The Medway Valley. A large number of implements of palæolithic character have been obtained from various parts of this valley. Aylesford, Cuxton, St. Mary Hoo, Sandling, and West Mailing have all furnished examples, and specimens are preserved at Maidstone Museum as well as in private collections.
The Cray Valley. Implements have been found here at three places. Sir John Evans found, at an elevation of over 500 ft. in Currie Wood, one which Mr. Spurrell considers a ' land ' implement, having been but little worn by drift action. Some years ago Mr. H. G. Norman found two at Green Street Green in the upper and dry part of the valley ; and in 1901 the present writer[1] obtained a drift-worn implement at a point about a quarter of a mile south of Orpington Church, some distance lower down the valley. Other palæolithic implements about forty in number have been found at Green Street Green by Mr. de B. Crawshay.
The Darenth Valley. Implements have been found in this valley at more than one point. Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., found one near Horton Kirkby at an elevation of 250 ft.; and Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell discovered another near Erith, whilst in the Crayford brick earths he found indications of the important factory already mentioned.
The Ravensbourne Valley. Among the numerous winding valleys cut in the chalk of West Kent there are several which may be considered to form part of the present watershed of the Ravensbourne, although owing to the porous nature of the rock below they now contribute little if anything towards the stream. It is clear, however, that at some former time the conditions were very different: the forms of the valleys and the water-worn gravels which lie within them indicate that the whole district has been very much subjected to erosion by water in rapid motion, probably accompanied by low temperature.
In one of these valleys lying in the eastern part of the parish of West Wickham[2] numerous palæolithic implements were found by the present writer in 1880 and subsequently. They exhibit almost every degree of wear, and the amount of abrasion visible on some is remarkable.[3] The implements which were found in various parts of the valley, but specially in Church Field, exhibit considerable varieties of shape, the predominating forms being discoidal, ovoid, and almond-shaped.
Examples of the chief forms are given in the accompanying photographs. Judging from the great variety of form, colouring, and amount of wear on the implements it is probable that the drift-gravel in which they occur has been brought from a great variety of places, and has undergone many changes.[4]
Ightham. The whole district round Ightham[5] has been thoroughly and carefully examined by Mr. Benjamin Harrison, with the result that a very large number of places have yielded prehistoric remains. Palaeolithic implements have been found in the gravels of the Shode Valley and at many other points. On the high ground to the north, in the parish of Ash, Mr. Harrison has discovered large numbers of flints of dark brown colour and exhibiting abrasion at the edges to which the term eolithic implements has been applied. The question whether they have or have not been shaped by man has, as just mentioned, been the subject of much discussion for some time past, and the whole question has engendered considerable warmth. In any case it is quite clear that some extremely interesting implements of palæolithic workmanship have been found at high levels in the Ightham district.
At Oldbury Hill, which lies to the south of the village of Ightham, some important evidences of rock shelters[6] were discovered in 1890. Excavations in the talus near the bold, projecting spur of the hill, and just below Mount Pleasant, revealed a large number of palæolithic flakes, 49 well-finished implements, and upwards of 600 waste chips of flint. It is evident, therefore, that the shelter was used as a dwelling-place by several individuals, and that the manufacture of implements was carried on at the place. From the number of neolithic implements found near this shelter it seems probable that this part of Oldbury Hill was utilized as a rock shelter at one time by the neolithic inhabitants who doubtless occupied the hill itself and constructed around it defensive works.
There are many other parts of Kent where palæolithic implements have been discovered, but these will be detailed in the topographical list at the end of this chapter.
- ↑ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. lvii. 98.
- ↑ Proc. Soc. Antiq. (ser. 2) xi. 161-66; Arch. Cant. xv. 100-2.
- ↑ Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell was of opinion that it was due to the action of waves on a sea-beach (Arch. Cant. XV. 101).
- ↑ See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. lvi. 9.
- ↑ Evans, Stone Imp. 608.
- ↑ Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1891, pp. 353, 652.
