THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
CHAPTER I 
A NEOLITHIC COMMUNITY OF KENT 
The road from London to Maidstone, once it has made 
a steep descent from the North Downs, winds through a 
district abounding in traces of long-past generations of 
Kentish men. The traveller along this road, with his 
face turned eastwards, be he ever so interested in the 
study of ancient man, cannot fail to note the picturesque- 
ness of the Kentish weald. From time to time he passes 
villages which have preserved, in spite of a whirling 
stream of motor traffic, much of an old-world atmosphere. 
Ever on the left hand, a few miles distant from the road, 
the traveller sees across the hedges and orchards the steep 
flank of the North Downs, which trend eastwards to end 
in the white cliffs of Dover. Here and there he may 
trace the Pilgrims' Way as it winds along the foot of the 
steep grey face of the Downs, the mediaeval path to the 
shrine at Canterbury. The great stone monument at 
Coldrum, which is to give us our first glimpse into man's 
past, could be reached by following the grass-grown 
pilgrims' path ; but then if that route were taken we 
should miss the picturesque village of Igtham and the 
man who has made this part of Kent a Mecca for all 
students of early man — Mr Benjamin Harrison. We 
are in the centre of some of Mr Harrison's most 
important discoveries. On the plateau of the North 
