A HISTORY OF NORFOLK age however, a word or two may be conveniently added with regard to the general characteristics of the stone implements of the two ages Paleolithic and Neolithic, and the chief points in which they differ. Paleolithic implements differ from Neolithic in several points. Not only is there a much greater variety of form in the latter, but the methods of manufacture present certain well-marked differences. The most im- portant is this. A Paleolithic implement was formed by a few bold and skilful blows, and the stone so shaped was sometimes one that had been procured for the purpose from the chalk, and sometimes one of the worn flints picked up from the coarse gravels of the river drift. A Neolithic implement on the other hand was usually made from flint of the special kind that was found to be most suitable for the purpose, and shaped by many careful blows. Broadly the distinction between the two methods may be said to be this : the Paleolithic man shaped his tools by primary working, whilst the Neolithic man shaped his first by primary working and finished them by secondary chipping, and in some instances, particularly in the case of axes or celts, by grinding the whole or a portion of the surface to a cutting edge. Norfolk in the Neolithic Age The Neolithic age in Norfolk is represented by many important remains. Flint implements, particularly in the form of beautifully shaped arrowheads and ground or partially ground celts, personal orna- ments, hut-floors, flint mines, graves and camps are the main classes into which the various remains may be conveniently divided, and they enable us to form a fairly complete idea of the methods of warfare, pursuits, industries and arts of early man in Norfolk in the Neolithic age. The Neolithic age is in fact specially well represented in the various prehistoric antiquities found in Norfolk. Not only are the actual specimens of weapons and implements of great interest on account of their varieties, but antiquaries have succeeded in identifying the sites of quarries where the raw material was obtained and of the factories where it was worked into shape. From what has been said already it will have been evident that the maker of Neolithic implements attached considerable importance to procuring the best material, and the following facts about Grime's Graves will show that he took infinite pains in order to procure the kind of flint that was best suited to his purpose. The flint mines at Grime's Graves,^ situated in a wood about three miles north-east of Brandon, afford some interesting and highly im- portant information upon the methods adopted in Neolithic times for procuring suitable flint for the manufacture of implements. The so- called 'graves,' 254 in number, occupy a space upwards of 20 acres in extent. They are really circular depressions in the surface of the earth 1 Journal of Ethnohpcal Society of London (new series), ii. pp. 419-39 ; Proceedings Society of ylnti- quaries of Scotland, viii. pp. 419-28 ; Evans, Jncient Stone Implements, etc., ed. 2, pp. 33, 34 ; Journal Archceoloffcal Association, viii. p. 77 ; The Illustrated Archaeologist, June, 1893. 258
