i54 THE GLACIAL PHENOMENA OF THE COUNTRY 



finding of small flints on the surface,* many of which exhibit 

 human workmanship, might be thought to confirm the common 

 view that the pile is of human origin, but its size and position, 

 the nature of its pebbles and the general resemblance to the 

 other kaims, make this extremely improbable. It is quite likely 

 that such a prominent feature might be used by primitive man 

 for burial or other purposes, which would sufficiently account 

 for the presence on it of relics of his handiwork. 



Of the other deposits included in the Later Gravels, one 

 occurs near Edington at the edge of a deep, almost dry, 

 valley, which breaches the watershed between the Wansbeck 

 and the Blyth. It forms a bed about 3 feet thick, traceable 

 for about 30 yards horizontally at a height of some 30 feet 

 above the bottom of the valley. It was obviously formed by 

 the large stream which cut the valley; and since, as we shall 

 see later, this stream had only a short-lived existence at the 

 end of the Ice Age, the deposit must date from that time. In 

 composition it is a mixture of gravel and well-rounded pebbles 

 up to 4 inches in diameter, consisting chiefly of sandstone, 

 with a fair admixture of whinstone and quartz and some 

 granite and porphyrites. These materials are clearly derived 

 from the rocky ridge and its drift cover through which the 

 valley cuts, but although whinstone appears to preponderate 

 in the neighbouring drift, yet limestone is by no means absent, 

 so that the great scarcity of this rock (so far as my observa- 

 tions go) in the pebble bed is remarkable. 



Near to Middle Duddo is a pebbly deposit resting on boulder 

 clay and exposed by the cutting of the Duddo Burn. The 

 pebbles in it are well rounded in part, though many are sub- 

 angular ; they seldom exceed 2 inches in size, and are embedded 

 in a mixture of sand and clay. In composition they resemble 



* As stowing tlie abundance of these, I may state that collecting one day with 

 two friends, we picked up over four dozen flint chips ("wasters" and a few 

 "scrapers") in less than an hour. In this connexion passing mention might be 

 made of a large chert spear-head, which I had the good fortune to find near 

 Callerton, a few miles from Dewley Hill. This chert is of especial interest in that 

 it seems to be undoubtedly of Purbeck origin. None of the Dewley Hill flints are 

 in any wa^ like it. For description see Univ. Dur, Phil, goc, vol. iii., no. 1, 



