70 LONDON DISTRICT. 



predominate, though flake-implements are not unknown. 1 The 

 most important finds in situ have been in the valleys of the Cray 

 and the Colne. At Footscray, Mr. R. H. Chandler found a 

 ' scraper-core ' and several long narrow ' worked angle-flakes ' 

 identical with forms from Les Eyzies, in Dordogne, regarded as 

 transitional between the Solutrian and Magdalenian periods; 

 they were lying on the surface of a low-level gravel of the Cray 

 beneath a cover of alluvium and were in fresh and unabraded 

 condition. This gravel must, therefore, be older, how much it 

 is impossible to say, while the alluvium cannot be much newer 

 than the period indicated. Mr. Chandler was also able to trace 

 other similar flints that had previously been found in the same 

 position. 2 



Flakes and scrapers ' nearly all of the long duck-bill type ' 

 and. ' identical with those found in the French cave of La 

 Madeleine ' had previously been recorded by Messrs. Kennard 

 and Hinton from Uxbridge : these again rested on the low-level 

 gravel of the Colne beneath a cover of alluvium. 3 Implements 

 from the Admiralty Buildings site (above) appear to belong to 

 some part of the Cave Period. 



It is unfortunate that among the deposits subsequent to the 

 Middle Terrace, where the stratigrapher is most in need of 

 assistance, the archaeologist has, as yet, but little to give him. 



CHAPTER IX. 



HOLOCENE ; OR RECENT. 

 ALLUVIUM. 



This term is applied to the latest deposits which form the 

 flat meadow and marsh lands that border the river and its 

 tributary streams. 



They comprise lands now liable to flood when the river 

 overflows its banks; and prior to the artificial protective works 

 there were extensive marshes and stagnant pools, where peat 

 could accumulate in areas to the east of London. 



The more conspicuous tracts of Alluvium are along the Colne 

 Valley, from Watford to Uxbridge and Staines Moor, and along 

 the Thames from the famous meadow of Runnymede, between 

 Egham and Staines, to Chertsey and Walton-upon-Thames. 

 Below Walton-upon-Thames very little Alluvium is shown on 

 the map, in the main valley, until the mouth oi the Lea is reached. 



There are belts of Alluvium along the Wey above Wey bridge, 

 along the Mole between Hersham and East Molesey, and the 



1 Dewey, H., ' Palaeolithic Flake Implements from High-level Terraces of 

 the Thames,' G*ol. Mag., 1919, pp. 49-59. 



a Proc. Prehist. Soc. E. Anglia, vol. ii, 1915, pp. 80-98. 



3 Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. xviii, 1903, p. 188; vol. 1905, p. 76. 



