216 MR. W. G. CLARKE ON NORFOLK FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 
relative antiquity can be rendered by the geologist. But in 
addition to these two long periods, with their comparatively 
well-marked line of demarcation, a third, the Eolithic, has 
been added since 1892. 
I. EOLITHIC. 
As Professor A. C. Haddon, Sc.D., F.R.S., said in his presi- 
dential address to the Anthropological Section of the British 
Association in 1905 : — “ It is obvious that the shapely 
Paleoliths of the older gravels could not have been the 
first, attempts at implement-making by our forefathers.” 
Their ruder prototypes are called Eoliths, and M. A. Rutot, 
Conservateur au Musee Royal d ! Histoire Naturelle de 
Bruxelles, considers* that the period during which they were 
used was more important and probably longer than the 
combined Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. Admitting the 
extremely gradual growth of all human culture and skill in 
handicrafts, the earliest stone implements chipped by man 
must have been very rough, and this renders the artificial 
nature of the chipping on Eoliths liable to dispute. Among 
the arguments in support of their purposeful adaptation by 
human agency, are the facts that archseologically the chipping 
has the characteristic appearance of that of man in later times, 
and the implements are of such forms as would be most easily 
made ; and that geologically they usually occur where one 
would expect to find any traces of man’s handiwork older 
than the Paleolithic age. The recurrence of certain particular 
forms; the fact that in most instances the edges are quite 
sharp, and that some of the best chipping is in hollows between 
points that are unchipped, seems strong evidence in favour 
of their acceptance as the earliest existing products of man’s 
industry. 
Eolithic implements have been found in large numbers in 
the plateau gravels of. Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Essex, Hampshire, 
and Wiltshire, the north of France, Belgium, Germany, in 
* ‘ L’etat actuel de la question de 1’antiquiR de l’homme.’ Bulletin de la 
Societe Beige de Geologie de Paleontologie et d’Hydrologie, vol. xvii. p. 427. 
