68 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
No. 49a,1 marked "Older Palaeolithic age High Beach." In
a letter in Nature, vol. xxviii., 1883, p. 320, Worthington G.
Smith described this specimen as "undoubtedly artificial and
palaeolithic," and as having been found in the gravel pits between
Loughton Station and the "Robin Hood" Inn (that is, Strawberry
Hill). It is a piece of tabular flint with a broad scraper-like
chipped edge at one end, and is purely eolithic (that is, in the
writer's view, mechanical) in its characters. In later years
Worthington Smith came to reject these "eoliths" and
considered them to be natural.
OLDER PALAEOLITHIC.
Classification. The writer has felt for some time that the
classification of the older Palaeolithic is less satisfactory than
that of the newer. This is not the place to enter into a full
discussion of the evidences, but the collection before us contains
some important specimens bearing upon the problem. Three
main stages are recognised in the accepted classification, namely,
in order of date : (1) Strepyan, (2) Chellean, (3) Acheulean—an
admirable basis to work on, but unfortunately there has been
much change and consequent confusion in their application.
Worthington Smith2 drew attention to the fact that the
river gravels containing contemporary implements, that we should
now class as Chellean and Acheulean, contained also an older
group which had been derived from earlier gravels. These he
called the "oldest class." They are always greatly abraded,
and usually deeply patinated ; in fact, they were twice abraded,
once before, and once after, their major patination. The second
series of accidental chips, made upon their edges during their
derivation from the older to the newer gravel, are in similar
mineral condition to that of the comparatively unabraded
series found in the same gravel.
The dominant Chellean form is pointed, with a thick butt-
end to give a firm grasp in the hand. The dominant Acheulean
form is ovate, broader, thinner, with a sharper edge all round,
and more skilfully flaked than the Chellean. Other types
occur in both series, and there are many similarities between
the one series and the other, but the above is the dominant
1 These are the registered numbers of the Essex Field Club Museum, not the original numbers
of the collectors. They are all under the general Museum number 15146.
2 Trans. and Proc. Essex Field Club, vol. iii., 1883, p. 102. and other papers in 1884, 1887,
1888 ; also "Man the Primeval Savage."