148 
DR. HICKS-PRE-HISTORIC MAH IN BRITAIN. 
In this lecture I shall refer mainly to the earliest or Stone age, 
which has been divided into two periods under the names Old 
Stone age (Palaeolithic) and New Stone age (Neolithic). The 
implements belonging to the earlier or Palaeolithic period were 
usually pieces of flint, chert, or quartz, very rudely fashioned, 
being merely roughly chipped into shape and never ground or 
polished. Those of the later or Neolithic period are much more 
varied in form, and often beautifully finished, being frequently 
ground to a sharp point or edge and polished all over. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Allen Brown, of Ealing, I am 
enabled this evening to exhibit a few of the Palaeolithic implements 
discovered by him in that neighbourhood. They were obtained 
mainly from the high-level gravels of the Thames "Valley, i.e. above 
the 50-feet contour-line. Between Ealing and Acton Mr. Brown 
was fortunate enough to come upon what he considers to be the 
site of a Palaeolithic workshop floor, under the brick-earth, and 
about six feet below the surface of the ground. Erom it Mr. 
Brown obtained no less than about 500 implements. It was near 
the 100-feet contour-line, and he supposes this spot to have been at 
the time an island in comparatively shallow water, whence the occu¬ 
pants must have been compelled to retreat suddenly, probably by 
flood-water, which carried mud and sand so as to cover the site 
rapidly over. The implements obtained here retain their sharp 
edges, and therefore could not have been rolled. The prevailing 
forms found by Mr. Allen Brown are “javelin and spear-heads, 
ranging in length from 3 to 6 inches; they are roughly but sym¬ 
metrically chipped by secondary working to a point, and flanged at 
the butts, producing a rudimentary tang, and the edges are sharply 
bevelled. They show, like the implements of a similar kind 
obtained from other parts of the district, that a regular method 
was in use by which these objects were made. Thus it seems evi¬ 
dent that, after striking single-ridged flakes from the cores, so as 
to leave a hollow where the one-ridged flake had been taken ofl, 
care was taken to strike the second or double-ridged flakes about 
the centre, and just behind the previous point of impact; in this 
way a double-ridged flake was formed, having a thin end or butt 
which could be easily inserted into the spear-shaft.Besides 
these objects, there were many rounded semilunar scrapers, knives 
with worked edges, flints with neatly-worked semicircular de¬ 
pressions, three or four awls or perforators made on the same 
pattern, and other worked flints. Some of the implements are 
rudely chipped like celts, while one fine specimen formed from a 
long flake is worked all round to a cutting-edge, both ends being 
carefully rounded.” 
A most interesting discovery of a similar floor has been made by 
Mr. E. C. J. Spurrell in the valley of the Thames near Crayford. 
It is two miles distant from the present river, and about 35 feet 
above its level. Among the specimens found here were some 
flakes which when placed together showed the original form of the 
mass of flint from which they had been struck, the mode of their 
