The Palæolithic Deposits of the Lower Thames Valley

Abstract

I. I ntroduction T he part of the Lower Thames Valley with which this paper deals is that bounded on the west by the River Cray between Crayford and Erith, and on the east by the small stream Ebbsfleet, near Northfleet. The Pleistocene deposits of this area have long been known alike to geologists and archaeologists on account of the Palæolithic flint implements and the abundant remains of fossils found in them, and numerous descriptions of different temporary exposures of the beds have been published (see especially Hinton & Kennard, 1906). Collectors, however, desiring principally good specimens for their cabinets, did not ascertain the exact provenance of the pieces they purchased from the workmen, and no certain time sequence among the specimens could, therefore, be established. The investigations on the Palæolithic implements found in the Pleistocene beds of Northern France and Belgium had led to classifications that were generally accepted on the Continent and that were beginning to be applied to implements of similar form found in the Thames Valley, but the lack of accurate details of the discoveries in England rendered such correlation uncertain. The Associated Portland Cement Company in 1912 informed the British Museum of their intention to remove at Barnfield pit, Milton Street, the overburden above the Chalk so that the latter could be quarried for cement-making. It was feared that the classic section in the pit would be finally destroyed, and a decision was made to examine each bed in such places as were not disturbed nor mixed

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