198 ME. J. A. EEOWN^ 01s' THE THAMES-VALLEY 



flanged at the butts, producing a rudimentarj' tang, and the edges 

 are sharply bevelled. 



They show, like the implements of a similar kind obtained from 

 other parts of the district, that a regular method was in use by 

 which these objects were made. Thus it seems evident that, after 

 striking single-ridged flakes from the cores, so as to leave a hollow 

 where the one-ridged flake had been taken off, care was taken to 

 strike the second or double-ridged flakes about the centre, and just 

 behind the previous point of impact ; in this way a double-ridged 

 flake was formed, having a thin end or butt, which could be easily 

 inserted into the spear-shaft. I have smaR flakes from Hanwell, 

 &c., worked on the same model, which, it is clear to me, were used 

 as arrow-points. Besides these objects, there were many rounded 

 semilunar scrapers, knives with worked edges, flints with neatlv 

 worked semicircular depressions, three or four awls or perforators 

 made on the same pattern, and other worked flints. Some of 

 the implements are rudely chipped like celts, and I have no doubt 

 were used as such ; while one fine specimen formed from a long 

 flake is worked all round to a cutting-edge, both ends being carefully 

 rounded. This is more like one of the Neolithic forms than is the case 

 with specimens found in the Drift ; indeed the whole contents of this 

 Palgeolithic workshop are, by their sharpness and preservation, more 

 like a collection of Cissbury specimens, but partly or wholly discoloured, 

 than those generally found in the Drift. I have specimens from 

 diflerent parts of Ealing and Hanwell, however, in the same condition. 

 In a pit in the Chaucer Eoad, Acton (82 feet, 0. D.), about f of a mile 

 distant. Col. Lane Eox found a number of flakes remarkable for 

 the sharpness of their edges *. I cannot have any doubt as to the 

 implements having remained where they were first made. They 

 were probably left on some small island to which the Palaeolithic 

 people had retired for better security. The sandy loam which 

 covered the flints (and which may still be seen adhering to many of 

 them) shows that after they had been exposed to the atmosphere for 

 a long time they were submerged beneath water, which was as 

 calm and free from currents as that of a lagoon. It is evident from 

 the trail- deposits of agglomerated stones, which were seen above the 

 sandy clay and denser brown clay in the sections, that other con- 

 ditions afterwards prevailed, by which they were accumulated. 

 They are believed to be due to the slipping of ice and snow. The 

 floor just beneath the brick-earth can be traced beyond the Great 

 Western Eailway towards Mason's Green. There is little doubt 

 that it extends to the limit of the bench-deposit in that direction, 

 and that it is ultimately lost in the loamy matter often seen above 

 the Eocene clay. 



I have no doubt, from what I have seen of these beds, and from 

 the height to which this part of the terrace-deposits reaches, that 

 such lagoons (still retaining a connexion with the main channel of 

 the stream) extended over much of the low-lying country to the 

 north, and were separated one from another by large tracts of low- 

 lying swampy country. The varying thickness of the brick-earth 

 * Loc. cit. p. 456. 



