102 S. H. Warren — Age of Stone Implements. 



a distinct epoch or stage of human culture. Nor does the condition 

 of the flints, by itself, show to which phase they should be referred. 



In the " Grotte du Placard " (Charente) ^ there are eight relic 

 beds, each separated by an accumulation of rock debris, and yet 

 these can only be referred to four of the epochs. The lowest bed is 

 Mousterien (P. 65-75), the next two Solutreen (P. 75-85, 1. 30; 

 and, say, 1. 50 or 60), the succeeding four Magdalenien (P. 85-95, 

 1. 30, 1. 40, 1. 50, and 1. 60), and the uppermost Neolithic.^ 



Turning again to the High Down Drift of the Isle of Wight : in 

 my earlier work here I was rather puzzled with the implements 

 from the "layer of stones" already mentioned. Some of them, 

 those of classes A and B, were clearly derived. Others, those of 

 class D, were as clearly contemporary ; and, as I afterwards found, 

 some of the flakes were lying close to the cores from which they had 

 been struck off, several of which I have been able to replace. But 

 a certain number of the implements, those of class C, were not 

 quite in accordance with either of the foregoing classes. These 

 were somewhat ochreous for the most part; they seemed to be 

 derived, and yet they were not much abraded, and not in the least 

 corroded or deeply altered as those of classes A and B. They seemed 

 to be intermediate between the two extreme forms, and yet, having 

 in mind at that time rather an idea of ' epochs ' than the idea of 

 ' sequence dates,' I hesitated to refer them to an intermediate age. 

 But that they are of intermediate age I have now no doubt, and last 

 Summer I found a broken pointed implement that went far to con- 

 firm my opinion. A portion of the butt of this specimen shows 

 a natural fracture in the earliest, corroded, condition. This is cut 

 across by the working of the implement. The worked surface^ 

 though it shows a section of the earlier patina, is itself a little 

 abraded and slightly altered ; the point of the implement being 

 broken off by what, if I am not mistaken, is a still later fracture, 

 contemporary with the unaltered implements. Thus, in addition to 

 the numerous implements, and still more numerous unworked flints, 

 which show two out of the three main conditions, I at last found all 

 these conditions, marked off from each other, upon the same 

 implement. 



If my conclusions are sound, then, and the implements of class C 

 are derived, those of classes A and B must be twice derived. It 

 would be exceedingly difficult to show from the specimens them- 

 selves that the brown corroded flints of class A had been twice 

 derived, but an examination of those of class B brings to light 

 certain facts that point in that direction. Among these (class B) 

 there is a rude outer flake with large erailliire. The surface of this 

 is much corroded and abraded, and shows the white patina caused 

 by weathering. Beneath this whitening there is seen, on the 



1 A. de Maret : " Fouilles de la grotte du Placard, pres de Eochbertier " ; Tours, 

 1879. G. de Mdrtillet : " Musee Preliistorique," 1881, pi. ssix. 



2 Professor Flinders Petrie begins his local scale at 30, in order to allow for 

 future discoveries, and it is as well to carry out that system uniformly, wherever 

 it may be possible to do so. 



