A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



defined layer of chips and implements, doubtless representing the surface 

 of the ground in neolithic times. This layer where exposed, lies at a 

 level about 4 feet below that of the surrounding marsh meadows, but 

 of course the layer can be seen only where the tides, in consequence 

 of changes at the mouth of the harbour, are washing away the silty 

 deposit. 



The flakes have for the most part been well made out of selected 

 flint ; some of them bear evidence of secondary work ; and some of 

 the better and straighter specimens have been broken obliquely across, 

 apparently in order to procure arrow-heads or teeth for sickles. They 

 resemble the flint flakes of similar character found some years ago at 

 Millfield, Keston, Kent.' 



The flint mines at Cissbury Hill form a very important piece of 

 evidence as to the condition of the neolithic inhabitants of Sussex, and 

 they point to a very high degree of civilization. The camp itself will 

 be dealt with in the section relating to earthworks. On the western 

 side of that enclosure there are numerous pits from 10 ft. to 70 ft. in 

 diameter, and from 5 ft. to 7 ft. deep. In and around them numerous 

 flint flakes and implements, as well as waste chips, a few bones, land 

 shells, charcoal, and fragments of coarse pottery have been discovered, 

 and they possibly mark the sites of rude neolithic huts. Close examina- 

 tion of some of these pits, however, has proved that they really cover 

 deeper excavations leading to galleries which have been made in order 

 to reach a band of flints of a particularly suitable kind for the manu- 

 facture of implements. Mr. E. H. Willett,^ who conducted some 

 explorations on the site subsequently to General Pitt-Rivers's investiga- 

 tions, discovered many important traces of prehistoric workings for 

 flint, and much of the same character as those investigated by Canon 

 Greenwell at Grimes' Graves. 



Sir John Evans draws attention in his book on stone implements' to 

 the most remarkable characteristics of the Cissbury implements. He 

 writes : ' Looking at a series of the worked flints from Cissbury, exclu- 

 sive of flakes and mere rough blocks, the general facies is such 

 as to show that the ordinary forms of celts, or hatchets, were those at 

 which in the main the workmen aimed. A small proportion of these 

 are highly finished specimens, not improbably hidden away in the loose 

 chalk when chipped out and accidentally left there. Others are broken ; 

 not, I think, in use, but in the process of manufacture. A great 

 proportion are very rude, and ill adapted for being ground. They are, 

 in fact, such as may be regarded, if not as wasters, yet, at all events, as 

 unmarketable ; for it seems probable that at Cissbury, as well as at other 

 manufactories of flint implements, they were produced, not for imme- 

 diate use by those who made them, but to be bartered away for some 

 other commodities.' 



The general character of the flint implements found at Cissbury 



> Proc. Soc. ,'lntiq. (ser. 2), xvii. 2ig. 2 Jnh. xlv. 337-48. 



3 Evans. Stone Implements (ed. 2), pp. 79-80. 



