A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT.
109
beds. I do not remember taking them from the peaty horizon,
where the larger and stronger flakes were found in situ by me.3
The worked flints, chips and fine flakes, are so numerous
as to suggest that the population was considerable, and
that the dwellings were in close proximity to a manufactur-
ing ground of these objects. On the southern slope of the
valley, at an elevation of 30 feet, and a hundred yards distant,
operations for excavating brick-making material are likewise in
progress. The Brick-earth here is formed of rain-wash from the
higher ground. In neolithic times the surface on the slope was
about 2 ft. 6 in. below the present level. It is at this depth that
flakes, identical with those in the dwellings, occur in large quan-
tities, many of which are worked from rolled pebbles. These
pebbles were evidently carefully selected. The cores are
abundant on this valley working-ground, and not on other sites.
The time that has elapsed since the flakes were worked has
sufficed for the deposition of two feet of Talus, while the action of
the river has accumulated six feet of alluvium. From the first I
kept the two sets of flints separate, thinking that they might
belong to a different period or race of men ; now I feel convinced
that both are from the same source. This point is of great
interest, as it tends to show that the dwelling-places were in the
bottom of the valley, surrounded by water, whilst the working-
ground was on the slope.3A Only the flints and very sparse
scraps of pottery are found on the slope. The dry brick-earth
may not have been conducive to the preservation of bone and
wood. Sometimes a small "nest" of flakes, together with the
cores from which they were struck, lay at a depth of two or
three feet, while others were found scattered at intervals over all
parts of the excavated brick-field. This was probably the result
of long occupation by the settlers. They were therefore fixed to
the locality at least some portion of the year, either summer or
winter.
Bone and Horn Implements.
The most striking and important of these are such as are
formed from the antlers of Red Deer. They appear to be
3 Mr. W. J. L. Abbott, in his three papers on the "Hastings Kitchen Middens," places these
small implements in the bronze age. The suggestions of Mr. Abbott open out a chapter in the
history ot' flint manufacture which is not touched in the standard comprehensive works on the
subject. I do not think that they were worked out of our chalk flints. I have some very
small flakes ot the same kind from the banks of the Lea River in Hackney Marshes. See
remarks on (and plates of) these minute implements in Journ. Anthrop. Institute, vol. xxv.,
plates 11, 12, and 13.
3A See Plan, at spot marked "Flint factory site."