Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/136

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PREHISTORIC BRITAIN

Neolithic implements from St. Helier. One of the most important questions that arises is whether these implements are so distinctively Neolithic in character as to exclude the possibility that they may belong to an earlier period."

These extracts clearly indicate the existence of a pre-Neolithic civilization within the submerged area of the English Channel; and there is presumptive evidence to show that a careful examination of the relics will bring out a parallelism between them and the archæological remains of the transition period as recorded from the north of Scotland and the various Azilian stations throughout Western Europe.

This hypothesis is further strengthened by analogous discoveries on the coast of Essex, as shown by the recent discoveries of Mr. S. Hazzledine Warren, F.G.S. (Anth. Institute, 1912). Here are submerged strata some of which clearly disclose that they were formerly land-surfaces inhabited by prehistoric people. "We have no evidence to show," writes Mr. Warren, "at what period this submergence commenced, as the record now lies beneath perhaps fifty or a hundred fathoms of water. But the date of its final stage can be approximately fixed by the prehistoric remains which are found on the ancient surface which was then carried beneath the sea. . . . That this surface was inhabited by prehistoric man, down to, and probably far below, low-water mark is proved beyond a doubt by the pre-