Vol.  49.]  PLATEAU-GRAVEL  SOUTH  OF  READING.  321 
have  been  observed  at  other  localities — one  at  Yateley  Heath  (at 
about  300  feet  above  sea-level),  and  the  other  at  Wokingham  in  a 
pebbly  gravel,  marked  as  ‘Valley  Gravel’  in  the  Geological  Survey 
map,  at  about  227  feet  above  sea-level. 
As  regards  the  flint-material  of  the  gravel,  I  have  occasionally 
observed  fragments  which  have  a  fresher  appearance  than  the  bulk 
of  the  gravel,  and  are  more  like  the  flint  of  the  Thames- Valley 
gravels ;  and  possibly  these,  with  the  boulders  of  quartz  and 
quartzite,  may  represent  an  element  of  later  introduction.  In  any 
case,  they  have  to  be  accounted  for. 
It  seemed  desirable  to  ascertain  whether  the  gravel  would  afford 
any  indication  of  man  in  the  shape  of  worked  weapons  or  tools. 
Various  sections  have  therefore  been  under  observation  with  this 
view.  The  result  may  be  briefly  stated.  At  the  highest  level  of 
the  plateau,  nothing  has  been  found  at  all  resembling  the  carefully- 
worked  implements  of  the  ordinary  Palaeolithic  type.  I  found, 
however,  in  the  gravel-pit  on  Pinchampstead  Pidges,  at  about 
330  feet  above  sea-level,  what  appears  to  be  a  massive  tool  of 
a  somewhat  primitive  kind.  It  has  been  regularly  chipped  at 
one  side,  and  is  apparently  of  flint  similar  to  that  of  which  the 
greater  part  of  the  gravel  is  composed.  I  have  also  obtained  a 
number  of  fragments  of  flint,  and  one  of  chert,  which  have 
hollows  worn  in  one  of  the  edges  in  the  manner  of  the  hollowed 
‘  scrapers  ’  which  are  abundant  in  some  of  the  valley-gravels. 
Several  of  them  conform  to  a  specific  type.  They  are,  as  a  whole, 
not  so  highly  finished  as  some  Palaeolithic  specimens. 
I  have  not  hitherto  observed  any  of  the  large  flint-flakes  which 
are  usually  found  in  implement-bearing  gravels  :  but  while  recently 
examining  some  of  the  smaller  material  in  the  pit  on  Finch  - 
ampstead  Pidges,  I  found  a  small  flake  of  brown  flint  (showing  the 
‘  bulb  of  percussion  ’),  the  edges  of  which  have  been  worn  as  if  by 
scraping. 
The  localities  from  which  the  specimens  have  been  obtained 
are  chiefly  Caesar’s  Camp  near  Easthampstead,  Chobham  Pidges, 
Yateley  Heath,  and  Finchampstead  Pidges. 
In  the  gravel  at  Wokingham,  to  which  reference  has  been  made 
(about  227  feet  above  sea-level),  a  large  and  highly-finished  Palaeo¬ 
lithic  implement  of  the  pointed  type  has  lately  been  obtained  by 
Mr.  P.  Sale.  It  is  stained  bright  brown. 
The  gravel  tract  of  the  Easthampstead-Yateley  plateau,  in 
common  with  the  Upper  Bagshot  on  which  it  rests,  has  doubtless 
suffered  much  from  denudation.  In  sections  it  is  not  unlike 
gravels  which  are  generally  regarded  as  fluviatile,  but  the  usually 
small  size  of  the  constituent  material  seems  to  suggest  a  sorting 
action  of  .some  kind,  although,  of  course,  it  would  be  hardly  fair  to 
take  the  coarse  gravel  of  the  Thames  Valley  as  a  type.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  we  consider  the  extent  of  the  deposit,  it  appears  to 
be  due  to  something  more  than  ordinary  river-action.  The 
boulders  of  quartz,  etc.,  if  of  northern  origin,  seem  to  require 
marine  agency  to  account  for  their  presence ;  and  in  the  spreading 
