Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/370

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A HISTORY OF SUSSEX the simply chipped flakes, etc., found in abundance at Lough Neagh, Ireland. An interesting group of such flakes was found by the writer on the side of one of the mounds at Cissbury, left practically as they had been chipped off by their neolithic maker long ago. The removal of the earth by which they had so long been covered was caused by the burrowing of rabbits, which are working so much damage to what is unquestionably the finest camp in Sussex. The position of the flint flakes and chips upon the mound proves that the earthworks were completed during the Neolithic Age. A collection of typical Cissbury implements together with mining tools, such as rude picks made of antlers of the red deer ; blade bones of ox, probably used as shovels ; and lamp made of hollowed-out mass of chalk, may now be seen in the British Museum. Numerous other examples of stone implements from the flint mines at Cissbury have been placed in the museums at Lewes and Brighton, and others are in private collections. The large numbers of implements found, point to extensive and long-continued operations, and there is reason to believe that the combined flint-mining and implement-making industries carried on at Cissbury were of equal importance to those at Grimes' Graves, Weeting, Norfolk. Details of individual finds as far as possible will be given in the index at the end of this article, but attention may be directed to the following more remarkable features of neolithic antiquities in Sussex : (i) A group of eight chipped celts found in 1803 at Clayton Hill; (2) a chipped celt fixed in its wooden handle discovered at Mitchdean, East Dean ; (3) minute implements of flint found in association with other implements of regular neolithic character and later pottery, at the rock-shelters at Hastings ; (4) numerous roughly chipped celts or agricultural tools found in various parts of the county and now placed in the museums at Lewes, Brighton, Hastings, etc. ; (5) numerous hollow or concave scrapers found near Brighton and Eastbourne ; (6) numerous celts which have been thoroughly rounded by grinding, found in the Eastbourne and Beachy Head district ; and (7) the large number of varieties of stone employed for implement making, including Sussex iron-stone, granite, quartzite and diorite. The megalithic remains of Sussex appear to be very scanty. There is said once to have been a circle of stones at Goldstone Bottom, near the Brighton Waterworks, which has since been destroyed, and other remains, possibly of the Neolithic Age, are mentioned in the section on Ancient Earthworks. The Bronze Age The introduction of metal for the purposes of every-day life marks a very important and decided step in prehistoric progress and culture. The available evidence goes to show that there was not here, as in some parts of the European continent, an age of copper. We seem rather to have passed from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age direct. It may be inferred that the art of working metal was not introduced into Britain 316