670 REPORT— 1903. 



Proba'bly the 'best-known examples are the great stones which form the outef 

 circle at Stonehenge. Sarsens are, however, frequently to be seen as gate-posts or 

 corner-stones, and in some districts they have been used as building stone to a 

 considerable extent. 



Sarsens are very abundant in the neighbourhood of Bagshot. They have been 

 observed by tlie author firstly, and most frequently, at the bottom of or close to 

 the bottom of beds of gravel; secondly, and rather less often, at or near the 

 surface of the ground where there is no gravel ; and thirdly, but only seldom, in 

 gravel some height above the bottom of the gravel. The author has never seen a 

 Sarsen Stone in situ, for though he has seen many partially uncovered stones, 

 they have in every case shown signs of wear by either water or weather. At the 

 same time he has noticed that the corners are frequently angular, and many of the 

 stones have been very slightly worn and certainly not rolled by water currents or 

 streams. The country around Bagshot is formed of the Bagshot Beds, largely of 

 Upper Bagshot Beds, which are shown by their fossils to be of Lower Barton age, 

 and the author suggests that soon after their deposition this part of England rose 

 somewhat above sea-level, and remained as a wide, fairly level, and low-lying flat 

 covered with marsh and vegetation for a very long period. The Sarsen Stones 

 are, he believes, indurated portions of this old land surface. If this is correct, it 

 accounts for all the above-mentioned facts, and also for the presence of numerous 

 rootlet tubes in the Stones, and for the absence of marine shells or of casts thereof. 



If after a long period of repose an elevation of the land took place, the 

 streams would rajiidly cut channels in the sandy soil and leave tlie indurated 

 fragments of the old surface scattered about at various levels, and many of these 

 would become buried in the beds of gravel, thus accounting for the presence of 

 the Sarsen Stones in the gravels. 



It was suggested long ago by Mr. Hudleston that the concretionary action 

 which formed the Sarsens was due to the decomposition of vegetable matter, and 

 a somewhat similar opinion has been expressed by the Rev. Dr. Irving.^ 



3. On the Occurrence of Stone Implements in the Thames Valley between 

 Heading and Maidenltead. By Llewellyn Treacher, F.G.S, 



Many neolithic celts have been obtained from the gravel of the bed of the 

 present river at Tilehurst, Bourne End, and Maidejihead, but few at any inter- 

 vening place. Surface finds are also more numerous in those localities than any- 

 where else in the district. There may have been fords or hunting resorts at these 

 places in neolithic times, and the axe-heads may have been lost in the stream. 



Palajolithic implements have been found abundantly in terrace gravels at 

 heights of from 60 to li'O feet above the river on both sides of the valley. The 

 places where they occur in greatest numbers are near Oaversham, 115 feet ; Grove- 

 lands, Reading, 75 feet ; Sonning, 95 feet to 60 feet ; Ruscombe, 60 feet ; Cook- 

 ham, 85 feet ; and Furze Piatt, near Maidenhead, 75 feet. From each of these 

 localities more than 100 implements have been obtained, besides flakes andbrolren 

 specimens. Flakes were very abundant at Caversham and at Furze Piatt, while 

 at Grovelands many bones and teeth of mammoth, horse, and deer were found. 



Although there is considerable difference in the types of the implements from 

 the various localities in the district, there is little evidence to show whether there 

 was any progress or otherwise in their manufactuie during the time their makers 

 lived here. Those from Caversham at the highest level, and presumably the 

 earliest, are more symmetrical in shape and have finer chipping on them than those 

 from Furze Piatt, 40 feet lower down, which often appear to have had only a few 

 well-directed strokes given them to bring them to the desired shape. Taking the 

 district as a whole, palajolithic implements occur together in groups in the older 

 gravels, much in the same way as the neolitliic ones do in the newer deposits. 

 Caversham and Furze Piatt may well have been palaiolithic working sites. 



> See Proc. Geol. Assoc vol vii. p. 138, and vol. viii. p. 133. 



