60
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
The N.E. corner of the walled Roman Station is about 200
yards from the centre of the site, and numerous rubbish pits of
this period occur on the area. Up to the present no worked
flint has been recorded in the pits, but the writer has taken
worked implements from a depth of three feet in the soil, and
it may be a line of enquiry as to a possible Roman date for
this flint. Again the lustrous unpatinated condition of the flint
and the organic content of the soil is significant.
III. Great Chesterford, Site B. Essex. Sheet II. S.E.
Longitude 0° 12' 27" E., latitude 52° 3' 39" N. Elevation
140 feet O.D., and about 10 feet above the river level. The
site is on a gentle slope up from the water to the valley top.
The underlying rock is marked as Middle Chalk on the Geological
Survey Map (11), but there is a trace of gravel and probably
a thin terrace of post-glacial gravel overlies the Chalk here. The
soil is a chalky rain-wash with a fair amount of humus.
Flakes, a rough axe, scrapers of various types and hammer
stones have been found. A fair percentage of these implements
are black and they tend to be rather larger than usual. This
is possibly an extension of Site A., which is separated from it
by the area occupied by the houses and gardens of the village.
IV. Little Chesterford. Essex. Sheet II. S.E.
Longitude 0° 12' 44" E., latitude 52° 2' 59" N. Elevation
133 feet O.D., about 5 feet above water level. East of the
footpath from Little Chesterford to Springwell and about 370
yards south of the church.
The site is at the foot of a bluff composed of post-glacial
gravel, here terraced against a low spur of Middle Chalk from
the main ridge bordering the valley. It is about 30 yards from
the present river course and 3 feet above the level of the present
alluvial fiat. The soil is a light coloured sandy loam, from
9 inches to a foot in thickness, and it bears a distinctly calciphilous
flora.
Spale flakes, cores, many of them of large size, and anvil
stones form the bulk of the material found. Implements
rare, the only records being a rough hand axe or chopper, and
an unfinished axe of doubtful authenticity. The prevailing
patina is a creamy white, passing into the blue mottle. The
flakes and cores are often encrusted with a deposit of calcium