H. J. L. Beadnell — Flint Implements from Fayum, Egypt. 57 



the implements are found on the spot where they were worked, 

 close to the pits from which the material was excavated. The edges 

 of the flakes and the outlines of the flakings are "as sharp and 

 unworn as the day they were made," that is to say, absohitely 

 unweathered ; I quite agree that a high antiquity cannot be 

 assigned to these. But, according to the same authority, other and 

 associated specimens are deeply eroded and rounded at the angles 

 and edges. Dr. Forbes appears to have no doubt as to the two 

 kinds, the worn and unworn, being of the same age, but personally 

 I do not feel at all convinced of this, especially as no explanation is 

 given as to why some flints have undergone so great a change 

 while others remain absolutely fresh and unworn. The amount of 

 weathering should be one of the most important criteria as to the 

 length of time that an object has been exposed on the desert surface. 

 It may be said that as all these flints were found near together 

 around the old pits it is probable that they are all of the same age; 

 but, if a superior quality of flint occurs in the Wadi el Sheikh, 1 do 

 not see why it should not have been discovered and worked even 

 in Paleeolithic times, or why subsequent races should not have 

 rediscovered and worked the same beds, and their products have 

 mixed on the surface. 



The fact that many of the so-called Palaeolithic flints of the 

 Theban plateau were found in close association with nodules and 

 the flakes struck from them is, according to Forbes, conclusive 

 evidence that they cannot be of any great age. He says, " it is 

 impossible to believe that these could remain (even in a single 

 instance) undisturbed from the Paleeolithic days of Europe to the 

 present time, when the forest under which they were made and 

 the forest soil on which they reposed have been entirely carried 

 away." But is it certain that the high plateau was then clothed 

 with forests? What evidence is there to show that it differed in 

 any important respect from its present aspect ? And if, as I suggest, 

 desert conditions obtained then as now, and man merely worked 

 his flints along the edges of the plateaux overlooking the Nile 

 Valley, I see no reason why flint implements, dating even fi'om 

 Paleeolithic times, should not in favourable cases be still found in 

 the spots where they were left, surrounded by the flakes struck off 

 in manufacture. On the flat plateaux the occasional rains which fall 

 can effect but little transport of material, and merely lower the 

 general level by dissolving the underlj'ing limestone, so that the 

 plateau surface is left with a coating of nodules and blocks of 

 insoluble flint and chert. Flint implements might thus be expected 

 in many localities to remain for indefinite periods, but they would 

 certainly become more or less ' patinated,' pitted on the surface, 

 and rounded at the angles after long exposure to heat, cold, and 

 blown sand. Flints that retain their original clearness and sharp- 

 ness of angles cannot be of high antiquity, unless they have been 

 protected by superficial deposits. 



It must, I think, be admitted that most of the conclusions formed 

 as to the age of flint implements in Egypt, other than those in 



