254 



have been found which exhibit far more differentiation in 

 their forms than those I have mentioned^ and were frequently 

 carefully and somewhat elaborately chipped into shape. These 

 two classes of implements merge gradually into one another, 

 and together form what is known as the Paleeolithic stage of 

 human culture in this part of the world. This stage, how- 

 ever, presents us with no instances of the highly-elaborated 

 implements, many of which were carefully polished, and some 

 of which even survive in the forms produced in other mate- 

 rials at a later period. That age in which polished imple- 

 ments were used is the Neolithic, sometimes called the 

 Prehistoric, and is, as I shall have occasion to notice further 

 on, sharply cut off from the preceding Paleeolithic age ; we not 

 only find no fusing of the implements, ' such as is the case 

 with regard to the ruder and the more highly-finished imple- 

 ments of this latter, but it is also divided from it by a great 

 change in the fauna ; whereas during the Palaeolithic age 

 such animals as the mammoth, the rhinoceros, the reindeer, 

 the hy^na, and others which, like these, are either extinct or 

 no longer to be found in these countries, were the contem- 

 poraries of man, these had totally disappeared before the 

 incoming of the Neolithic race, and the fauna which now 

 prevails in Europe first made its appearance. 



Having thus sketched out the main features of the two ages 

 of the Stone period, I purpose in this paper to give an account 

 of one of the great manufacturing centres of the Neolithic 



The prehistoric factory of flint implements at Spiennes, in 

 Belgium, although long known to Archeeologists, and described 

 in the report to the " Societe des Sciences, &jC." of Hainaut, 

 made some years since by MM. A. Briart, F. Cornet, and 

 A. Houzeau de Lehaie, has not, so far as I am aware, been 

 noticed in detail in any generally accessible publications in 

 this country ; and, having had an opportunity of visiting the 

 locality, and through the kindness of my friend the 

 Marquis de Wavrin, of obtaining a large number of charac- 

 teristic specimens, it has occurred to me that a short account 

 of these, accompanied by illustrations of typical forms, may 

 prove interesting to any who care to investigate the history 

 of early man in Europe, and who would wish to compare 

 the implements of this locality with those met with else- 

 where. 



It is well known that the Prehistoric or Neolithic inhabi- 

 tants of North West Europe did not depend solely upon 

 isolated labour for the supply of such stone weapons and tools 

 as were needed by them, each individual making his own 



