EARLY MAN Shrub Hill gravel in which the implements were found caps a low- lying hill in the middle of the fens, and is about eight miles nearly- due west of Brandon and one mile north of the present course of the Little Ouse. In the neighbouring county of Suffolk (and also in the valley of the Little Ouse) is Santon Downham, where several hundreds of Palaeolithic implements have been found in the river gravel. Many of these imple- ments have been shaped with unusual skill, and are highly finished examples of Paleolithic art.' A discovery of a particularly interesting nature was made in 1878 in the cliff by the sea-shore at West Runton near Cromer. Here at a depth of 1 2 feet from the surface, in what was evidently the fiUed-up channel of an ancient river, and above a freshwater bed, a fine well- made implement of flint 4I inches was found. Sir John Evans subse- quently found a large ochreous flake of Paleolithic age on the sea-shore below the cliff." Other discoveries deserving of notice were an ochreous implement, found by Mr. F. C.J. Spurrell in 1882 in Aylmerton parish not far from Sheringham Heath,^ and a tongue-shaped implement, procured in 1884* at South Wootton. Paleolithic remains found in drift gravels are naturally more or less modified by drift wear. They are usually large flakes, hatchets of pointed form, or ovate implements. Smaller and more delicately made tools have however been found in the deposits in caves among remains that are considered by some to be characteristic of Cave man. How far the period of the River Drift man may have been distinct from that of the Cave man is a question upon which there is some difference of opinion. Some authorities " consider the latter to be marked by a distinct advance in civilization, whilst others* regard the remains of the so-called Cave man as indicative of the domestic side of the life of early man, the remains found in the river drift consisting mainly of rough hatchets, etc., being supposed to represent the imple- ments and weapons used in his outdoor occupations, such as warfare and hunting. Whatever the relationship of Drift man and Cave man may be finally proved to have been, there can be no question that the Paleolithic age as a whole occupies a well-defined period. It represents probably the first appearance of man in this part of the globe, and is sharply divided from the Neolithic age by a long interval of time and some not inconsiderable geological changes during which the surface of our islands was brought to much the same physical condition as that in which we now find it. Before passing on to consider the later age of stone or Neolithic • Evans, j^ndent Stone Implements, ed. 2, pp. 559, 560. 2 Op.cit. p. 572. 3 Op. cit. p. 572. * Op.cU. p. 572. ^ W. Boyd Dawkins, Early Man in Britain (ed. 1880), p. 244 et seq. ® Evans, Ancient Stone Implements, ed. 2, pp. 474, 475. I 257 S
