49 
SOME NEOLITHIC SITES IN THE UPPER 
VALLEY OF THE ESSEX CAM. 
By GEORGE MORRIS, B.Sc., F.R.A.I. 
With 2 Plates and I Text Map. 
[Read 28th January, IQ22 .] 
INTRODUCTION. 
F OR the past ten years the writer, in conjunction with Mr. Guy 
Maynard (late of the Saffron Walden Museum), has been 
engaged in collecting flint implements of the Neolithic period 
in the area surrounding the town of Saffron Walden. 
As the investigation progressed many interesting problem's 
in relation to the settlements, dispersal and origin of the Neolithic 
peoples arose, and had to be set aside for lack of sufficient data. 
The question as to what route these people followed to reach the 
area often occupied our attention ; did they arrive from the 
N.E. or S.W. by way of the Chalk escarpment of the Chilterns 
or were they coastal tribes of the Thames estuary who penetrated 
inland up the valleys of the Lea, Pant, Blackwater, etc., and so 
over the forested water partings to the valley of the Cam and 
the surrounding Chalk lands ? 
A year ago it occurred to the writer to compile a list of the 
Neolithic sites recorded in the County, and to plot them on a 
fairly large scale map with a view to obtaining information 
as to the distribution of the Neolithic population, and also to 
find out whether the forests of the clay areas had proved a serious 
obstacle to travel and settlement. 
With this end in view, a list of sites, recorded in the Essex 
Naturalist, The Victoria County History , and other publications, 
was compiled, visits were paid to the county museums at Strat¬ 
ford and Colchester, and a careful examination was made of the 
material available there. A few words as to the net result 
of this enquiry up to the present time may be of interest. 
The data were classified under the following headings :— 
a. Flakes, scrapers and miscellaneous implements, 
b. Polished celts and adzes, 
c. Chipped celts and adzes, 
d. Arrow heads. 
D 
