Palceolithic and earlier Flint Itnplements. 39 



Mr. A. S. Kennard exhibited, on behalf of Mr. B. Harrison, a series 

 of eoliths from the Chalk Plateau of West Kent. This type of 

 worked flint was first described by the late Sir Joseph Prestwich and 

 had formed the subject of a considerable literature. It is obvious 

 that the palaeoliths cannot be the earliest efforts of man, and, although 

 some of the stratigraphical evidence of the plateau is conflicting, 

 yet, on the whole, it would appear that they are older than the 

 Palaeolithic gravels. This is clearly seen at Swanscombe, where the 

 ' eoliths ' are certainly derivatives. In South Africa a similar 

 sequence can be shown, and this is of the utmost importance. It 

 was quite impossible to say definitely where the work of Nature 

 ended and that of Man began. It was purely a personal matter, but 

 the speaker was confident that many of these rudely chipped flints 

 were huma'n artefacts. As a group they differed from the sub-Crag 

 flints and man)' other so-called ' eoliths'. 



Colonel A. W. Jamieson exhibited a series of specimens that he 

 had collected in the south-east of Hampshire, and he wished to draw 

 attention to this district, for he thought that it deserved more con- 

 sideration than it had yet received. Tlie area is bounded on the nortli 

 and west by the Meon, on the east by the Sussex border, and on the south 

 is the undercliff of the Isle of Wight. This country is strewn with 

 worked flints of all ages, especially so from the Chalk summit to the sea. 



Worked flints were furnished by a series of gravels on the marine 

 plain, summarized on the geological map as Plateau Gravel. The 

 sections are good and constantly varying on account of the rapid 

 destruction of the coast. 



The bottom layer of these gravels, which rests on denuded 

 Bracklesham Beds, consists of Arctic drift full of igneous erratics and 

 crowded with flints of cafe-au-lait and ochre colour, together with 

 subangular masses cut about in a manner similar to those exhibited 

 by Professor Sollas. So-called 'eolithic' forms are abundant. 

 Upwards early Palaeolithic forms follow with the conventional Drift 

 types, several of which were shown. On the top is the Brick-earth 

 or Loess, crowded with worked flints which have the appearance of 

 being Aurignacian. They include steep-sided side-scrapers and 

 segmental tools. In this deposit the speaker had discovered a human 

 skeleton, minus the skull, the bones of Avhich are now undergoing 

 examination by Professor Keith. Above the marine plain a point of 

 interest is the conspicuous hill of Portsdown, which has yielded 

 a vast number of flints, worked on one side, shorn off flat on the 

 other, and bearing conspicuous cones and bulbs of percussion. 



The high Clialk of the interior is in places patched with Clay-with- 

 riints which has withstood destruction, and is rich in fabricated 

 flints, which, in the speaker's opinion, were chiefly Mousterian. 



Implements were also shown from Catherington, Hixton, Windmill 

 Hill, and Blendworth, the last-named locality being rich in segmental 

 tools and half-finished work showing huge cones of percussion. The 

 speaker urged the view that the Clay-with-Flints was a formation 

 coeval witli the history of Man. 



Professor Sollas exhibited a series of specimens to illustrate the 

 production of ' rostro-carinate ' forms of flint by natural agencies. 



