408 S. H. Warren — FalceoUthic Implements, I. of Wight. 



1 



is similar in type to one of the Le Moustier period of Stoke 

 Newington in my collection. Both owe their form, in great part, 

 to the natural fracture of the flint, and are merely trimmed to 

 a serviceable shape by a small number of blows. 



The original ovate implement that I first found came from the 

 upper layer of stones, and, like several others (flakes and cores) 

 from that level, it is stained of a yellow colour, though not deeply 

 altered, and practically unabraded ; but one, a straight-edged scraper,, 

 belongs to the corroded series, and its surfaces are covered with 

 the characteristic scratches. From bed 1a of hole A I have an 

 excellent core, 3^ inches long by 2|- inches wide, showing three 

 straight parallel facets, flaked with a skill that is rarely seen among. 

 earlier Palasolithic finds. 



The corroded examples, like the earlier Palaeolithic implements 

 from Stoke Newington and elsewhere, nearly always bear evidence 

 of having been twice abraded : once before, and again after, they 

 received their ochreous patina ; showing them to have been derived 

 from an earlier drift. 



The greatest depth at which I have dug an implement in the 

 High Down drift is 3 ft. 6 in. ; I have several from about 3 feet, 

 but the greater number are from 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 feet. 



The position in which this drift occurs is interesting and 

 suggestive. The range of the chalk downs is breached down to 

 sea-level at Freshwater Bay by the former course of the Western 

 Yar. From this point westward the downs rise steadily to 483 feet 

 above Ordnance Datum at the summit of East High Down, on 

 which eminence the Tennyson memorial cross has been erected. 

 From this point the ridge of the downs falls steeply to 361 feet O.D., 

 and thence rises gradually to 462 feet O.D., the summit of West 

 High Down, not far from the Needles Point. It is in the low part, 

 between East and West High Down, that the Paleeolithic drift 

 occurs. So far as I can make out, the actual lowest point is 

 361 feet O.D. ; but there is little or no drift here. The main mass 

 of it occurs at from 75 to 150 yards to the west of the lowest point, 

 and at a level of perhaps 4 or 5 feet above it. This spot I shall for 

 convenience refer to as " the drift area." 



This drift area extends only for about 75 yards from east to west, 

 or along the ridge of the downs, but I have traced it for a much 

 greater distance, both southward towards the sea and also northward 

 down the steep dip slope of the chalk on to the ridge across the 

 Eocene valley presently to be mentioned. 



Opposite the drift area on the chalk downs is Headon Hill, 

 397 feet in height, formed of Oligocene strata capped by 30 feet 

 of drift gravel. Between Headon Hill, the highest ground on 

 the Tertiary area, and the drift area, there is a ridge across the 

 intervening Eocene valley at about 270 to 280* feet * O.D. This 

 ridge forms a water-parting between the stream flowing westward 

 into Alum Bay and that flowing north-eastward into Totland Bay. 



^ The levels for this district are not published by the Ordnance Survey. Those 

 with an asterisk are approximate aneroid levels taken by myself. 



