GEOLOGICAL AND PREHISTORIC TRAPS.
13
Flint Flaking by Nature and Archaeology.—It is one
thing to distinguish arrow- or axe-heads from naturally broken
stones, but quite another to separate rudimentary implements
from natural flaking. I take it that no one would question the
abstract proposition that we should first understand the processes
and effects of flaking by geological agencies before we can be in
a position to identify reliable evidence of man.
One method of applying that principle which is revealed
in the "Handbook" previously referred to is to reason out in
our minds what we may suppose Nature might or might not
be able to do. Another method (the one that I have endeavoured
to follow) is to observe how Nature actually does operate and
what the product is actually like; that is, to replace the sup-
position of the "Handbook" by the observation of fact.
I began my study of the Eoliths with an assured belief in
their human origin; my first doubts arose from noting that
exact reproductions were made by the passage of cart wheels
upon new roads. Is it necessary to remark that I was not
unaware of the fact that cart wheels are artificial, but the flaking
properties of flint are natural, and these preliminary observations
gave much needed (and entirely new) information about the
response of flint to mechanical crushing associated with move-
ment, as static pressure in equilibrium is ineffective.
In extending the enquiry to the more difficult observation
of Nature, it was found that the natural substance (flint) responded
in the same manner to natural crushing as it did to artificial.
It was further notable that Eoliths were associated in geological
deposits with striations that indicate that very movement under
pressure that is required to produce the flaking.
The protagonist of the Eolithic theory replies that as the
striations occur upon the flaked surfaces they cannot be associated
with the flaking. This would be sound reasoning if the force
of movement-under-pressure began and ended in a single
moment of time. But as the movements are intermittent and
sporadic, but continued over long periods of time, it is inevitable
that previously flaked surfaces must often become striated by
subsequent movements.
Scientific enquiry into these obscure problems has been
arrested because the operation of natural agencies in the flaking