Primaeval Man in the Valley of the Lea. 121 
It commonly happens that the higher the gravels above 
the present rivers the older they are, but here we have an 
instance where the newer gravels and more recent implements 
are from 8 to 26 ft. higher than the old. 
Having noticed the material in which the stone implements 
of the Lea are found, I will now describe the tools themselves. 
I need not discuss the question as to whether they are of 
human origin or not; I agree with Prof. Hughes, of Cam¬ 
bridge, who said before the Victoria Institute that he would 
not waste time to discuss the point. To me they are as 
certainly of human origin as is the Parthenon at Athens 
or the cartoons of Raphael. The implements owe their 
formation to thinking heads, to true eyes, and to uncommonly 
skilful fingers. Flint implements from the drift have some¬ 
times been described as rude, naturally-broken blocks of 
stone ; but the fact really is, many of the weapons and tools 
are so beautifully and finely made that it is only safe to move 
them from place to place with the most careful packing, to 
protect them from injury. Many of the oval, ovate, and 
tongue-shaped forms are almost mathematically true in 
outline. 
After a somewhat long and very painstaking experience of 
the flint implements of the Lea Valley, I can, as I think, 
distinctly refer them to three different ages, all three far 
distant from each other. As the implements are thrown out of 
the pits with the ballast, we sometimes find the massive club- 
shaped implements, rudely made, with heavy butts, greatly 
abraded, and deeply ochreous. They are rare in the Lea 
Valley, and I am inclined to consider these as the most 
ancient implements yet known. They have not acquired 
their ochreous colour in the Lea-gravel, and they are far 
more water-worn than the typical Lea implements ; they 
form the first and oldest class, and I consider them as 
“ derived” (as geologists say), and not innate with the gravel 
in which they are now found. They differ in the same way 
from the “Palaeolithic Floor” implements as do fossil 
shells from the chalk, as compared with the more recent 
Molluscan remains of Palaeolithic gravels. Implements of 
