Primaeval Man in the Valley of the Lea. 145
the Boding. It is now extremely desirable that the other
river-valleys of Essex should be well searched, and I commend
this work to the members of the Essex Field Club. It would
be well if some member would prove whether primaeval man
certainly lived on the banks of the Stour—it is probable, for
one or two implements have been found in a gravel-pit at
Milford Junction on the Great Eastern Railway. Then
there is the Blackwater River; the Crouch; the Colne, near
Colchester; the Chelmer; and numerous affluents of the
larger rivers. With the exception of the south-west corner,
and part of the east and south side, the whole county of
Essex invites exploration. The implements are abun-
dant in the bordering counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, Hert-
fordshire, and Cambridgeshire. There appears therefore to
be a rich field for research in Essex, and if the implements
are not ultimately found all over the county it will, I believe,
be more the fault of the members of this Club than the county
itself.
We must now leave the contemplation of primaeval man
and his works in the Lea Valley. After the Palaeolithic men
had passed away, tribes of Neolithic men lived here —
men who not only chipped but sometimes polished their
weapons and tools of stone. Before these men arrived,
however, the configuration of Europe had changed from what
it was as described at the beginning of this paper to what we
now know it to be. In other words, Britain became severed from
the Continent by the encroachment of the sea at the Straits
of Dover, and the old coast-line was entirely submerged. The
Isle of Wight was severed by the Solent Sea, and Ireland by
St. George's Channel and the Irish Sea. For the last 2000
years changes of level have been unimportant. Whether the
Neolithic men were the direct descendants, through the cave-
men, of the River Drift men, or whether the Neolithic men
came direct from some other stock, is uncertain. It is,
however, no part of our purpose to consider the men of
Neolithic times this evening, so we may summarily dismiss
them with the statement that they lived (amongst other
places) in large numbers on the banks of the Lea as we now