VOL. XX. (3) 
NOTES ON FLINT SURFACES 
241 
In such climates as Britain has experienced in the period during 
which flints have entered into the composition of our superficial 
deposits, rapid drying and the heat to effect it would be rarely 
operative except when due to heath or forest fires or intentional 
burning. The action of such fires is seen on some of the 
Cotteswold flints which are marked with numerous small 
pits, the positions of which, as well as the patination of the 
whole of the surface, indicate a time for the burning probably 
as remote as the Neolithic period. Flaked and unflaked flints 
are found in great numbers on the North and Mid-Cotteswolds, 
and most of them have been carried to their present positions 
by man.. 
The hypothesis that pitting and flaking are due to 
frost alone is not borne out by the results of the following 
experiment : — 
In order to ascertain whether the varying temperatures 
prevailing during Antarctic summers would produce any of the 
changes above mentioned, I obtained from the chalk rock of 
Portsdown Hill a fresh flint, which was taken by Dr. E. A. 
Wilson on Scott’s last expedition. At Cape Evans, Ross 
Island, the flint was consigned to the care of Major F. Debenham, 
the geologist of the expedition, by whom it was exposed in 
various positions during the years 1911 and 1912. The lowest 
temperature recorded was — 50° F., and on one occasion only 
did it rise above 32 0 F. The flint was clear of the ground, 
and never had snow or thaw- water resting upon it, so that the 
important results of frequent thawing and saturation were not 
obtained. Examination of the flint at the end of 1912 revealed 
erosion of the thin white surface-layer of the exposed part 
by means of drifting sand and pebbles from a bare outcrop 
of rock about 150 yards distant. No pitting or flaking had been 
caused by the impact of the pebbles, although the wind during 
some of the blizzards reached a velocity of 85 miles an hour. 
The flint was not found among the specimens brought in the 
Terra Nova from Cape Evans, and may have been lost. 1 
1 To Scott and other members of the scientific staff of the expedition is due some record of 
our appreciation of their enthusiasm in the cause of Science. Wilson’s labour in collecting rock 
specimens on the moraines of the Beardmore Glacier on the return journey from the Pole, the 
additional weight of 35 lbs. on the sledge for nearlv 300 miles, and the determination to secure 
the specimens against loss doubtless contributed to the final disaster. 
