293 



NEOLITHIC WORKSHOPS NEAR BRIDLINGTON. 



T. SHEPPARD, F.G.S., F.S.A. (Scot.). 



(plate XIII.). 



For some time it has been known that the neighbourhood of 

 Bridlington has been particularly prolific in pre-historic weapons 

 and implements, and in former years collectors and dealers paid 

 considerable attention to the district. When the supply of 

 genuine implements was exhausted, a notorious character 

 known as Flint Jack made very successful forgeries, which were 

 circulated all over the country, and still adorn the shelves of 

 many museums. In more recent years, however, important 

 finds have been few and far between, though the falling away 

 of the cliffs, and the plough, have brought some interesting 

 examples to light. 



The material from which most of the neolithic implements 

 in East Yorkshire have been made is a tough, dark-coloured 

 flint, which is very different indeed from the light-coloured 

 splintery flint which occurs in the Yorkshire Chalk. It is 

 clear that the neolithic implements are wrought from the far- 

 travelled boulders of black flint which occur in the glacial clays 

 and gravels, and which have been derived from the bed of the 

 North Sea, or from the land on the eastern side thereof. It 

 occurred to the writer that the cave inhabitants of East York- 

 shire would probably come to the coast for the material for 

 making their implements, as the absence of natural exposures 

 where the boulders could occur in large quantities would 

 prevent these primitive people from getting their supplies 

 inland. For years, consequently, watch has been kept all 

 along the Holderness coast, for anything approaching the ap- 

 pearance of a neolithic workshop. Whilst it is probable that such 

 have existed, there can be little doubt that all trace of them has 

 disappeared as a result of the erosion by the sea. Seeing that 

 on an average no fewer than seven feet per annum have been 

 denuded, it will be understood that since pre-historic times a 

 considerable tract of country must have been swept away, 

 and that consequently the sites of any workshops, which would 

 naturally be upon the cliff edge in those far-off days, are now^ 

 some miles out to sea. 



In the vicinity of Bridlington, the retreat of the land is 

 nothing like so rapid, and where, as north of the town, the cliffs 

 are protected by a natural breakwater of solid chalk, erosion is 



1910 Aug. I. 



