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the evidence derived from the deposits in caverns, owing to the possibility of 

 the relics of two or more entirely distinct periods becoming intermixed in such 

 localities, either by the action of water or by the operations of the primitive 

 human occupants of ths caves, which prevented any judgment being firmly 

 founded upon it. 



"At the end of April, 1859, I joined Mr. Prestwich at xVbbeville, and with 

 him inspected the collections of M. de Perthes, to whose courtesy and hospi- 

 tality we were largely endebted, and also visited in his company several of the 

 pits worked for gravel and sand in the neighbourhood of both Abbeville and 

 Amiens, in which the flints in question were asserted to have been found. 



" The drift -beds occurring in different localities in the neighbourhood of 

 Abbeville and Amiens, do not appear to have been all deposited at the same 

 time, but to be of at least two distinct ages ; the series on the lower level 

 being distinguished by the occurrence within it of the bones and teeth of the 

 ElepJias primigeniw, or Siberian mammoth, and of other extinct animals. These 

 mammaliferous beds of sand, loam, and gravel extend over a considerable tract 

 of country on the slopes of the valley of the Somme, and are worked in several 

 localities for the repair of the roads and for building purposes. 



" One of the pits at St. Acheul occupies the site of a Gallo-Roman cemetery, 

 which appears to have continued in use for some centuries : large stone coffins, 

 and the iron cramps of those in wood, are of frequent occurrence, but personal 

 ornaments are rarely met with. Roman coins are found from time to time, 

 some as early as the reign of Claudius, and I purchased from one of the work- 

 men a second-brass coin of Magnentius, with the letters amb in the exergue, 

 showing that it had been struck at "Ambianvm," the name given in late Roman 

 times to the neighbouring town of Amiens, which by the Gauls was known as 

 " Samarobriva." 



" Let us now turn our attention to the flint implements alleged to have been 

 discovered in the drift in company with the remains of what has usually been 

 regarded an older world ; and consider, first, how far in material, form, and 

 workmanship they agree with or differ from the stone weapons and implements 

 so commonly found throughout Europe ; and then enter upon an examination 

 of the evidence of the circumstances of their finding, and the means at our 

 command for ascertaining their degree of antiquity. 



" That they really are implements fashioned by the hand of man, a single 

 glance at a collection of them placed side by side, so as to show the analogy of 

 form of the various specimens, would, I think, be sufficient to convince even 

 the most sceptical. There is a uniformity of shape, a correctness of outline, 

 and a sharpness about the cutting edges and points, which cannot be due to 

 anything but design ; so that I need not stay to combat the opinion that might 

 otherwise possibly have arisen that the weapon-like shapes of the flints were 

 due to some natural configuration, or arose from some inherent tendency to a 

 peculiar form of fracture. 



" The material of which they have been formed, flint derived from the chalk, 

 is the same as has been employed for the manufacture of cutting implements 

 by uncivilized man in all ages, in countries where flint is to be found. Its 

 hardness, and the readiness with which it may be fractured so as to present a 

 cutting edge, have made it to be much in request among savage tribes for this 

 purpose ; and in some instances flint appears to have been brought from a dis- 

 tance when not found upon the spot. There is, therefore, nothing to distin- 

 guish these implements from, the drift, as far as material is concerned, from 

 those which have been called celts, except, perhaps, that the flints have not 

 been selected with such care, nor are they so free from flaws as those from 

 which the ordinary flint weapons of the Stone period were fashioned. There 

 is, however, this to be remarked, that the aboriginal tribes of the Stone period 



