NEOLITHIC SITES IN UPPER VALLEY OF ESSEX CAM. 57
been able to examine, it would seem possible that the Cam Valley
specimens are of an earlier and ruder culture than Mr. Warren's
earlier series and may be provisionally classified as from, say
(9)38 to (9)45 of his sequence-dates.
Mr. W. G. Clarke, in a paper delivered at Norwich in 1906
(8), makes a preliminary classification of Norfolk Neolithic
Implements, which may serve in making a comparison with
those of Essex. He recognizes the following divisions:—
1. Early Neolithic or Cissbury Type.
2. Intermediate Neolithic, or those typical of the heavier
lands of the county where Boulder Clay is the sub-soil.
3. Late Neolithic, or those from the lighter lands and sandy
sites.
4. Those of flint and other stones that have been polished
or are of igneous rock.
This classification is rather artificial, especially in placing
polished implements in a separate class, though probably the
number and technique of polished specimens increase in chrono-
logical sequence. In a subsequent paper, read to the Pre-his-
toric Society of East Anglia (9), Mr. Clarke merges his Inter-
mediate and Late Neolithic into one series, but the present
writer feels that the conception of an intermediate series may
well be retained provisionally, especially as the description of
this series corresponds very well with the type of artifacts found
in the Cam Valley.
Mr. Clarke says:—"As may be expected, the implements
are, as a rule, poor in design, and their variety is limited. From
Norfolk specimens in various collections the chief varieties appear
to be axes of the rudest type but with well-worked cutting edges;
hollow scrapers somewhat irregularly worked and occasionally
right-angled instead of concave; pointed implements probably
used as borers, awls or drills; rough fabricators; single-edge
flake knives; square-ended, oval and thumb-nail scrapers;
discoidal implements; implements of irregular shape, with one
end chipped and a working edge, and a number of nondescript
implements worked all round for which no definite use can be
assigned. A typical form of implement is a nodule broken in
halves, with a crust left on except at one end, where the chipping,
although covering only a small portion of the implement, is often
very delicate."