ioo GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT 



The most important finds, besides those at Priory Bay, 

 have been those of Mr. S. Hazzledine Warren at Fresh- 

 water, especially in trial borings in loam and clay below 

 the surface soil in a depression of the High Downs, south 

 of Headon Hill, at a level of about 360 ft. O.D., in which 

 a number of Palaeolithic tools, flakes, and cores were 

 found*. Isolated implements have been found in 

 recent years in various localities in the Island. There are 

 references to finds of implements at different times in the 

 past, but the descriptions are generally too vague to 

 conclude certainly to what date they belong. Much of 

 the gravel used in the Island conies from the angular 

 gravel on St. Boniface Down, or the high Plateau Gravel of 

 St. George's Down ; but in the lower gravels and associated 

 brick earth, it is highly probable that more remains of 

 Palaeolithic man will yet be found in the Island, and 

 quite possible that such have been found in the past, but 

 for want of accurate descriptions of the circumstances of 

 the finds are lost to us. 



We must pass on to the men of the Neolithic or later 

 stone age. The Palaeolithic age was of very great duration, 

 much longer than all succeeding human history. Between 

 Palaeolithic and Neolithic times there is in England a large 

 gap. In France various stages have been traced showing 

 a continual advance in culture. In England little, if any- 

 thing, has been found belonging to the intermediate stages. 

 Such remains may yet be found in caves, or in lower river 

 gravels, now buried below the alluvium. The gap between 

 Palaeolithic and Neolithic is marked by the great amount 

 of river erosion which took place in the interval. 

 Palaeolithic implements are found in gravels formed when 

 the rivers flowed some ioo feet above their present courses. 

 Take, e.g., the Itchen at Southampton. After the ioo foot 

 gravels were deposited the river cut down, not merely to 

 its present level, but to an old bed now covered up by 

 * Surv. Mem., I.W., 1921, p. 174. 



