“Palæolithic Thames Deposits”

Abstract

The deposits with which I propose to deal in my address are those laid down by the Thames in that part of its course that lies between Maidenhead and the sea.These deposits rest at three principal levels above mean tide, while a fourth series infills the buried channel of the ancient river.Perhaps the most completely explored series is that of the so-called 100-ft. terrace at Swanscombe, in Kent. Specimens from the great gravel pit at Milton Street have enriched the collections of amateurs for upwards of fifty years, but they lacked scientific value because their exact provenance was unknown, the collectors being merely desirous of possessing fine specimens. When the value of Palæolithic implements as ‘geological time indicators’ became recognized in France, the demand for more precise information about the English Palæoliths spread among observers on this side of the Channel, and among others, influenced Worthington Smith. His accurate work has not received the acknowledgment it deserves from either geologists or archæologists, but it may be said that in the light of present knowledge it is of outstanding importance. He dealt more with the deposits of the Lea than with those of the main river, but his observations show how fully alive he was to the importance of truly recording the locality and site of each find, and the characteristics of the deposit in which it occurred. In the writer's opinion, Smith's book on “Man, the Primeval Savage” is destined to be recognized as one of the great books on prehistory in the English language.