Archaeology 8 1 



THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE 



The earliest certain traces of man in Cambridgeshire consist of flint 

 implements incorporated in deposits dating from the late Prof J. E. Marr's 

 "Period of Aggradation", when gravel accumulated on the flood-plains 

 of rivers in the southern part of the County while the northern portions 

 were submerged beneath the sea.' The implements include hand axes of 

 Acheulian type as well as Clactonian and Levalloisian flake tools. The only 

 site in the County at which Lower Palaeolithic implements have been 

 obtained from a weU-studied geological section is the famous Travellers' 

 Rest Pit* at Cambridge itself; unfortunately the pit has rdcently gone out 

 of use and the section is no longer visible. Witliin the borough of Cam- 

 bridge, also, the Lower Barnwell Village beds have produced implements 

 at Chesterton and Barnwell. Large numbers of unabraded flake and 

 core implements have been obtained at different times from the gravel 

 ridge at Upper Hare Park, Swaff'ham Bulbeck. A few stray implements 

 have come from the Granta Valley near Hildersham and Linton, while 

 others from Girton, Oakington, and Willingham, mark the course of an 

 extinct river that once flowed from the neighbourhood of Trumpington 

 towards Earith. The gravel spread in the Kennet-Kentford area is known 

 to have yielded many palaeoliths (many of them from over the Suffolk 

 border), but precise information is lacking. The same applies to many 

 fmds from the fen islands (e.g. from "Shippea Hill" near Ely). A few 

 flake implements of somewhat doubtful affinities have been obtained from 

 the March gravels, which at this time were situated on the coastline. 



No Upper Palaeolithic sites have so far been located in the County, but 

 a few stray flints may point to their existence in the neighbourhood — 

 notably an angle burin from Wicken which exliibits a remarkable dark 

 green-and-white mottled patina. According to Marr, these Upper 

 Palaeolithic flints should be contemporary with a "Period of Erosion", 

 when the sea coast lay far out beyond the Dogger Bank, and when the 

 rivers of Cambridgeshire were eroding their banks. 



THE MESOLITHIC AGE 



During Mesolithic times Cambridgeshire, in common with southern 

 Britain as a whole, began to undergo a progressive, though not uninter- 



' Although closely bordering areas of intensive PalaeoUthic research, Cambridge- 

 shire does not occupy a prominent place in this field. The best documented finds can 

 be seen in the Sedgwick Museum of Geology, where the admirable index catalogue 

 compiled by the late Prof J. E. Marr can be consulted. See also the papers by J. E. 

 Marr in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Ixxv, 210 (1920), and ibid. Ixxxii, loi (19^6). 



* See p. 16 above. 



DBA 6 



