A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



lithic Age was very much concentrated in the neighbourhood of the 

 great rivers, as indeed is the case with civilized man to-day ; and here, 

 besides other conveniences, Early Man found an abundance of material 

 for his tools. 



A few well-shaped implements have, however, been found at some 

 distance from, and at a considerable height above, the great water-ways. 

 Mr. H. W. Monckton, F.G.S., found a well-worked pointed-oval 

 specimen, with a cutting edge all round, in a gravel-pit at Englefield, 

 about 150 feet above the Thames-level, and near the little stream of the 

 Bourne. Two implements of the same general type were found at 

 Bradfield, in the same neighbourhood. Mr. J. W. Colyer found a 

 well-worked implement of flat ovoid type, also with a cutting edge all 

 round, at Sulhamstead Abbots, about 1 1 miles from the river Kennet, 

 and about 150 feet above it. These specimens are all in the Reading 

 Museum, and the excellence of their type at so high a level is note- 

 worthy. 



So numerous have been the ' finds ' of palaeolithic implements in 

 Berkshire, that we need not further particularize localities. It may be 

 mentioned, however, that implements have been found at Newbury, and 

 that one specimen, a good example of the pointed type, was found at 

 Wokingham in the old gravel of an affluent of the Loddon. 



We may say, then, that the remains of man at this period are for 

 the most part found in a definite zone in the old gravels which fringe our 

 rivers. They appear to be absent from the older ' Plateau ' gravels, and 

 also from the newer, or lower, valley-gravels. Perhaps this apparent 

 absence of man may be attributed to climate. To a certain extent, also, 

 there appears to have been a segregation of population in particular 

 localities, so far as was consistent with the habits of Early Man at this 

 period. 1 



THE NEOLITHIC AGE 



As we have seen, man appears to have left this district before the 

 Thames valley had been cut down to its present depth. When he 

 reappeared considerable physical changes had taken place ; and we now 

 find his remains in more recent deposits, such as surface-soil, peat, and 

 the beds of lakes and rivers. We find also a considerable change in 

 the form of the tools. In the case of the hatchet or ' celt ' the change 

 is not at first strongly accentuated beyond the elongation of the tool, 

 which, like some of the palaeolithic forms, has a cutting edge all 

 round. A fine example of this type, dug up in gravel and having 

 probably been buried there, is in the Reading Museum. Very soon, 

 however, the practice of grinding the edge at one end was resorted 

 to. A fine specimen of flint chisel was found on an island in the lake 

 in Englefield Park, and is also in the Museum. It was found also that, 



1 See, in addition to the works quoted, O. A. Shrubsole, F.G.S., on ' The Valley-Gravels about 

 Reading' (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1890, p. 582), L. Treacher, 'Palaeolithic Man in East Berks ,' Berks, 

 Bucks and Oxon Arch. Journ. 1896, p. 16 ; and ' On Stone Implements in the Thames Valley,' etc., 

 Man, 1904, p. 17. 



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