On the occurrence of flint-implements, associated with the remains of animals of extinct species in beds of a late geological period : in France at Amiens and Abbeville, and in England at Hoxne / by Joseph Prestwich.

  • Prestwich, Joseph, 1812-1896.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the occurrence of flint-implements, associated with the remains of animals of extinct species in beds of a late geological period : in France at Amiens and Abbeville, and in England at Hoxne / by Joseph Prestwich. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    by M. DE Peethes’ discoveries, ascertained that similar flint-implements were often found in a bed of gravel at St. Acheul near that city. He, also, after careful inquiry, expressed his con\dction that the ground was undisturbed, and that these works of man were con- temporaneous with the remains of the associated extinct animals. His paper contains an interesting account of the pits, with careful sections and good drawings of the worked flints, and the geological questions are more fully discussed. These observations did not, however, attract the attention they deserved, and, with few exceptions, the discovery of M. Bouchee de Peethes remained unknown to, or was considered inconclusive by, antiquaries and geologists both in France and England. The question was in this state when attention was again directed to it by the eminent paleeontologist Dr. Falconee*, and received especially a fresh impulse by his discovery of flint-implements associated with the bones of extinct animals in Brixham Cave,—then in course of exploration at his instigation under the auspices of the Boyal Society,—a fact announced by Mr. Pengelly to the British Association in 1858. As the report on this important inquiry has not yet been presented to the Eoyal Society, I now merely mention this fact, to instance the weight such e\ddence, so carefully worked out, had in modifying previously received and generally entertained views, and in inciting further research. It was not, however, until I had myself witnessed the conditions under which these flint-implements had been found at Brixham, that I became fully impressed with the validity of the doubts thrown upon the previously prevailing opinions with respect to such remains in caves. At the same time, although I now felt more satisfied, from the strength of the concurrent testimony and from my own observation, that these works of man did actually occur in true association with the remains of extinct mammalia in ground not artificially disturbed, still a doubt was left on my mind as to their contem- poraneity. For let us suppose, first, a cave into which the bones of the extinct animals were introduced and imbedded in the red clay or loam; secondly, that the mass was then sealed iip, as it were, by a layer of stalagmite; thirdly, that man afterwards frequented the cave, streudng the stalagmitic floor with his works. If, then, from any natural cause,—such for example as earthquake movements, the influx of a body of water, or any other cause tending to disturb the cave,—the stalagmite floor became broken up and the w'hole ground moved afresh, we might have the remains of the two periods commingled and covered up in process of time by a fresh coating of stalagmite. I would not offer this as a sufficient explanation in many casesf; but that it is a possible * Dr. Falcoxee’s important researches in Sicily during the winter of 1858-59 still further stimulated inquiry. In a communication made to the Greological Society on the 4th of May 1859, an account is given of the “ G-rotta di Maccagnone” near Palermo, in which, besides an abundance of the remains of the Rippopotamus and Rlepjliant, mixed with recent species of Helix, Dr. Falcoxee announced the discovery, in portions of the same bone breccia, of small Hint-implements resembling in form the obsidian knives from Mexico and the flint knives found in the old barrows of this country.—Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 99. t For another explanation see Mr. Babbage’s “Observations on the Discovery in various Localities of the Eemains of Human Art mixed with the Bones of Extinct Eaces of Animals,” Proceedings of the Eoyal vSociety, May 1859, vol. x. p. 59.