Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [80]
Modern authorities relate the geological history of the rivers of the Weald region and their gravel deposits in much the same way as outlined above. For example, Francis H. Edmunds, in a study published by the Geological Survey of Great Britain, wrote (1954, p. 69): “The original rivers of the Wealden district . . . flowed either northward or southward from an east-to-west watershed along the main axial line of the Weald.” These rivers left north-south gaps in the Weald landscape, some of which are not used by the present river systems. Edmunds (1954, p. 63) stated: “Certain physical features, notably the position of the river gaps through the North and South Downs, connect modern topography with that of the pre-Pliocene epoch.” A map by Edmunds (1954, p. 71) shows the Plateau gravels as having been deposited by the rivers flowing from south to north. This tends to confirm the views of Prestwich, who believed the Plateau gravels were laid down by rivers flowing north from the central dome uplands during the Pliocene and perhaps the preglacial Pleistocene.
Concerning the Plateau deposits (Clay-with-flints), Edmunds thought some were produced locally by dissolution of the underlying chalk formations, which contain flint. But Edmunds (1954, p. 56) added: “The Clay-with-flints in several Wealden localities, however, contains a major proportion of material which could not have been so derived, but which represents remainié Tertiary beds, of Eocene and Pliocene ages.”
This suggests that the worn and patinated eoliths (and paleoliths) found in the Plateau deposits could very well be of Tertiary age.
Maps supplied by Edmunds (1954, p. 71) show that the north-south river systems, which laid down the Tertiary Plateau gravels and the hill drifts, were later diverted into their present east-west channels. These east-west rivers deposited the Pleistocene gravels on terraces below the hill drifts, the higher terraces being the oldest (Figure 3.2, p. 93). This process of gravel deposition began during the glacial period.
The stone implements found in the higher terrace gravels of the present rivers were, according to Prestwich, similar to the Paleolithic implements encountered in the Somme region of France, where Boucher des Perthes conducted his investigations. In his address to the Anthropological Institute, Prestwich explained that in the Kent Plateau region Neolithic implements were mainly found in the lower, more recent, river beds along with fossil remains of mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, and other Ice Age mammals.
To summarize, the eoliths were found mainly in the Pliocene drift gravels on the top of the Plateau, crude paleoliths mainly in the hilltop drifts of Pliocene rivers, better paleoliths mainly in the Pleistocene higher gravels of the present rivers, and polished neoliths in the lower more recent river gravels.
Most of the high Plateau discoveries were surface finds. But Prestwich (1892, p. 251) noted that “from the deep staining of the implements, and their occasional incrustations with iron oxide, we have reason to believe that they have been imbedded in a deposit beneath the surface.” This is significant. If the implements were embedded beneath the surface of the now-vanished dome uplands for a long time before they were transported to the Plateau, that would indicate an indefinitely great age for them. In other words, they were at least Late Pliocene in age, and perhaps far older.
Some of the Plateau implements were found not on the surface