EARLY MAN 



REGARD being had to the necessarily uncertain date of the 

 various archaeological remains of early man, the period covered 

 by this section of the local history cannot be arbitrarily limited, 

 but may broadly be said to include the vast succession of ages 

 between the appearance of man, as evidenced by his earliest handiwork, 

 and the dawn of British history faintly traced in the writings of Roman 

 historians. Nor can a terminal limit be fixed at the advent of the 

 imperial power, for many stone, bronze and iron implements and much 

 rude pottery must necessarily be classed as prehistoric, some of which 

 may, for ought we know, have been fabricated in Romano-British days, 

 while British coins were struck long after the Romans first attempted 

 the conquest of the island. 



THE PALEOLITHIC PERIOD 



In Essex few finds have been unearthed which raise the question of 

 the existence of human beings in preglacial days ' ; nevertheless, to ages 

 so remote that no approximation of date is possible must be assigned the 

 first traces of man's presence. 



Our land was then separated from the north-west of Europe only 

 by the waters of a great river flowing northward, occupying a minute 

 part of the space now covered by the North Sea, and no channel 

 separated the chalk hills of Dover from Cape Gris Nez. 



The waters which flowed through ancient valleys have left deposits 

 of loam, sand and gravel, forming the strata yielding the major part of 

 the implements of palaeolithic man. 



Some of these valleys remain,* but so altered by geological changes 

 since that period that the gravel terraces, once below water, now form 

 the building ground of (for example) parts of Leyton, Walthamstow, 

 Clapton and Stoke Newington. 



It was from these terraces that Mr. Worthington G. Smith obtained 

 many specimens which now enrich the British Museum, and from that 

 source came numerous finds presented by the Rev. J. W. Kenworthy 

 to the Essex Field Club collections. The Thames valley has yielded 

 evidence of the presence of man at many points on its old terraces. 



1 Mr. J. E. Greenhill expressed the opinion that there was proof of the presence of man in both 

 interglacial and preglacial ages, and referred specially to an implement found below chalky boulder 

 drift at Newport in Essex (Eistx Field Club Journal, iv. 95). 



* The broad rivers which eroded the valleys are now represented by narrower streams flowing at 

 lower levels. 



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