EARLY MAN 



them here in detail. The following are the more important parishes or 

 districts in which discoveries of paleolithic implements have been 



made 



The Thames Valley. The ecicavation of chalk for lime and cement-making has for 

 some time past afforded numerous opportunities of examining the overlying beds of drift- 

 gravel which occur at various parts of the Thames Valley. This is particularly true of the 

 district about Swanscombe, Northfleet, Stone, etc., where in a high-level bed of drift-gravel 

 many hundreds of paleolithic implements, cores, and waste chips, have been found. Some 

 of these flints have sharp edges, ridges and points, and can hardly have been transported far 

 down the valley, but others are somewhat worn. The curious chopper-like implement shown 

 m the accompanying photograph is of considerable interest on account of the marks 

 of wear it bears on its convex side, the 

 concave side bearing no such marks, 

 having been protected. 



It was in a gravel bed near Swans- 

 combe, that the famous Galley Hill 

 skull and limb bones were discovered 

 in the year 1888. It was considered 

 by some that these human remains 

 were contemporary with the gravels in 

 which they were found, but definite 

 evidence is wanting. 



An ovoid, or perhaps almond- 

 shaped implement was found by Mr. 

 Spurrell 8 ft. deep in Thames Valley 

 gravel at Dartford Heath. 



Reculver. From about the year 

 i860 to the present time paleolithic 

 implements in considerable numbers 

 have been found on the sea-shore be- 

 tween Reculver and Heme Bay. In- 

 vestigation of the cliffs at this place 

 has shown that there is a bed of gravel 

 at the top of the escarpment from 

 which the implements have fallen from 

 time to time. When they first fall to 

 the beach their points and ridges are 

 sharp, but the action of the waves and 

 sand soon modifies this. Some magni- 

 ficent specimens of pointed implements 

 have been found here at various times 

 by Mr. Thomas Leach, Mr. John Brent, 

 F.S.A., Sir Joseph Prestwich and Sir 

 John Evans, and four engravings of them are here reproduced by the kind permission of Sir 

 John Evans. One is formed from a pebble, the rounded butt of which has not been chipped, 

 but its shape is well adapted for being held in the hand. The larger implements shown full- 

 size in the accompanying engravings are admirable examples of their kinds, that with incurved 

 sides showing a refinement of form which is very rarely found in palaeolithic implements. 

 Another rare form with very thick butt and tapering and slightly twisted point, once in the 

 collection of the late Mr. John Brent, is also shown. 



Palaeolithic implements evidently derived from a bed of drift-gravel at the top of the 

 cliff have been found on the shore as far as a mile and a half to the west of Reculver. 



Minster, Thanet. A small pointed palaeolithic implement was found here in 1899 by 

 Mr. J. Romilly Allen, ^ F.S.A. It would appear to belong to the same set of drift -gravels as 

 those near Reculver, except that it has not suffered drift-wear ; but in any case it is of con- 

 siderable interest as occurring so far to the east of the Reculver gravels. 



» Reliq. vii. 57- 



3" 



Palaeolithic Implements from Thanington. 



