepared to go so far as to say that he knew of no 

 natural forces in this area by which they could be pro- 

 duced. " They bear," he said, " cogent evidence of 

 design." It may be hoped that these results will 

 be published and made available for consideration at 

 an early date. 



Eoliths in Britain 



In Great Britain eoliths have a farily wide distribu- 

 tion, principally in the South and East of England, 

 the most important centres being Kent, on the chalk 

 plateau in the area extending from Seven Oaks to the 

 Darenth, and in East Anglia in the neighbourhood of 

 Ipswich. 



The Kentish finds occur in the red clav Tertiary 

 drift which covers the chalk plateau, a few Pleistocene 

 implements of recognised form occurring with the 

 predominating ruder forms. These were first found 

 by the late Mr. Benjamin Harrison, a life-long collector 

 whose devotion to the study of the question of early 

 man in Kent is worthy of the grateful remembrance of 

 all archaeologists. Specimens were submitted bv 

 Harrison to Sir Joseph Prestwich and accepted by him 

 as of human origin in 1889, when he gave them the 

 name of eolith. They were, however, rejected by 

 such eminent authorities as the late Sir John Evans 

 and Sir W. Boyd Dawkins. 



Our evidence for Tertiary man in East Anglia is 

 due largely to the indefatigable labours of Mr. J. 



Reid Moir, who for many years has devoted himself 

 untiringly to the study of the prehistoric archaeology 

 of this area. Here, however, the problem is compli- 

 cated by the introduction of a new type of implement 

 of Tertiary- age which Mr. Reid Moir and Sir E. Ray 

 Lankester would distinguish sharply from the eolith. 

 This is the rostro-carinate implement, a highly specia- 

 lised type differing from the more generalised and 

 rudimentary eolith in the peculiar shape indicated by 

 its name, its sides converging to form a keel-shaped 

 upper surface, while the sides and upper surface con- 

 \-erge forward to form a beak. These specimens were 

 found on the floor of London Clay under deposits 

 of crag, 3 ft., middle glacial gravels, 15 ft., and later 

 gravels, 7 ft. The human origin of these rostro- 

 carinates has been strongly contested. Professor 

 Sollas found a large number at Selsey BiU, but did 

 not suggest that they were due to anything but natural 

 causes, while Professor Boule, who examined the site 

 personally, maintained that they did not differ from 

 accidentally fractured fragments associated with them 

 on the same surface. 



The Foxhall Discoveries of 1920 



Of the less highly specialised East Anglian types, 

 which Mr. Reid Moir holds should be kept distinct 

 from the Kentish eolith and for which he would prefer 

 the name " pre-pateolith " or " pre-Chellean," the 

 best-known specimens are those which were discovered 

 at Foxhall, near Ipswich, in 1920. This find, which 

 may be regarded as the culminating-point of a long 

 series of investigations carried out by Mr. Reid Moir 

 in East Anglia, is perhaps one of the most remarkable 

 in the whole history of the eolithic question, not the 

 least noteworthy of its results being the fact that it 

 has served to convince such eminent and careful 

 scientists as I'Abbe Breuil and Professor Fairfield 

 Osbom, the American archaeologist, that here we 

 have indubitable evidence of man in the Tertiary 

 Age. 



Mr. Reid Moir's discovery aroused so much interest 

 and gave rise to so much controversy that the question 

 was taken up by the International Institute of Anthro- 

 pology of Paris. .\n International Commission was 

 appointed w-hich included some of the most prominent 

 archaeologists and geologists of the day, among them 

 M. Capitan, of Pari«, M. Lohest, of Liege, M. Four- 

 marier, of Liege, Mr. G. Grant MacCurdy, of the 

 .■\merican School of Archaeology in Paris, Professor 

 Nelson, of New York, and Mr. Miles Burkitt, of Cam- 

 bridge. This Commission visited aU the sites from 

 which Mr. Reid Moir had obtained his specimens, and 

 saw his collections. They also inspected collections 

 at Cambridge, the British Museum, South Kensington, 



