342 
FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 
By Captain C. COOPER KING, F.G.S. 
[PLATE IX.] 
T HE study of prehistoric archaeology, though comparatively 
one of modern origin, has made rapid strides towards 
systematic development and classification during recent years. 
The probable chronology of the earlier races of mankind has 
been so far examined as to admit of the definite grouping or 
arrangement of their relics into periods of greater or less dura- 
tion, and of more or less defined limits. Thus it has been recog- 
nized, after much controversy, that the drift gravels of river 
valleys, and many caves and rock shelters, contain stone imple- 
ments coeval with the remains of the Mammoth, Rhinoceros, 
Cave Bear and other animals long since extinct. These, of 
which the St. Acheul specimens offer the best known exam- 
ples, have been denominated Palaeolithic implements — rough 
chipped tools of old time. Next to them in order have been 
placed implements of higher art ; those of polished stone, of the 
Neolithic age. After this came the bronze period, when 
metal took the place of stone ; and this was soon followed by the 
age of iron, the first days of which overlapped that of bronze. 
Its early dawn was prehistoric, its ripe manhood modern. And 
so rapid was human progress when the metal more difficult to 
work, and requiring more skill in its manipulation, began at 
last to be generally used for warlike and domestic purposes, that 
the iron man soon ceased to have no other records than those of 
the implements he manufactured. Iron man soon ceased to be 
prehistoric. 
But there are other relics of human handiwork, less definite 
than those of the three great ages, into which early human 
history has been divided. These may be classed as “ surface 
finds ; ” for they are the probable result of merely temporary 
occupation of certain sites for brief periods of time, and may 
belong to any age. The amount of skill evidenced by the 
rough remains found in these cases is the only guide as to their 
•antiquity ; though even then the degree of excellence is not a 
