"Stone implements of the Palæolithic Period, so far as we at present know, were made exclusively of one or other of three varieties of stone— flint, chert, or quartzite. There is, I believe, but one solitary exception at present known, a pointed ovoid implement of true Palæolithic type made of felstone. It was found at Gravel Hill, near Brandon, and is in the collection of Mr. John Evans, who has recently figured it in his magnificent work on the 'Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain.'[1]
"This unique specimen, however, in common with those of flint, chert, or quartzite, is fashioned entirely by flaking or chipping. It would appear that the people of the Palæolithic Period were wholly unacquainted with any other method of fashioning stone. The processes of pecking and grinding seem to have been unknown to them, if we except the instance afforded by a few small boulders (found in certain cave deposits), in which shallow depressions have been made by "pecking."
"Palæolithic implements have been obtained by Mr. Read from four different excavations in the neighbourhood of Southampton, one being at Freemantle, and the three others on Southampton Common; one (the Town Pit) is stated to be more than 100 ft. above the mean sea-level. Other palæolithic implements found in various parts of Hampshire are exhibited in your temporary Museum. Some of these were obtained from the eastern shore of Southampton Water, in the neighbourhood of Hill Head, and some were found on Southsea Common, east of Portsmouth.
"On the other side of Spithead, at the Foreland or more eastern point of the Isle of Wight, a single Palæolithic implement has been found. Several examples have been obtained from the gravels near Bournemouth. It would seem that the Avon and Stour were, in remote times, affluents of a river running from west to east, and a portion of this river, now widened out by the sea, has become the Solent, between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The course of this ancient river was probably a little to the south and seaward of the present line of coast at Bournemouth; and some of the gravels which formerly lined its valley now cap the cliffs for some distance between Poole Harbour and Hengisbury Head, as well as those farther east.[2]
"Other Hampshire Palæolithic specimens in your temporary Museum were found at Ashford, near Fordingbridge, and at Brockenhurst.
"But to return to the consideration of the antiquity of Palæolithic implements. It is, of course, contended that the antiquity of these implements is at least as great as that of the gravels in which they are found. If this be conceded the matter becomes a mere geological question.
"My observations upon the antiquity of those gravels shall be as brief as possible, and I will confine my remarks to the gravels near Salisbury, as being those with which I am best acquainted.
"The rivers Willy, Avon, and Bourne (low into each other at Salisbury. The two former, the Willy and the Avon, are divided near their point of union by a tongue of land, which, near the village of Bemerton, rises to the height of about 80 ft. above the present river level, and is overspread at this spot by a layer of implement-bearing gravel. A similar bed of gravel occurs at Milford Hill, upon the neck of land
