Reviews — Egyptian Geology. 1-31 



' Blue Stones ' having been brought from a distance and set up as 

 a sacred circle, and the supposition that the Sarsens were added, 

 afterwards around them, are disproved by evidence of their con- 

 temporaneity, by the mode of occurrence of the chippings, and of the 

 stones themselves. 



The use of bronze was unknown before 1800 b c, and there were 

 no bronze tools found in the diggings. Mr. Gowland is therefore 

 inclined to consider that Stonehenge was raised before the incoming 

 of the Bronze Age at the above date. This nearly approximates with 

 the result of the important astronomical investigation by Sir Norman 

 Lockyer and Mr. Penrose as to the relative position of sunrise at 

 the summer solstice and the probable age of Stonehenge. 



Professor Judd, in his clear and comprehensive description of the 

 stones of Stonehenge (pp. 70 et seq.), gives the bold but well- 

 founded suggestion that all the stones once lay about on the surface 

 of the district. The Sarsens, being the concretionary relics of the 

 denuded Bagshot Sands, were large and abundant. The ' Blue 

 Stones,' of smaller size and of various characters, were relics of the 

 glacial Boulder-clay, which reached in the Southern Counties 

 further than is usually described. The presence of similar rocks 

 in the gravels of the rivers of the South of England, including those 

 that drain Salisbury Plain, support this opinion. The absence of 

 such rocks, foreign to the district, on the surface now, may be well 

 accounted for. The softer rocks were gradually weathered away, 

 and the harder kinds were continually being used for local purposes, 

 like the existing scattered Sarsens in Berks and Wilts. These ' Blue 

 Stones ' were, moreover, evidently dressed on the spot when taken 

 to the circle, for their chippings are more numerous than those of 

 the Sarsens in some of the diggings. T. K. J. 



II. — Egyptian Geology. 



Survey Department, Public Works Ministry, Egypt. Geological 

 Survey Eeport, 1900. Part II : The Cretaceous Region of Abu 

 Roash, near the Pyramids of Giza. By Hugh J. L. Beadnell, 

 F.G.S. 8vo ; 48 pp., 13 pis. (Cairo, 1902.) 



THIS is an attempt to give an adequate description of the geology 

 of a small area lying to the west of Cairo. It is a district that 

 has received the attention of many observers before, as Mr. Beadnell 

 is careful to record in his historical sketch which forms an intro- 

 duction. The report is accompanied by a geological map, which the 

 author tells us is sufficient for present requirements. It is not 

 possible for anyone who has not been over the ground to criticize 

 the details of the stratigraphy, but it appears to have been carefully 

 done, and numerous detailed sections are given which should render 

 the work of great value to future observers. The author, too, has 

 a topographical knowledge which is so exact as to allow him to 

 write in a more interesting manner than is usual in official reports. 

 It is a matter for regret that those who are engaged in a geological 

 survey of a country do not also enjoy the advantage of some special 



