By Wm. Gunnington, F.G.S., & Wm. A. Cunnington, Ph.D. 137 



coombes of the chalk escarpment afford, and it is evident that 

 moraines of varying extent and force must have accompanied these 

 glaciers. It may well be supposed that before the ice-age, flints 

 had already accumulated on the surface in this district, as a result 

 of the denudation of the chalk. Even if not so, the action of ice 

 on so soft a material must have quickly resulted in a considerable 

 accumulation. Finally, it must be remembered that only a portion 

 of the flints in the Knowle gravel show these characteristic 

 markings, and that we have abundant evidence that the stones are 

 of very varied date and derived from many localities. It will be 

 remembered that we have implements rude and highly finished, 

 much boulclered and very fresh, polished and unpolished, scratched 

 and unscratched. Of the natural stones we have a similar variety, 

 including even flints fresh from the chalk. 



The glaciated flints, then, according to our view, have been 

 carried down and mixed with a large proportion of unscratched 

 stones, by the action of water, probably in flood time. Embracing 

 a large area with abundant flints, and reaching to the immediate 

 neighbourhood of glaciers in North Wilts, the Knowle district 

 would also probably include some parts of the lower Eocene strata, 

 and portions of the Upper Chalk, with deposits of " Clay with 

 Flints." If that was the case, it is not surprising that a hollow in 

 the old valley-bottom should be readily filled up, and at a rate 

 which would leave little trace of stratification. 1 On this supposition, 

 too, we may account for the occurrence in the same bed of gravel 

 of flints much scratched and rolled, with others absolutely free 

 from traces of glaciation. 



It is well to notice that the implements themselves are of very 

 different dates. Those with glacial striae on the worked surfaces 

 are of the pre- or inter-glacial period, while those entirely un- 

 marked, or formed from glaciated flints, must be of post-glacial 

 origin. As far as can be judged from the collections hitherto 



1 Mr. Clement Eeid has pointed out that the gravel occupies shallow channels 

 in what was probably the old valley -bottom. " Note on the Palasolithic 

 Gravel of Savernake Forest, Wiltshire," by Clement Reid, F.R.S. "Man" 

 No. 29, 1903. 



