Following the Medway northward as it leaves the Weald at the opening of the funnel-shaped gorge in the Chalk, near Snodland, it takes a general N.E. course as far as Rochester, (Fig. 1.)

Less than half a mile below Rochester bridge it is turned eastward, perhaps by some hard beds in the chalk; then a S.E. course is followed for a mile, when turning again, opposite Chatham, it runs due N. for another two miles. Reaching the London Clay hills at Upnor it is again deflected, and finally, meandering in an easterly direction through the low alluvial plains, reaches the Thames estuary.

Thus the course of the Medway opposite Rochester takes the form of a V-shaped bend, and the land flanking the river within the bend forms a promonitory of chalk jutting southward, the surface of which rises from the edge of the marshes on either side to a height above 100-ft. O.D. (Fig. 2.)

This Paper is the outcome of a very long standing hope of proving the existence of “Eoliths” “in situ,” under the surface position where in 1866, Benjamin Harrison first found what he thought must be the very rude earliest forms of humanly worked flints, which in the “nineties” became known as “Eoliths.”

He felt pretty sure of his own opinion but no one to whom he showed his finds was at that time bold enough to accept them; this discouraged but did not deter him; for though he put them away to “Suspense Account.” he always had them in his mind and at all opportunities tried to advance his belief and convert others for many years with but very little success indeed; till 1884 when Mr. H. Walker agreed with him that they were human artefacts. In April, 1887, I became acquainted with Harrison; he lectured particularly on the “Rudes” doubtless hoping to find a tyro whom he hoped to educate to be a supporter.

He took me to South Ash and his other “Red Spreads” on which we found many specimens.

Before proceeding to consider the special features of the Hampshire Basin, and their bearing on palæolithic problems, I should like to say a few words on more general subjects. It is very well known, but perhaps not always remembered, that scarcely one of our commonly accepted conclusions regarding the geological position of the early palæoliths rests on a secure foundation; in almost every case we have to content ourselves, not with a sound logical deduction, but with the most probable of several possible inferences from inadequate and conflicting data. And as an example of what I mean, let us glance at some points in the history of river terraces. First of all the word terrace usually connotes two distinct structures, a basal rock-shelf, and a series of deposits resting on it; and although it is generally assumed that the two are so intimately bound together as to be practically contemporaneous, yet that is not a sure inference, since it is equally possible that there may have been, in some cases at least, a long interval between them. The importance of this possibility to archæologists will be evident when I remind you of the contention of several eminent authorities that the different human cultures of the Pleistocene belong rather to such intervals than to the period of accumulation of the drift to which they are generally referred.

The story of humanity during the period that elapsed between Palæolithic and Neolithic times has proved an intriguing problem to prehistorians for a long time. The Azilian culture (discovered by Piette in the cave of Mas d'Azil) resting as it does on the older Palæolithic industries and covered in turn by layers of Neolithic and Eneolithic age, seemed to bridge the gulf. But the Azilian culture has only a limited distribution and is truly Palæolithic, as is shown by the absence of the remains of domestic animals and pottery. Again, the Tardenoisean culture, with its pigmy industries and typically pigmy burin seemed to supply a bridge, and here we find a culture of wide extent. As before, however, we are still dealing with a Palæolithic culture, and its age in Western Europe (as has been shown at the diggings of Valle) is contemporaneous with the latter part of the Azilian. After the Azilio-Tardenoisian culture came the early Neolithic of which little can be told except in certain localised areas. Now another chapter of the story of these times, mainly referring to Asturias on the North coast of Spain (but including the area further East as far as Biarritz and also embracing sites in North Catalonia) has been added through the perspicacity of the Count de la Vega del Sella, who has unearthed a new and most interesting post-Azilio-Tardenoisean but pre-real Neolithic culture.

In 1900 an implement was found on the surface at Broom Covert, Higham, Suffolk, which has generously been presented to the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, by F. H. Barclay, Esq., M.A., F.G.S., the Warren, Cromer.

It is of considerable interest, and I propose briefly to describe it. It is slightly lustrous, milk-white with some light indigo-coloured mottlings, quite unworn, and presumably a true surface-find not derived from a deposit.

The specimen, which is 4½-in. long and 1½-in. across at the widest part is a well-formed lateral burin (Fig. 1). The working edge has been renewed, probably more than once. At the final renewal, after striking the burin-blow, the face then produced was modified by the removal of some small flakes at the anterior end (Fig. 1 c). The striking platform was reduced by subsequent trimming, giving the butt-end a neat semi-oval outline.

The site occupies the top and upper slope of the gravel plateau O.D. 200 feet, ¾ mile West by South of Weybourne Station. (See Ordnance Datum Map, Norfolk, Sheet X., S.W., 6-ins. to 1 mile). It consists of unploughed heathland, mainly undisturbed, though during the war some trenches were dug, whilst, at some past date, heather “turves” have been cut for the making of a turf bank, possibly an old boundary bank. As a result stony patches occur among the heather, and it was the discovery in August, 1923, by my daughter, Olive, of a worked point (Fig. 11) on one of these patches that led to the investigation of the site.

The parish boundary between Weybourne and Kelling lies at the foot of the eastern slope of the plateau at this spot. 1,100 yards East by South is a tumulus, adjoining which are the “Weybourne Pits,” whilst just over a mile west by north lie a series of tumuli on Salthouse Heath.

In the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia (Vol. III., Part III., pp. 389–430) I gave an account of the discoveries made at the 16-ft. level in the Pliocene Red Crag at Foxhall, near Ipswich, and in the detritus-bed beneath the decalcified Red Crag in Pits Nos. 1 and 2 at Bramford. During 1922 further excavations were conducted at Foxhall, and a number of humanly-flaked flints recovered from the floor occurring at the 16-foot level. The Bramford pits were also again investigated, and it is the purpose of this paper to figure and describe some of the specimens found at the sites mentioned. Full details were given in the paper quoted above of the Foxhall and Bramford Sections, and there is no need to again describe them here, especially as the recent diggings exposed no new geological features. The money to pay for the wages of the workmen engaged in the diggings was very kindly subscribed by the Percy Sladen Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, Sir John Ganzoni, M.P., and by Messrs. F. H. Barclay, A. S. Barnes, M. C. Burkitt, Henry Coates, Frank Corner, Vernon Favell, Robert Gurney, C. Hartley, J. J. Lister, W. M. Newton, W. B. Nichols, R. A. Smith, and F. S. Stevenson. The illustrations for this paper are produced from drawings by Mr. E. T. Lingwood, who, once again, has given valuable help to the cause of science by the free gift of his great artistic powers.

During recent years certain transitional cultural stages have been recognised which link up the Palæolithic and Neolithic civilisations, and for which the term Mesolithic is generally accepted. Of these the Maglemose stage is perhaps the most important, because in it are seen pronounced Palæolithic influences, and survivals, side by side with the first recognisable expressions of Neolithic culture.

The typical station was discovered in 1900 by Dr. Sarauw, the Danish archæologist, in the peat moss of Maglemose, literally “the great moor,” formerly a fresh water lake but now thirteen feet above sea level, and situated near Mullerup, on the west coast of Zeeland.

Whilst engaged in arranging the Stone Age collections of the Cambridge University Museum of Archæology and Ethnology a series of implements from Naivasha “turned up.” This locality lies a little to the East of lake Victoria Nyanza. The tools shew certain Upper Palæolithic characters and it is therefore important to note their existence. Some folk consider the continent of Africa to be a museum of cultures, others a cradle. In either case it is necessary to collect any information as to the possible lines of cultural movement. The paintings of the Spanish group 2 in rock shelters in Eastern Spain are in all probability quaternary in age and date from some moment in Upper Palæolithic times; but the Bushman art of South Africa bears such a remarkable resemblance to this Eastern Spanish group, both generally and in detail, that some connection between the artists who made them seems probable—perhaps both were derived from the same late Palæolithic stock, the Bushman being a survival to our own day.

Having lately returned from Czecho-Slovakia, where I was attending an Anthropological Congress and studying museum collections, I thought perhaps it might interest members of the P.S.E.A. to have a note on what appears to be the succession of prehistoric cultures in that country.

There seems to be nothing so far found corresponding to our Lower Palæolithic or earlier industries. It is true that there is one solitary lump of flint, roughly chipped, with large flake-scars and an ochreous patina that has been claimed as Lower Palæolithic in date, but it is really very little to go on. A poor kind of Mousterian, mostly not made of good flint, seems fairly common in Moravia although it has not been found near Prague. On the other hand, many of the tools in an undoubted Upper Palæolithic series recall by their technique and shape the industry of La Quina.

In a recent number of The Antiquaries Journal (Vol. II., No. 2, pp. 114-117), I described four flint blades of Solutré type found in various parts of East Suffolk, and it is now my purpose to figure and to give an account of seven similar, but more remarkable implements found, with one exception, in the same county. The specimens, to which this note refers, are in the possession of Mr. W. Wells, of South Benfleet, who suggested that I should describe them, and has kindly sent the implements to me for examination.

For the details of the provenance of these blades Mr. Wells is responsible, but I am confident that he has taken all reasonable care in getting together the information which he has forwarded to me for publication. There can be no doubt but that the specimens now to be described constitute one of the finest series of flint blades yet found in this country, and it is gratifying that such specimens have been drawn by Mr. E. T. Lingwood.

The excavations described in the Preliminary Report were, through the generosity of the Trustees of the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund, and with the co-operation of Dr. R. V. Favell, resumed in 1924 and further efforts made to discover evidence of the earliest mining activities at Grimes' Graves. Summarised briefly the work of 1923 had already established the following facts:—

(1) The existence on the southern slope of the valley, north of the Graves, of primitive flint mines roughly circular in shape and sunk to the Floor-stone, at that point 12 feet 6 inches deep.

(2) That the two pits examined were devoid of galleries, the shafts being belled out at the base to obtain as much flint as possible.

(3) That Hand Picks of a form not hitherto recognised and formed of the long bones of animals, had been used for excavation purposes assisted by wedges and choppers of flint.

(4) That Deer-antler picks, or fragments of deer antler were entirely absent.

(5) That access had been gained to the pits by rude staircases cut in the shaft walls.

(6) The nature of the valley deposits was established by a series of sections and the almost complete erosion there of the Floor-stone, by glacial agencies, proved.

(7) The limits within which Floor-stone exists in situ on the south side of the valley was defined and an outcrop of contorted Floor-stone discovered.

The object of this report is to record “finds” rather than to deal with the problem of the date of the mines and implements.

The Circumstances which led up to the Discovery of the Mining Area at Stoke Down.

In 1910 I was ordered to Chichester Barracks for a tour of military duty, and among other things I became Scoutmaster of the 1st Chichester Boy Scout troop. It was these Scouts who first took me to Stoke Down. The Down is situated some three miles due North of the ancient city of Chichester. The boys were busy building a log cabin in the clump of trees on the summit of the Down. The clump is known as Stoke Clump. Being long interested in prehistory my eyes, as was their custom, wandered over the surface. My attention was soon arrested by a considerable quantity of what is generally recognised as Bronze Age Pottery, coarse, red and black, of unwashed clay, with finger nail decoration round the rims.