'Neolithic Settlement near Scuntliorpe, Lincolnshire. 217 



formed this opinion some years ago, and his view has been 

 confirmed on subsequent visits. Each locaUty has its own 

 particular class of implement. Here, on a little patch of ground 

 a few feet in extent, scores of shouldered borers have been 

 picked up ; there, have been gathered large numbers of small 

 scrapers, and j^onder ; quantities of flaked knives, ft may be 

 argued that these are simply hoards, but against this theory 

 may be placed the fact that together v^ith these implements are 

 also found cores and flakes d the same flint, in addition to 

 partly finished implements, which appear to have been broken 

 or spoiled in the making, and then discarded. 



The sites of a number of hearths are shewn on the plan. 

 These were in some cases discovered by the writer immediately 

 after the overlying sand was removed by the wind, and in others 

 during the actual process of being uncovered. Traces of 

 charred wood were observed, and numerous fragments of early 

 British pottery, many of them ornamented, were found in 

 close proximity to the hearths, together with numbers of 

 scrapers, knives, etc., and occasionally arrow or lance-heads, 

 hammer-stones and rough celts. The ground underneath the 

 fires was in each case baked quite hard, remaining as a small 

 hillock or cone long after the surrounding and more loose 

 material had disappeared. 



The black circle to the north of the plan is a small mound 

 consisting almost entirely of fragments of pottery, intermingled 

 with blown sand. The pieces of earthenware are so numerous 

 as to suggest a rubbish heap. 



The chief characteristic of the Scunthorpe flints is their 

 beauty of execution and finish. They are in most cases small, 

 some of the arrow-heads, in particular, being very diminutive. 

 The largest implement which the writer has yet found is a 

 flint knife three inches long. Small semi-circular scrapers or 

 ' Thumb-flints ' abound. The conchoidal depression to be 

 found on many of them fits the thumb, allowing the user to 

 get a firm grip of these workmanlike little implements. It is 

 not unusual to carry home fifteen or twenty ' Thumb-fl-ints,' 

 provided the searcher knows where to look ! 



Arrow and lance-heads are rare, but the majority found are 

 ■beautifully made. The type shown on the top right-hand 

 of the plate seems unusual. * Many other types of implements 

 are obtained, such as hollow scrapers, ' fabricators ' and rough 

 ^pear-heads, together with forms which it is not easy to classify. 



The so-called ' Pygmy ' flints have been diminishing greatly 

 in number during recent years, until at the present time one 

 or two specimens is a good average ' find ' for each visit. These 

 tiny implements are manufactured from small flakes, the 



* It is represented in the Mortimer collection, now at Hull. — Ed. 

 1918 July 1. 



