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The Presidential Address for 1932: The Culture of Pliocene Man

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2013

J. Reid Moir
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Extract

It is now close upon twenty-five years since the first flints from beneath the Red Crag of Suffolk—and claimed to have been flaked by man—were placed before the scientific world. During the period of time which has elapsed since 1907, a great deal of careful excavation, carried out by means of generous financial support given by the Royal Society, the Percy Sladen Fund, the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, the Field Museum of Chicago and other Institutions, has been undertaken, and in consequence, a very considerable body of knowledge regarding the archaeological, and other contents of the Suffolk Bone Bed, has been accumulated.

I propose, therefore, to take as the subject of my Presidential Address, “The Culture of Pliocene Man;” to place before you the evidence which makes it possible to use such a title in describing the sub-Red Crag artefacts, and to draw your attention to certain remarkable facts and conclusions relating to these specimens which must now be faced and considered. But it is necessary, first of all, to give a brief account of the Red Crag and the Suffolk Bone Bed (sometimes also called the Detritus Bed or the Nodule Bed) which underlies it, and in which the relics of man have been found.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , 1932 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1932

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References

page 1 note 1 Proc. P.S.E.A., Vol. I, pt. 1, pp. 17–43Google Scholar.

page 2 note 1 Proc. P.S.E.A., Vol. II, pt. 1, pp. 12–31Google Scholar.

page 3 note 1 The Structure of the Crag Beds of Norfolk and Suffolk, London, 1871, p. 117.

page 3 note 2 Ray, Lankester E.. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., Vol. 26. 1870. pp. 493–514Google Scholar.

page 4 note 1 Large numbers of pieces of the Diestian Deposit were rolled into pebbles by marine action, and now occur beneath the Red Crag in the form of the well known “box-stones” often containing casts of shells and other fossil remains.

page 4 note 2 Proc. P.S.E.A. Vol. II, pt. 1, pp. 116–131Google Scholar.

page 4 note 3 Lankester, . Geol. Mag. 1889. p. 289Google Scholar.

page 5 note 1 See also Lankester, , Phil. Trans., Series B, vol. 202., pp. 283–336CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Plate 17.

page 5 note 2 Man. November 1914. Vol. XIV, No. 11.

page 7 note 1 “The Structure of the Crag Beds of Norfolk and Suffolk,” London, 1871, p. 117Google Scholar.

page 12 note 1 Man. April, 1929, pp. 62–65Google ScholarPubMed.

page 13 note 1 Though I cannot find the reference, I believe that Rutot, some years ago, notified the discovery of burins in very ancient deposits. They certainly occur, though very rarely, in the upper Chalky Boulder Clay of East Anglia, and my friend Lieutenant Todd, R.I.M., has recently found two in the well-known gravel at Warren Hill, Suffolk.

page 13 note 2 In view of the fact that the pre-Crag implements exhibit, in some cases, several distinct patinations of differing ages, it is probable that several races of people inhabited the ancient land surface of East Anglia.

page 14 note 1 Sollas, W. J.Ancient Hunters. Third EditionGoogle Scholar, Fig. 39.

page 14 note 2 Rutot, A. “Un grave problème,” Bulletin de la Société Belge de Geologie. Tome XXI (1907)Google Scholar.