NEOLITHIC CHIPPING-SITES 69 



which, though less rich than the find at Allendale, is an 

 important site, and enables me to institute a comparison 

 between the Neolithic remains found on chipping-sites on 

 our fell districts and those found along the coast, which will 

 be discussed later on. 



The site in question, which I found in July, 1905, is situated 

 on the southern boundary of the county of Durham, near the 

 head of Blackton beck in Teesdale. The implementiferous 

 ground occupies an elevation of 1000-1100 feet, and consists 

 of an undulating tract with the slope to the south-west, on 

 either side of the beck in a shallow depression sheltered on the 

 north-west and south-east by two escarpments of millstone 

 grit, the actual site lying somewhere on the junction of the 

 millstone grit and carboniferous limestone series. 



Blackton beck flows under the high road from Middleton to 

 Barnard Castle at an elevation of 909 feet O.D. ; a short 

 distance above the bridge is the Blackton smelting mill, the 

 flues of which are carried up about a mile, terminating in a tall 

 chimney. Precisely as at Allendale the sulphurous fumes from 

 the chimney in contact with atmospheric moisture change to 

 sulphurous and sulphuric acid, and have destroyed the 

 heather over many acres of land, while the subsequent wind 

 action and rain-wash have cleared away the variable layer of 

 peat, exposing the original land surface, which is a light dry 

 sandy loam with angular pieces of shale and sandstone and 

 fragments of quartz crystals. 



On this surface, which includes several undulating knolls 

 or hillocks, the worked flints may be picked up, most easily 

 when the ground has been disturbed and washed by recent 

 rains. 



I can find no record of flints having been previously 

 detected in this locality, and so believe that the greater part 

 of the specimens have come into my possession. A fine leaf- 

 shaped arrowhead was found by a gentleman living at Bishop 

 Auckland, who heard about the locality from a friend of mine, 

 but I have not seen the specimen. 



