PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY IN YORKSHIRE 41 



Foriy Years' Researches in East Yorkshire — the greatest contribution to 

 Yorkshire prehistory that had appeared since Greenwell's British Barrows 

 in 1877, from which it differs in being exclusively a Yorkshire book by 

 a true-born Yorkshireman. It marked the close, as it were, of the barrow- 

 digging phase, which had dominated prehistoric archaeology in Yorkshire 

 throughout the Victorian Age. In the last twenty-five years this method 

 of research has been much less pursued. The distinctive features of the 

 period have been the establishment of an earlier human occupation than 

 had previously been realised ; the exploration of West Yorkshire, the pre- 

 history of which had hitherto been little studied ; a study of the distribu- 

 tion, succession, and origins of prehistoric cultures ; the discovery of 

 numerous settlement sites unknown or very imperfectly understood by 

 nineteenth-century archaeologists ; and the beginnings of a critical survey 

 of earlier records and researches in order to winnow the chaff from the 

 grain. Moreover, collections of prehistoric antiquities in museums con- 

 tinued to develop, notably at York, where the Yorkshire Museum has 

 been enriched by the Mitchelson, Boynton, and Harland collections ; 

 and at Hull, where the Mortimer Museum of Prehistoric Archaeology, 

 formerly at Driffield, was opened in 1929. Smaller instructive collections 

 have also been established in the museums of Bridlington, Hornsea, 

 Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Skipton, and other towns. 



The first general survey of the prehistory of Yorkshire appeared in 

 the Victoria County History in 1907 (13), a useful summary of our know- 

 ledge at that time. The possibility of a Palaeolithic period is hinted at ; 

 the importance of the Neolithic Age is over-stressed on unsatisfactory 

 evidence ; and there is no consciousness of a widespread Mesolithic 

 culture. Origins and distributions are not discussed. A topographical 

 list of antiquities is still the only one for the whole county that has been 

 published. Even at the time it was admittedly far from complete, and 

 now, of course, it is much more so. Nevertheless it is the indispensable 

 skeleton for that exhaustive list which we hope will be prepared in the 

 future. 



It will be most convenient to adopt a chronological order in this survey, 

 beginning with the Palaeolithic Age. Figure references in brackets are to 

 the bibliography at the end of this section. 



Paleolithic Age. 



The occurrence of a Lower Palaeolithic hand-axe near Bridlington,^ and 

 an abundant Pleistocene fauna in caves and the drift, had shown that there 

 was no reason why remains of Palgeolithic man should not occur. So 

 efforts have been made to discover Palaeolithic implements in the drift and 

 other superficial deposits, with the following results. 



In 1922 and again in 193 1, E. R. Collins described and figured a series 

 of implements, made of local chert, from Upper Nidderdale (14-15). 

 He arranges them in four series, according to what he considers to be the 

 age of the deposits in which they occur. 



(i) Implements from a deposit probably due to the final melting of the 



1 Evans, Ancient Stone Implements (1897), 580, 582. 



