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It may be that in terms of the “greatly augmented evidence” available to Coles, human manufacture of the East Anglia specimens would seem extraordinary in terms of “chronology,” that is to say, their unexpected age. But in terms of the even more greatly augmented evidence presented in this book, human manufacture of the East Anglia implements during the late Tertiary and earliest Pleistocene would seem quite within the bounds of the ordinary.

In this regard, a modern authority, Gowlett (1984, p. 76), reported that four flakes and five pebble choppers were found at Le Vallonet, southern France, in old beach sediments dated 1–2 million years old. If we assign these eolithlike stone tools to the oldest part of their probable date range, they would be roughly contemporary with some of the East Anglia specimens, such as those from Foxhall. Gowlett called the Le Vallonet specimens doubtful, yet he mentioned them in his book. He did not, however, mention Moir’s discoveries.

3.3.13 Positive References to Moir’s Finds

We shall now consider some isolated examples of positive scientific reporting on J. Reid Moir’s discoveries from the latter half of the twentieth century. Cambridge University archeologist and anthropologist, M. C. Burkitt, who served on the international commission that examined Moir’s implements in the 1920s, gave favorable treatment to them in his book The Old Stone Age, published in 1956.

Burkitt was particularly impressed with the site at Thorington Hall, 2 miles south of Ipswich, where flint implements had been collected from the Crag deposits. “At Thorington Hall bivalve shells with the hinges still intact have been collected from just above the artifacts. This is very important evidence for the prehistorian, as no subsequent differential movement of the gravel, such as might have caused fracturing of the contained flints, can have taken place, since it would certainly have led to the smashing of the delicate hinges of these shells. Incidentally, too, at this site, as well as at Foxhall, the deposit in which the specimens occur is of a sandy nature and not packed with pebbles. So even if differential movement had occurred no fracturing due to the pressure of one stone against another could have resulted” ( Burkitt 1956, p. 108). That the implements were found isolated in apparently undisturbed sandy deposits also appears to rule out Warren’s suggestion (Section 3.3.9) that they were formed by icebergs crushing flint against the underlying chalk.

As far as Foxhall was concerned, Burkitt (1956, pp. 108, 110) stated: “At Foxhall the chipped flints were found at two different levels only, and this can be best explained if we consider that these levels were actually old land surfaces on which man lived, in other words that we are dealing with ‘floors’ or actual occupation sites.”

Burkitt ( 1956, p. 110 ) further stated: “The argument that the flints were chipped elsewhere by natural forces and later incorporated in these late pliocene gravels cannot always be maintained. Small flakes, as well as large specimens, occur together and this would not happen under such circumstances, as the selective action of flowing water would cause the smaller and lighter specimens to be collected together at one site and the larger and heavier objects at another.” Burkitt’s strong arguments in favor of actual living floors at Foxhall help resolve the doubts expressed by Coles and others about human manufacture of the flint objects found there.

Regarding Moir’s discoveries from the Cromer Forest Bed formations, Burkitt (1956, pp. 112 – 113) wrote: “For the most part these consist of large flakes carefully struck off from a core, the striking platform being unfaceted and frequently inclined at a high angle to the main flake surface. Although there is not always any further trimming, a sharp cutting edge has often been obtained. . . . Occasionally more finished tools are found and rarely specimens of a core-tool type such as choppers, etc. have been collected. Essentially,