EARLY MAN adjoining or abutting on Northamptonshire which have yielded Neo- lithic implements. The following eight counties, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Oxon, Bucks, Beds and Hunts have alto- gether provided about 40 localities, while in Yorkshire above i 34 spots are enumerated, Derbyshire 57, Dorsetshire 24, Wilts over 70, Sussex 32, Kent 28, Suffolk 53 and Norfolk 48, making a total from this second group of eight counties of nearly 450 places. This great difference cannot be put down entirely to the greater diligence of local collectors, though no doubt those counties which possess so many visible evidences of early man have attracted more attention than those less favoured. It will be seen that the last group includes counties like Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Sussex, Kent, etc., which contain large tracts of downs, Yorkshire with its wolds and Derbyshire with its moorland ; all these counties have within their borders many more ocular evidences of the early people through the presence of their tumuli than the central parts of England, with its gentle undulating counties, which were for the most part largely covered with woodland. We may presume that Neolithic man's more favoured spots for his settlements and camps were on the high and dry ground where the subsoil was of a porous nature, such as the chalk, in preference to those parts covered with thick forests or undrained marshes. Northamptonshire is given in Sir John Evans' work as providing nine places where Neolithic implements and weapons have been dis- covered. The index at the end of this article shows a list of more than thirty localities which have yielded Neolithic remains from the county. These consist chiefly of isolated specimens of polished celts or axes which have been found in various parts of Northamptonshire. Five good specimens have been obtained from Northampton ; portions of four celts, with one perfect one of a peculiar green slaty kind of stone, were found between Gretton and Kirby Hall ; other specimens have come to hand from King's Sutton, Everdon, Towcester, Courteenhall, Great Harrowden, Weldon, Castor, and Eye near Peterborough. Flint arrow- heads have been found at Duston and Oundle, and a finely worked spear- head or dagger of flint was obtained at Norton by Mr. B. Botfield in 1862. This was associated with a burial in which the skeleton was in an extended position and not in the usually contracted posture. Sir John Evans attributed it to the latter part of the Neolithic period. Another very beautiful specimen of this same type was found in a field called Little Wansford, in the parish of Weldon, in 1890. Hammer-heads of stone have been found at Singlesole in the Fens and from the neighbourhood of Gretton. Worked flints, such as the so- called thumb flints, have been obtained from Borough Hill, Hunsbury Hill, Blisworth, Roade, Moulton, etc. Burials of this period have been noted at Great Houghton and at Norton ; with the remains at the latter place was found an earthen vessel as well as the spearhead mentioned above. Baker describes a burial at Aynho which also might belong to this age. With these exceptions, no other traces of Neolithic 139
