380 report — 1879. 



This spot has yielded great numbers of flakes and many implements. It was 

 originally described by Professor Prestwich, but the boulder clay has only recently 

 been exposed above the tool-bearing loams. 

 At Mildenhall Brickyard the section is — 



ft. in. 



1. Sarjdy soil 10 



2. Chalky Boulder clay 6 



3. Loam 10 



4. Chalk 



From this place many implements and flakes have been obtained. They occur in 

 the loam. 



Culford, in Suffolk. — The Brandon Beds are here dug under 15 feet of solid 

 boulder clay. From these I obtained two flakes. 



West Stow in Suffolk. — Boulder clay overlies, underlies, and wraps round the 

 Brandon Beds at this place. Some well-worked implements have been obtained, 

 one of which was dug out by the author. 



Brandon. — Near Brandon the same beds are being dug beneath boulder clay, 

 and have yielded very good implements. 



The peculiarities of the implements are pointed out, and the mode of distin- 

 guishing them from specimens from the gravels is indicated. 



The author in this paper merely desires to emphasize the fact that from several 

 sections he has himself dug out palaeolithic implements from below tough, undis- 

 turbed chalky boulder clay. 



3. On a Neiu Estimate of the Date of the Neolithic Age. 

 By Sydney B. J. Skertchly, F.G.S., H.M. Geological Survey. 



M. Morlot estimated from the rate at which the cone of Tiniere was forming, 

 that from 5,000 to 7,000 years ago Switzerland was in its Neolithic age ; and M. 

 Gillierson ascribes a like date to that period from a calculation of the rate of silting 

 up of a portion of the Lake of Bienne. 



The author points out that a similar result is obtained from physical evidence 

 in the Fenland. This district occupies an area of 1,300 square miles around the 

 great bay of the Wash. The surface of the inland portions consists of peat, and 

 that of the seaward parts of marine silt. This silt is still in process of deposition, 

 and the land is consequently gaining upon the sea. From the time of the Roman 

 occupation, at least, banks have been successively erected to reclaim the newly 

 formed ground ; and as the dates of these banks are known, very accurate estimates 

 can be formed of the rate at which the deposition is going on in different parts. 

 The maximum rate is 59 feet per annum ; and 4 miles of new land has been 

 formed since the oldest banks were erected. These banks are generally ascribed to 

 the Romans : but they are probably British. In this estimate they will be taken 

 as Roman, in order that the age may not be over-estimated, and the maximum rate 

 of deposition will also be used as giving the minimum of time. 



The geological evidence shows that as the silting went on, and the area became 

 converted into land, peat grew and gradually spread over the newly formed ground. 

 But in process of time the climate became unfitted for the growth of peat, which 

 gradually lost its vigour, and finally ceased to form. Hence a wide stretch of silt 

 land borders the Wash, upon the surface of which no peat has ever formed. The 

 peat died upon its eastward march ; the silt still travels on. 



The nearest approach of the peat to the banks along the line of most rapid accu- 

 mulation is 12 miles distant therefrom. The age of this, the newest peat in the 

 Fenland, can be thus determined. Between the ' Roman ' banks and the sea lie 

 four miles of silt, which has taken 1 ,700 years to accumulate. Between these 

 banks and the sea lie 12 miles of silt, which at the same rate of formation would 

 take 5,100 years to accumulate. Adding 5,100 to 1,700 years, we have 6,800 

 years as the least possible age of the newest peat. This peat has yielded many 

 Neolithic implements. Hence we may assume that 7,000 years will take us back 



