PRIMAEVAL MAN IN THE VALLEY OF THE LEA. 87
the three engraved, as it is not uncommon to see large, regular,
semi-circular hollows made artificially in the edges of certain thin
flakes.
Cores, nuclei, or blocks' from which flakes have been struck, are
also extremely common. A specimen from Stoke Newington, now
in the British Museum, and found by me with many hundreds of
others almost identical, is illustrated, one-half actual size, in fig. 8.
Three concave places on the side, and a fourth on the top of the
flint block, indicate where flakes have been artificially detached.
Manufacture and Mode of Use of Implements.
The majority of Palaeolithic implements are abraded at the edges,
many greatly so, and discoloured or ochreous in colour ; but imple-
ments found in sand, and in
positions close to where they were
originally made, are often quite
sharp, and not discoloured at all.
In positions where the unabraded
implements are found, forgeries are
frequently met with, as certain work-
men about the excavations soon
find that they can produce indiffer-
ent imitations of Palaeolithic im-

plements with their own modern

Fig. 8.—Core, or nucleus (one-half actual
size).
tools. So much, however, is now
known about old, as differing from newly-chipped flints, that I
think I may safely say that no archaeologist worthy of the name
could be deceived by a forgery. It is, perhaps, better to print as
little as possible about the characteristics of forgeries; but putting
entirely aside the condition of the stone, I have never seen modern
work equal the old in beauty, delicacy, and finish.
Forgeries were at one time rife at Stoke Newington, i.e., when the
position had become well known as a site for implements; the
forgers found a moderately good sale for their productions from
erratic and unwary visitors. Whilst the market lasted, it was impos-
sible to get the guilty men to confess. At last, under peculiar
circumstances, I extracted a confession from two of the best forgers
—one had previously in part acted as an informer to me—and these
men produced some forgeries for me under my own eyes. I do not
say that Palaeolithic implements were made in Palaeolithic times as