them here in detail. The following are the more important parishes or districts in which discoveries of paleolithic implements have been made The Thames Valley. The excavation of chalk for lime and cement-making has for some time past afforded numerous opportunities of examining the overlying beds of drift- gravel which occur at various parts of the Thames Valley. This is particularly true of the district about Swanscombe, Northfleet, Stone, etc., where in a high-level bed of drift-gravel many hundreds of paleolithic implements, cores, and waste chips, have been found. Some of these flints have sharp edges, ridges and points, and can hardly have been transported far down the valley, but others are somewhat worn. The curious chopper-like implement shown m the accompanying photograph is of considerable interest on account of the marks of wear it bears on its convex side, the concave side bearing no such marks, having been protected. It was in a gravel bed near Swans- combe, that the famous Galley Hill skull and limb bones were discovered in the year 1888. It was considered by some that these human remains were contemporary with the gravels in which they were found, but definite evidence is wanting. An ovoid, or perhaps almond- shaped implement was found by Mr. Spurrell 8 ft. deep in Thames Valley gravel at Dartford Heath. Reculver. From about the year i860 to the present time paleolithic implements in considerable numbers have been found on the sea-shore be- tween Reculver and Heme Bay. In- vestigation of the cliffs at this place has shown that there is a bed of gravel at the top of the escarpment from which the implements have fallen from time to time. When they first fall to the beach their points and ridges are sharp, but the action of the waves and sand soon modifies this. Some magni- ficent specimens of pointed implements have been found here at various times by Mr. Thomas Leach, Mr. John Brent, F.S.A., Sir Joseph Prestwich and Sir John Evans, and four engravings of them are here reproduced by the kind permission of Sir John Evans. One is formed from a pebble, the rounded butt of which has not been chipped, but its shape is well adapted for being held in the hand. The larger implements shown full- size in the accompanying engravings are admirable examples of their kinds, that with incurved sides showing a refinement of form which is very rarely found in palaeolithic implements. Another rare form with very thick butt and tapering and slightly twisted point, once in the collection of the late Mr. John Brent, is also shown. Palaeolithic implements evidently derived from a bed of drift-gravel at the top of the cliff have been found on the shore as far as a mile and a half to the west of Reculver. Minster, Thanet. A small pointed palaeolithic implement was found here in 1899 by Mr. J. Romilly Allen, ^ F.S.A. It would appear to belong to the same set of drift -gravels as those near Reculver, except that it has not suffered drift-wear ; but in any case it is of con- siderable interest as occurring so far to the east of the Reculver gravels. » Reliq. vii. 57- 3" Palaeolithic Implements from Thanington.
