Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1912-02-09
MOST ANCIENT OF MEN DRAPlNG THE WINDOW
RECENT DISCOVERIES IN ENG
LAND ARE INTERESTING.
Flint implements Made Before thu
Glacial Period OF Europe Are
Found BY an Eminent Arehae-
olosist In Suffolk.

The new discovery IN regard to an.
Gent man (of which I am able 10
speak with iul confidence since !
have studied the specimens and the
/ localities myself, and have Just sent
an illustrated account Of the nipple
ment TO the Royal society is that Of
flint implements OF very definite and
peculiar shape, in some abundance,
IN bed at the base OF what geolo-
gists class as a Pliocene deposit Chat
is, before the Pleistocene). namely,
the Red Crag" OF Suffolk. We owe
this most important discovery entire
~ 20 Mr.. ]. Reid Moir OF Ipswich, who
found his first specimens in October,
1909, and after a years careful exami.
nation Of the district and the finding
or more specimens in crag pits ten
miles and more around Ipswich. an.
nounced il in letter to the Times in
October, 1910. Now that another
year has passed more specimens have
been found and the matter Is beyond
dispute
Two distinguished biologists. past
presidents OF the Geological society.
have certified that the bed in watch
Mr.. Moir's fints are obtained is GER
unly the undisturbed basement bed
OF the Red Crag, so that they may
be justly spoken Of as due TO the work
OF pre-crag man.
The implements are not at all like
those previously known. They are not
nattened, almond-shaped, or kite-liks
elongated, triangular or leaf-shaped),
as are the large Paleolithic nipple
ment (the Chellean, Acheuilian and
Moustierian) hitherto known. But
they are shaped like the beak Of an
eagle, compressed from side to side
with a keel or ridge extending from
the front point backward. Their shape
may be compared to the hull of a
boat with its keel turned upward and
its beak-like PROV in front They are
from four to ten inches in length, and
all have been fabricated by a few
well-directed blows given to an oblong
piece Of flint so as to knock off great
pieces right and left, leaving a keel
in the midline, while the lower face is
trimmed fat.
These implements are. in fact,
beaked hammer heads-probably used
in the hand without hafting-and ap-
piled to the smoothing and dressing"
OF skins, as we'll as other purposes.
Some are more symmetrical and care
fully trimmed" than others. With
these, which / call eagles beak i'm
plements,' or the "rostro-carinats
type" are found a few other large
and heavy sculptured fiints OF very Gu
rious shape like picks and axes) I'M
Ike any hitherto known, but certain.
~ and without the least doubt clipped
into shape by man.
The flint implements-our eagles
beaks made by men in the relatively
warm Coralline Crag days-were actu-
ally carried of the land By an ice
sheet and deposited in the earliest
layers OF the Red Crag deposit. The
irrefragable proof Of this is that very
many OF the eagles beak fiints are
scratched and scored on their smooth
surfaces b. those peculiar cross-run.
ming grooves which we find on a peb.
bic from a glaciers 'moraine," or
stone heap. Nothing but the immense
pressure of the stones embedded in
one sheet OF ice, rasping by slow
movement other stones embedded in
another sheet of ice over which the
first very slowly advances. can pro-
duce these markings.
The Red Crag marks the beginning
of the PleistOcene and OF the glacial
condition Of North Europe. A great
question, difficult OF decision, IS
whether the earliest river gravels
which we know in England and
France were as early as the Red Crag.
everything which are vast marine de-
posits OF glacial sands and clays. In
any case Mr.. Moir's flint implements
are pre-Crag; they were made before
the glacial conditions set in, and ara
quite unlike those found in the river
sravels. The discovery is one which
will profoundly interest the "pre-his.
torians" of France and Germany, as
well as English archaeologists and ge.
Clogists.-London Times.