DISCOVERY OF REMAINS OF PREMISTORIC MAX 67 



discovered with an elephant tooth in the quaternary deposits 

 of London, in 1713, but its significance was not appreciated at 

 the time. The finding of other flints at Hoxnie in Suffolk in 

 company with the fossil bones of some large animal and at the 

 depth of twelve feet was communicated to the Society of Anti- 

 quaries of London in 1797, but not brought to general notice 

 for more than half a century. Human bones associated with 

 the bones of extinct animals had already been noted by several 

 investigators, but to Boucher de Perthes belongs the real honor 

 of first presenting Quarternary Man to the scientific world and 

 the Valley of the Somme near Abbeville was the scene of his 

 discoveries. About 1836, living at Abbeville, some 25 miles 

 below Amiens, he began to make a study of geology and to 

 collect the worked flints which he occasionally found in the old 

 flood deposits of the river. In 1846, he published the result 

 of his discoveries under the title " De 1' Industrie primitive ou 

 des Arts a leur Origine," but so revolutionary were these views 

 towards the then generally accepted idea of the antiquity of the 

 human race, that his publications and communications were 

 treated with absolute indifference and unbelief by the most 

 advanced scientific bodies. 



Boucher however, continued his investigations and publica- 

 tions, and some years later was supported in his views by a 

 former antagonist, Dr. Rigollot of Amiens, who in 1853 visited 

 Abbeville and became convinced of the authenticity and signifi- 

 cance of Boucher's discoveries. Dr. Rigollot began the study 

 of similar gravels at Amiens and was rewarded by the finding 

 of worked flints of different types associated with the bones of 

 Quarternary mammals such as the elephas antiquus, the elephas 

 primegenius or mammoth, a species of rhinoceros, a species of 

 horse, etc. Still, little attention was paid to these discoveries 

 by the French savants, but so persistent were they, that finally, 

 in 1859-60, a number of the most prominent English geologists 

 and archaeologists, Prestwich, Falconer, Sir John Evans, Sir 

 John Lubbock and others, visited Amiens and the Valley of 

 the Somme, proved the Quartenary age of the gravels beyond 

 a doubt, and themselves found many worked flints in place. 



