102 
VI. 
Primaeval Man in the Valley of thr Lea . 1 
By Worthington Gf. Smith, F.L.S., &c. 
[Read April 29tli, 1882; revised April, 1888.] 
Avus Implementorvm omnivm Palaeolithicorvm, qvae svnt a me reperta in Valle 
Thamesis, apvd Mvsaevm Britannicvm deversatvr.—“CCXLVI. Conyers.” 
By Primaeval Man I mean Man of whom we have the 
earliest authentic and accepted evidence. I do not refer to 
the very early inhabitants of Britain commonly known as the 
Silurian or Neolithic tribes, or to the Kelts, but to that 
great cohort of men who once lived near ancient river-sides, 
and there left their chipped unpolished weapons and tools of 
flint, chert, felstone, quartz, quartzite, porphyry, and various 
other stones. No doubt, as I think, these river-side men were 
preceded for vast periods of time—though possibly not where 
England now is—by other men or men-like animals, and 
these, our (at present unknown) remote precursors, might 
perhaps more properly be termed primaeval men. The 
evidence, however, of the existence of such early tribes (even 
if any evidence has at present been discovered) is, to me, of 
a slight and uncertain nature. I prefer therefore to consider 
that little or nothing is known of primaeval man prior to the 
deposition of the beds of gravel, sand, and loam generally 
found as terraces bordering our present rivers or their 
affluents. These gravelly, implementiferous positions are 
chiefly confined to the rivers of North-Western Europe, 
although stone weapons of apparently vast antiquity have 
now been found in drift beds generally bordering the rivers of 
all four quarters of the globe. 
1 [We are greatly indebted to Mr. Worthington G. Smith for the 
numerous woodcuts illustrating this paper, drawn and engraved by him¬ 
self. Since the reading of the essay it has been carefully revised and 
brought up to date by the author. —Ed.] 
