RELICS OF EARLY MAN NEAR CHELMSFORD.
305
A friend of mine who has travelled on the Amazon, informs
me that the natives living on the shores of that river catch fish
by means of a hook formed of the thorn of a species of Acacia.
I have further ascertained that near Bordeaux two kinds of
wooden gorges are used for fishing. One is in the form of a
spindle, like our eel gorges, and is known as "hain:" the other
is exactly similar to our Essex example, and is made of the same
wood: this is called "Clabeon."
It is still more interesting to know that some of the natives
of the Malay Peninsula still use a hook of a wooden thorn
practically the same as that used by the Essex fishermen of to
day.
NOTES ON SOME RELICS OF EARLY MAN IN
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF CHELMSFORD.
By HENRY MOTHERSOLE.
EITHER Chelmsford nor its immediate neighbourhood has,
N
so far as I am aware, been hitherto noted for many traces
of early man, and perhaps therefore, a few remarks recording some
implements and worked flints which I have collected in the
district may be of interest.
Of the Palaeolithic period only a few relics have been
found. My whole collection comprises but some half-a-dozen
"flakes" and two implements. The best finished one is
unworked at the butt-end, and measures 31/2" x 3"; this I
found in a cart-way at Pryors Farm, Broomfield, where I had
previously found two worked flints of apparently the same age.
Judging by the number of "worked" flints, "flakes,"
"cores" and burnt stones found, I assume that the Chelmsford
district was fairly well populated in Neolithic times. In the
surface-soil, and in the upper part of the Brick-earth in the Valley
of the Cann, to a depth of about three feet, a great number of
flakes have been detected, and with them I have been fortunate
enough to find two leaf-shaped arrow-heads. One of these, of
grey flint, is a very beautiful example. A number of " cores,"
"pot-boilers" and "scrapers" occurred; many of these were
found in undisturbed Brick-earth. I also picked up from the
surface a flake arrow-head, and a small flint flake, similar to those
figured by Sir John Lubbock (Prehistoric Times, p. 89) but my