140 On the Palaeolithic Flint Implements from Knowle. 



They are of all sizes from 10 inches to 1 inch. Every form that 

 has been previously represented in Paleolithic flint implements is 

 found here. There are the spear-headed and ovoid forms so 

 common among the specimens from the Valley of the Somme; 

 long and short drills ; scrapers ; and many other forms, the uses 

 of which it is still so difficult to define. The different types of 

 workmanship are, too, so very marked. Some are found fashioned 

 and completed with the greatest care, showing, in many cases, no 

 signs of use nor of ever having been moved from the place where 

 they are found. Others are very rough, and although they show 

 undoubted traces of human workmanship they are in a rude un- 

 finished condition and bear a great resemblance to many that are now 

 placed in the so-called " Eolithic " class. With these occur others 

 of so highly finished and symmetrical a shape that the inclination 

 would be to place them with the " Neolithic " class, if the position 

 in which they were found did not identify them as true Palasoliths. 

 Another interest in connection with the Knowle implements is 

 the unusually large numbers in which they have been found. The 

 pit has an exposed surface of some 40 bo 50 yards in width 

 from north to south, with a depth of from 10 to 12 feet, and since 

 the first specimens were identified in July, 1901, upwards of two 

 thousand have been discovered and preserved, and it is painful to 

 think of the number that must have been lost before that time, 

 probably being mixed up with the road-metalling and ground into 

 the roads. One other marked feature is that some implements are 

 found with a brilliant polish. This polish sometimes covers the 

 whole of one side and in others only a protuberance. It is so 

 marked with some as to give the specimen the appearance of having 

 been coated with a solution of glass. This feature will be referred 

 to later on and explanations given of its possible cause. The 

 question now arises, How did these implements become deposited 

 in these gravel beds ? and, as incident to this, What is the origin 

 of the gravel beds ? 



Knowle is practically encircled by vallies, all of which are now 

 dry, but which must probably have been excavated at some early 

 part of the Pleistocene period by intermittent streams, subject to 



