EARLY MAN 



The Neolithic Age is well represented in Sussex by a large number 

 of antiquities, such as stone implements and earthworks. Sussex, like 

 Kent, has had the advantage of much research and observation at the 

 hands of competent archsologists, and discoveries have been recorded 

 from practically every part of the county. The distribution of the 

 neolithic remains, however, is so instructive that it seems desirable to 

 devote a few words to that subject before proceeding to deal with the 

 more important antiquities discovered. 



The chalk hills extending from Beachy Head westward across the 

 southern part of Sussex at a distance of from 3 to 8 miles from the sea- 

 shore, and generally known as the South Downs, form what is unquestion- 

 ably the most prominent of the physical features of the county. On the 

 surface of these Downs, particularly on the southern slopes, numerous 

 flint implements, mostly scrapers, simple flakes and cores, have been 

 discovered, pointing perhaps to the temporary rather than the settled 

 presence of neolithic man. 



It is abundantly proved that the chief population of Sussex in 

 neolithic times was in the more immediate neighbourhood of the 

 sea-coast or rivers. Indeed, the preference for waterside situations 

 usually shown by early man is well illustrated in the case of Sussex, 

 where a long sea-coast and numerous and circuitous rivers offered suit- 

 able conditions for residence. The simple fact is that until the art of 

 well-boring was introduced or the alternative of dew-ponds discovered, 

 it was practically impossible for any considerable number of people to 

 live far away from the banks of the rivers or the sea-coast. Fish in the 

 rivers and in the sea would furnish a reliable form of food which could 

 hardly fail to attract the greater part of the inhabitants of the district. 

 One has only to note the traces of the various neolithic settlements 

 round the coast of Sussex in order to realize the truth of this. 



Earthworks in the form of hill-top camps, enclosing the highest 

 points of the South Downs, are comparatively abundant in Sussex, and 

 many are probably as old as the neolithic period, although some at any 

 rate show traces of having been occupied by later races. In the absence 

 of any sufficiently definite and precise evidence as to the period to which 

 these remains belong, however, it has been considered best to describe 

 all the Sussex earthworks together in a separate section, dealing with 

 them with reference to their forms and plans rather than on theoretical 

 grounds as to their chronological sequence. 



Barrows or sepulchral mounds are well represented among the pre- 

 historic earthworks of Sussex, but they belong for the most part to the 

 Bronze Age. At Seaford, however, and possibly elsewhere, there has 

 been found evidence of neolithic interments.^ 



The traces of a neolithic population on the Sussex sea-coast are 

 abundant and important. Commencing at the eastern end of the 

 county the Hastings kitchen middens call for special notice. The 

 rocks on the cliff between the castle and the sea are very familiar 



» A list of barrows and tumuli in Sussex will be found in the article on Ancient Earthworks. 



