(FIGURE 8. FLINT IMPLEMENT FROM ST. ACHEUL, NEAR AMIENS,
OF THE SPEAR-HEAD SHAPE
(half the size of the original, which is 7 1/2 inches long).
a. Side view.
b. Same seen edgewise.
These spear-headed implements have been found in greater number, proportionally to the oval ones, in the upper level gravel at St. Acheul, than in any of the lower gravels in the valley of the Somme. In these last the oval form predominates, especially at Abbeville.)
When the natural form of a Chalk-flint presented a suitable handle at one end, as in the specimen, Figure 10, that part was left as found. The portion, for example, between b and c has probably not been altered; the protuberances which are fractured having been broken off by river action before the flint was chipped artificially. The other extremity, a, has been worked till it acquired a proper shape and cutting edge.
(FIGURES 9 AND 10. FLINT IMPLEMENTS FROM THE PLEISTOCENE DRIFT OF
ABBEVILLE AND AMIENS.
FIGURE 9. a. OVAL-SHAPED FLINT HATCHET FROM MAUTORT,
NEAR ABBEVILLE,
half size of original, which is 5 1/2 inches long, from
a bed of gravel underlying the fluvio-marine stratum. b. Same seen
edgewise. c. Shows a recent fracture of the edge of the same at the
point a, or near the top. This portion of the tool, c, is drawn of
the natural size, the black central part being the unaltered flint,
the white outer coating, the layer which has been formed by
discoloration or bleaching since the tool was first made. The
entire surface of Number 9 must have been black when first shaped,
and the bleaching to such a depth must have been the work of time,
whether produced by exposure to the sun and air before it was
embedded, or afterwards when it lay deep in the soil.
FIGURE 10. FLINT TOOL FROM ST. ACHEUL, seen edgewise;
original 6 1/2 inches long, and 3 inches wide.
b, c. Portion not artificially shaped.
a, b. Part chipped into shape, and having a cutting edge at a.)
Many of the hatchets are stained of an ochreous-yellow colour, when they have been buried in yellow gravel, others have acquired white or brown tints, according to the matrix in which they have been enclosed.
This accordance in the colouring of the flint tools with the character of the bed from which they have come, indicates, says Mr. Prestwich, not only a real derivation from such strata, but also a sojourn therein of equal duration to that of the naturally broken flints forming part of the same beds.*