Excerpt from The Essex Naturalist, Vol. 11: Being the Journal of the Essex Field Club; January, 1899-December, 1900 The worked flints, chips and fine flakes, are so numerous as to suggest that the population was considerable, and that the dwellings were in close proximity to a manufactur ing ground Of these Objects. On the southern Slope Of the valley, at an elevation of 30 feet, and a hundred yards distant, operations for excavating brick-making material are likewise in progress. The Brick-earth here is formed Of rain-wash from the higher ground. In neolithic times the surface on the slope was about 2 ft. 6 in. Below the present level. It is at this depth that flakes, identical with those in the dwellings, occur in large quan tities, many of which are worked from rolled pebbles. Thes'e pebbles were evidently carefully selected. The cores are abundant-on this valley working-ground, and not on other Sites. The time that has elapsed Since the flakes were worked has sufficed for the deposition of two feet of Talus, while the action of the river has accumulated Six feet Of alluvium. From the first I kept the two sets of flints separate, thinking that they might belong to a different period or race of men; now I feel convinced that both are from the same source. This point is Of great interest, as It tends to Show that the dwelling-places were in the bottom of the valley, surrounded by water, whilst the working ground was on the slope. Only the flints and very sparse scraps of pottery are found on the slope. The dry brick-earth may not have been conducive to the preservation of bone and wood. Sometimes a small nest of flakes, together with the cores from which they were struck, lay at a depth of two or three feet, while others were found scattered at intervals over all parts of the excavated brick-field. This was probably the result of long occupation by the settlers. They were therefore fixed to the locality at least some portion of the year, either summer or winter. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.