would be a sign that the anterior vault of the cranium was somewhat low. It will be seen that the bone has suffered much decay, and when it reached my hands on the afternoon of its discovery, it was destitute of animal matter, and exceedingly friable. Of the great antiquity of this fragment I think there can be little question. A glance at the section of the country (Plate VI, fig. 1) and of the pit (Plate V1, fig. 2) will show that the deposit of red loam in which it was found must have been formed long anterior to the complete excavation of the valley of the Linnet to the south, and at a time when at least flood-waters laden with much earthy matter flowed in some volume over what is now within a few feet of being the highest point of the country intervening between the valleys of the Linnet and the Lark. Unfortunately for the satisfactory demonstration of its high antiquity, the fragment was not taken from its matrix with my own hands; nevertheless I was early the next day at the pit, and most carefully examined the spot from which it came, assuring myself of two facts, namely that there was no indication of a grave, or other disturbance of the deposit, and that no other bones remained therein in the neighbourhood of where the skull fragment had lain. The fact of the occurrence of the latter in the undisturbed loam-bed induced the intelligent labourer who directed the excavation to look upon it as something extraordinary, and to preserve it, and bring it to me. The section exposed in the pit at the time of this visit was about 11 feet in depth, and a description of it will suffice for many of the other pits that have been worked in the same locality. First, there is a surface-soil of from a foot to 18 inches. Then red loam somewhat sandy, in which is mingled, in some sections, chalky detritus of the nature of "cap," or, as it is called here, "dead loam," to a depth of 8 feet. Below this is a bed of compact brown loam of varying thickness, clean above, but filled with large angular flint gravel towards its base, which generally reposes upon the chalk. The exception to this is, that in one or two places a bed of laminated argillaceous sand of some thickness underlies the loam and intervenes between it and the chalk. These deposits are of more or less limited extent, and are formed in pits or pockets, eroded in the old chalk surface, probably by the agency of water charged with carbonic acid. All over the fields hereabouts, except where the deposits of It is a question whether there is any real difference between the two loams in this case, but for convenience of description I have described them according to colour. It is probable that the subaerial waters percolating the surface subsequent to the deposition of the loam may have altered the character of the upper part of the bed by dissolving out of its chalky constituents. loam occur, the chalk is found within a few feet of the surface, whilst in places on the slope of the valley of the Linnet it is exposed. In the pit where the interesting discovery was made it was found that the loam deposit dipped under the roadway, and further working was abandoned, but elsewhere the men entirely clear out the pockets. My attention was first drawn to the locality by the discovery in two of the pits of grinders of the mammoth (Elephas primigenius), and subsequently, in 1877, to the somewhat unlookedfor finding of a flint implement of archaic type in a pit in the same field as that in which the skull was found, but at a slightly lower level. (Pit No. 1 on section, fig. 1, Plate VI.) This year another deposit has been opened up in pit No. 3, in which the loam-bed is worked to a depth of 18 feet from the surface, and from which I have already obtained three flint implements. One of these, with the implement first found, I have the honour to submit to the meeting (Plate IV). A section of this pit is given in Plate VI, fig. 3. The first (Plate IV, fig. 1), referred to above as coming from pit No. 1, is a fine specimen of a "chopper" or "side scraper," 61 inches long, approaching in form those found at La Moustier. It is a heavy implement wrought with few blows to an edge and point, and upon its right-hand side is retained a considerable portion of cortical. It was found at a depth of 10 feet from surface, at the base of the brown loam. The site of its discovery was carefully re-examined by myself, in company with Dr. Evans and Professor McK. Hughes, in the spring of 1880. The second implement (Plate IV, fig. 2) came from the deep pit No. 3 (Plate VI, fig. 3), in the adjacent field, but only a few yards to the westward from No. 1. It is an oval of 5 inches long, of the type most usually found in the gravel deposits of the Grindle and elsewhere in the valley of the Lark, and it occurred in the red loam at 7 feet from the surface. Previous to its entombment in the deposit, it had been much exposed to the weather, and is coated with a dense white patina, which in places has undergone subsequent decomposition. The other implements found here occurred at a slightly lower level in a seam of stones, which in this instance separated the red from the brown beds. Like the first they have lain exposed upon the surface. In form the second resembles a rude scraper, whilst the last found is small ovate implement. I look with very considerable interest to the further development of this pit (No. 3), as it is situated only a few yards to the south of another deposit of a similar nature worked some thirty years ago, in which a labourer, who for many years worked there, assured me that they found the entire skeleton of a man at about 8 feet from the surface, in solid brick earth, and near him the tusk of an elephant. A few words, in conclusion, as to the position of this flint implement station. It is situated upon the broad tongue of land which intervenes between the valleys of the Lark and Linnet, and at about one-and-a-half miles from the junction of the latter rivulet with the former at the south end of Bury St. Edmunds. The height of the surface at pit No. 2 is ascertained to be 202 feet above the Ordnance datum, and about 100 feet above the level of the Lark at Fornham. The ground from the pits to the town rises slightly until the Cemetery is reached, when it falls to the valley of the Lark. Besides this slight rise to the east, and a corresponding one to the west, upon which the village of Westley is situated, no higher ground commands the station for over a mile.1 For several years past, flint implements have been found in the valley deposits of the Lark at Bury, and at the entrance of the valley of the Linnet, but never at a higher level than 45 feet above the stream. Description of Plates IV, V, and VI. PLATE IV. Fig. 1. Flint implement found in pit marked No. 1 in fig. 1, Plate VI. Fig. 2. Flint implement found in pit marked No. 3 in fig. 1, Plate VI. PLATE V. Two views of a fragment of human skull found in November, Fig. 1. Section from the Valley of the Linnet to that of the Lark. A, Valley of the Linnet; B indicates pit in which the skull was found; C, the pits which yielded the teeth of mammoth; D, that in which the flint implement, fig. 1, Plate VI, was found; E has yielded other flint implements; at F an elephant's tusk was found; G indicates the Newmarket Road; H, Tay Fen Valley, dry; J, the road to Fornham; and K the Valley of the Lark. Dotted lines at the base show a vertical scale of 1,000 feet and a horizontal scale for one mile. It will thus be seen that a shallow trough is here formed across the ridge, which probably represents an old channel of the Linnet, which joined the valley of the Lark by way of the valley of Tay Fen, now waterless except in its lowest level. |