10 Ancient Stone Imjolements of Great Britain. 



In attempting to compute the vast periods of time which these 

 progressive ages present to onr minds, we speedily become aware of 

 the brevity of our own past history, — "when we remember that the 

 traditions of the mighty and historic city now extending across the 

 valley of the Thames do not carry us back even to the close of that 

 period of many centuries when a bronze-using people occupied this 

 island ; when we bear in mind that beyond that period lies another 

 of probably far longer duration, when our barbaric predecessors 

 sometimes polished their stone implements, but were still unac- 

 quainted with the use of metallic tools ;— when to the Historic, 

 Bronze, and Neolithic Ages, we mentally add that long series of 

 years which must, have been required for the old fauna, with the 

 mammoth and rhinoceros, and other to us strange and unaccustomed 

 forms, to be supplanted by a group of animals more closely resem- 

 bling those of the present day ; — ^and when, remembering all this, 

 we realize the fact that all these vast periods of years have inter- 

 vened since the completion of the excavations of the valley, and the 

 close of the Palseolithic Period, the mind is almost lost in amaze- 

 ment at the vista of antiquity displayed. 



"So fully must this be felt, that it is impossible not to sympathize 

 with those who, from sheer inability to carry their visions so far 

 back into the dim past, and from unconsciousness of the cogency of 

 other and distinct evidence as to the remoteness of the origin of the 

 human race, are unwilling to believe in so vast an antiquity for man 

 as must of necessity be conceded by those who, however feebly they 

 may make their thoughts known to others, have fully and fairly 

 weighed the facts which modern discoveries have unrolled before 

 their eyes." (p. 622.) H. W. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES IL AND III. 



Fig. 1. Acutely-pointed flint implement. Elver-drift Hoxne, Norfolk. Half nat. size. 



(p. 520, fig. 450.) 

 „ 2. Ovate-pointed implement, from the same locality. Half nat. size. (p. 519, 



fig. 449.) 

 „ 3. Elliptical Elver-drift implement from Icklingham. Half nat. size. (p. 490, 



fig. 421.) 

 „ 4. Eough-hewn flint adze expanding at the end, closely resembling a bronze 



celt in form. Half nat. size. Thetford Warren, Sufi'olk. (p. 67, fig. 22.) 

 „ 5. Broad arrow-head stemmed and barbed found in front of the face of an 



unburned body, in a barrow, at Eudstone, near Bridlington, (p. 343, 



fig. 318.) 

 „ 6. Polished celt of dark-green hornblende schist, found at Lakenheath, Suffolk. 



Half nat. size. (p. 114, fig. 69.) 

 „ 7. Javellu-head with beautifully worked surfaces found close to the head of a 



contracted skeleton, in an oval barrow on Wlnterbourn, Stoke Down, near 



Stonehenge. (p. 331, fig. 275.) 

 „ 8. Flint knife (or lance-head), Windmill Hill, Saffron Walden. Half nat. size. 



(p. 301, fig. 250.) 

 „ 9. Symmetrically chipped but unground celt; Eeach Fen, near Cambridge. 



Half nat. size. (p. 68, fig. 23.) 

 „ 10. Polished celt of hard slaty rock or honestone, from Ilderton, Northumber- 

 land. Half nat. size. (p. 105, fig. 60.) 

 [The above Illustrations are copies kindly granted by permission of the author, 

 Mr. John Evans, from "Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain," reference to the 

 page and figure of the original work Is given in each case.] 



