117
NEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS FROM THE NORTH
DOWNS NEAR SUTTON, SURREY.
By J. P. JOHNSON.
Judging from the vast quantity of flakes and chips with
which they are strewn, the North Downs, in the neighbourhood
of Sutton, must once have been the site of a great flint imple-
ment industry, which no doubt owed its position to the amount
of raw material at hand.
The majority of these flakes are as sharp and translucent as
any freshly produced specimens, from which they differ, how-
ever, in being, without exception, highly lustrous. Those that
have lain long on the surface, exposed to the direct action of
atmospheric agencies have become opaque, and many are dis-
coloured with rust due to the oxidation of the streaks of iron
gained by contact with the plough, while a small proportion are
patinated, that is, the surface of the flint has undergone some
change which has given it a glazed appearance. They are
mostly small, few reaching the size of the average Palaeolithic
flake. In colour they range, in glassy specimens, from amber
to black, and in porcellaneous examples, from white, through
mottled blue and white to blue, with every intermediate tint
imaginable.
While the greater number of flakes are merely chips that
have been struck off in the manufacture of implements, many,
on the other hand, are designedly shaped, and are such as
require great skill in their production. Such are the minute
thin narrow flakes, one of which is shewn in the set of figures
on page 118 with three or more faces and a well-developed bulb of
percussion. Miscellaneous flakes were largely employed by
pre-historic man for various purposes. Nearly all have their
edges notched through use.
These flakes are not all of the same age. Sometimes one
comes across specimens that have been re-trimmed at a later
period. In cases where the original flake is externally mottled
and opaque, the newer chipping is black, having penetrated the
semi-transparent interior.
The cores from which the flakes have been struck are
frequently met with. I have one very beautiful example, con-